Right or Civic Duty?
I go over this a lot every election year because I keep hearing "it's our civic duty to vote." What in da hell does that mean exactly? I looked it up online to just make sure I understood it correctly, and what it said was that civic duty is "the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force." Um... what?
The entry also included a quote from John D.Rockefeller Jr that "every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty." I know many people agree with this; and just as many people say it's a civic duty to vote. I just don't agree.
The same source defines a right as "a freedom or power that is morally or legally due to a person." To me this makes more sense with regard to voting; the right to vote is a freedom and power we have as Americans. Another freedom, or right, we enjoy as Americans is the freedom of choice. Shouldn't it then be our right, our freedom, our choice to choose not to vote as well as our right, freedom or choice to vote?
I have a rebellious streak a mile long. Tell me it's my duty or my responsibility to do something and I won't do it. Make me care, however, and I probably will. But let me exercise my right to make my own damned choice and quit telling me what I have to do.
2 comments:
It's both, actually. And I agree that you have the right to exercise it or not, as you see fit.
But wait -- there's a complication.
Suppose there is someone (or some issue) being voted on that is important to you or to the society to which you belong; say some not-too-bright cowboy with an entitlement complex is running for president (nah, fuhgeddaboutit -- much too farfetched). Anyhow, say you and a few other likeminded folks choose not to exercise your and their rights, and the aho wins by one vote and a hanging chad, and the result is a two-front war plus a number of other extremely unpleasant things that might (probably) would not have happened if you did vote. Would you then bear any moral responsibility for what happened during the aho's term in office?
Yep, I agree. And this is why it can be called a "civic duty" as well as a "right".
So those who did not vote bear moral responsibility for the aho ending up in office.. Does that mean that those who did vote for him also bear a moral responsibility? Responsibility for what he has done to this country even though there is no way anyone could have predicted it? Does that mean then that they did NOT do their civic duty to this country because they did vote for the aho in question?
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