AdvertisementThroughout history, free societies have wrestled with an uncomfortable question: Is there ever a time when citizens have a moral duty to resist their own government? AdvertisementIn a constitutional republic, lawful remedies must be exhausted before the moral question of resistance can even arise. The threshold for legitimate resistance is intentionally set extraordinarily high because violence to reassert our constitutional rights carries terrible consequences. Police have a duty to intervene when innocent people are attacked. If individuals have a duty to protect innocent people from violent criminals, does a free people have a comparable duty when oppression originates from the government itself?