what begins the action of the story? what situation initiates the conflict

This isn't a fictional story with a plot. Civil Disobedience is Thoreau's counter-cultural manifesto against all things "Government". He begins his book by writing, "That government is best which governs least." The rest of the book consists of Thoreau expounding on government injustices and the rights of individuals to forge their own way unfettered by a Socialist agenda.