Last week I shared five of Richard Haass’ points in The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens. He makes this point:
American democracy has come to focus almost exclusively on perceived rights and is breaking down as a result. The correct response is not to ignore rights or to stop trying to make a more perfect Union; to the contrary, this is unfinished work that demands attention.
Haass suggests that along with rights we must also recognize and fulfill certain obligations that come with being a citizen in this country. Here are his final five obligations:
6) Value norms. Norms are unwritten traditions, rules, customs, conventions, codes of conduct and practices. One example: accepting election results. Another: Elected officials need to accept the independent role of the media. When Trump proclaimed the media as “the enemy of the people,” that violated an important norm.
We like to think of ourselves as a nation of laws, but the truth is that democracy requires more than laws if it is to function. Only the observation of norms can do this, and it will happen only if citizens insist on it.
7) Promote the Common Good. Haass says we have a stake in the well-being of our society, which means we have a stake in the well-being of our fellow citizens. (For more on common goods, see Robert Reich’s The Common Good.) So..do we care all about everyone, or just the white citizens? Do we care about everyone, or just the ones with jobs? Do we care about everyone, or just those who stick to what’s considered ‘mainstream’?
The late Senator Paul Wellstone: “We all do better when we all do better.”
8) Respect Government Service. Opposition to ‘big’ government has morphed into outright hostility toward government and those who work in government. Neither our government or its workers are perfect, but to wildly claim there’s some crazy conspiratorial deep state’ doesn’t help anything. Haass believes that instead of badmouthing government service we should be building it up in order to attract young, smart employees.
9) Support the teaching of Civics. Yes! To children and adults! Yes!
10) Put Country First.
Putting democracy and the country founded on it first is the only way to preserve and, better yet, improve a United States of America that for any and all of its shortcomings and flaws is still the most successful political experiment in human history and the one with the greatest potential.
And Boom! Richard Haass drops the mike.
One Response
All 10 are very good examples of how we need to interact with each other. I wish more people used respect in their campaigns instead of hate and fear of ‘the other’.
Thanks for these.