Civil Disobedience Lesson Plan

What does Thoreau mean when he says voting is a sort of "gaming?"

Thoreau compares voting to checkers and backgammon, albeit with a "slight moral tinge to it." Voting is like a game because it involves risk--though each person votes for what he or she wants, the decision as to what happens is ultimately left to the majority. Voting is, therefore, a passive act. Playing a game is usually not a very serious thing--it is something that is done for fun. By comparing voting to this, Thoreau highlights how insignificant he thinks the act is: it is the bare minimum requirement of citizenship, not the sum total of a citizen's responsibilities.

How, according to Thoreau, does...