What does henry david thoreau mean by the following metaphor?

D. That the government looks powerful, but actually lacks any power.

Explanation:

This is an excerpt from Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" reflective of his resistance to civil government. The excerpt is a satirical, derisive and sarcastic statement to the incompetence and vulnerability of the government. He has used the metaphor of a wooden gun to show the powerlessness of the government, he says not a single man will bow to its will. In fact, the army which is "an arm of the standing government" has become a carrier of their abuse. Here, he is presenting his anger to the indolence of the government in the Mexican war and its inadequacy to impose its decisions for the betterment of their nation. Later, He also asserts that those who have become preoccupied with the letter of law will gradually exterminate reason and ethics as a consequence of this negligence.

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explanation:

substitute y = 2x - 4 to x + 2y = 12:

x + 2(2x - 4) = 12     use distributive property

x + (2)(2x) + () = 12

x + 4x - 8 = 12     add 8 to both sides

5x = 20     divide both sides by 5

x = 4

put the value of x to the first equation:

y = 2(4) - 4

y = 8 - 4

y = 4