On Citizenship

In the last post, I discussed the responsibilities of government. The underlying theme was that government has the responsibility to protect its people. In return, the people have a responsibility to support the government in its efforts to achieve that end. In a social contract (that I am loosely borrowing from Locke) citizens relinquish some of the freedom they would have in the state of nature (living outside of society) in return for the protection that society provides. People enjoy the protections offered them by society, but for government to fulfill its responsibilities, it must provide protection for all its citizens. Therefore, the citizen has a responsibility to perform such duties that aid in the protection of their fellow citizen.

Although there are some mountain men who enjoy the solitude without society, overwhelmingly people flock to places of population. Living in society allows many of the benefits we take for granted. First off, society allows for specialization. Without farmers to provide our food, engineers to build our infrastructure, and IT specialists to maintain our vast network of electronic communications, we would spend the great majority of our days finding food, transporting ourselves on foot, and dealing only with those in our immediate vicinity. However, the modern world is far beyond that. People can afford to spend their every waking minute working toward goals that are completely unrelated to their physical maintenance (sometimes even counterproductive to it) because fast food meals take only minutes out of their day and communication with vast resources is instantaneous. Without the social concept of specialization, none of this would be possible. For most of us in the post-industrial world, threats have been negated. We can go about our lives without the fear of invading clans killing our families, robbers stealing our resources, or pandemic viruses destroying our bodies. Government-provided military and law enforcement in combination with modern medicine makes all of this possible. 

To all people who entrust themselves to society, its government has the responsibility to offer protection. To neglect even one person of this society would be to fail in this responsibility. The military protects its countrymen without regard to who they are, law enforcement (should) do their best to prevent or recompense crime, and hospitals take all measures to cure those who are ill and repair those who have been injured. To withhold any of these protections to any citizen would be to refuse that citizen entry to the society. Any citizen who has made the decision to relinquish the freedoms of the state of nature is entitled the protection of the society to which he/she has submitted.

It follows naturally, then, that the just course of action would be to aid in the protection of a fellow citizen. Where government is unable or unwilling, any citizen can make right the injustice of refusing protection to a citizen of the society. If all citizens, who are able, do what is necessary to ensure the most basic protections of every other citizen, I think we will find that the concessions will be much less than many people think possible.

This was beginning to sound a bit like a Marxist rant ending in "from all according to his ability, to all according to his need." But, the idea of government providing protection does not require equality in all aspects. My arguments assert only that government has the responsibility to protect its people. Whatever quality of life they may attain above mere survival is of their own accord. To provide food to those who are starving, to provide shelter to those who are homeless, and to provide medical care to those who are sick do not require massive redistribution of wealth or anywhere near an equality of opportunity or results. Government that strives to do more (controlling infrastructure, communications, or production) has overstepped its bounds. All I ask is that people of our society are given a chance to live. What they do with that life is their choice. It is on all of us, though, to help each other in that goal.