thoreau did not. third, both transcendentalism in the 1960's -- and the 19 six east counterculture arose amid widespread religious ferments. modes of aise to new religious experimenting, spiritual questing outside of conventional, theological, and institutional channels. and i would add outside the western religious tradition. in the case of transcendentalism, the early and mid-19th century was appeared heightened fires of religious passion. this is the alex de tocqueville frenchy kratt -- french aristocrat sent to the united states in the early part of the 19th century as some of you may know. he was a particularly keen observer of american life and culture. hugely famous work which is still in print i would add. called democracy in america. so-callede in the second great awakening. , bywas quite taken by this these fires of religious passion. that is a phrase taken from his writing. and he also noted, as he was observing this. he said americans have a chillier proclivity for religious madness. [laug

there is of course a tradition of vortex, with henry david thoreau you refusing to pay poll taxes that he believe funded the war, and noam chomsky and others refusing to pay taxes during the war. they risk garnishing of their wages. they risk having the property seized. and even moving out of the united states isn't enough to avoid paying for american empire. when you criticize u.s. foreign policy you might get told, if you don't like it, you can leave. even if you leave, you still are seen as owing taxes to the u.s. government unless you go through the costly process of announcing your citizenship. and that's ignoring that there is also funds gained through inflation, through the printing of money. that is a tax on everyone that holds u.s. dollars. using the feedback provided by profit and loss. but, since empire rests on violations and private property rights, it lasts. even if political leaders want to know what they are doing is worth it, they would lack the feedback necessary to know. the knowledge placed on all forms of central planning means even the best intentioned imperialist

henry david thoreau or ralph waldo emerson, they were not immediate progenitors of jerry rubin or jimi hendrix. after all, there is nearly a 100 year gap between the heyday of transcendentalism and the rise of the 1960s counterculture. obviously a lot happens in between. it is also important i think that we see each of these phenomenon in the context of their own historical uniqueness. however they may be connected to one another or to ideas and events. what i would like to do instead is 2.2, and this basically re- phrases the title of this talk. what i want to do is to point to certain ideas, certain cultural enforces and orientations that were part of 19th century transcendentalism and suggest how these dynamics showed up again and shared a certain affinities with the counterculture of the 60s. so perhaps a slightly different way to frame the talk and i will come back to this later, is to ask not so much where the root of the counterculture lay in relationship to transcendentalism, but rather why similar ideas or cultural impulses or social trends, why did they assert themselves in t