Responsibilities of Citizens in a Democracy Essay

Citizens in a Democracy Prompt: What are the roles and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy? After reading Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” “Citizen Responsibilities” and Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,” write an essay that addresses the question and supports your position with evidence from the texts. Be sure to acknowledge competing views. Give examples from past or current events or issues to illustrate and clarify your position. Article #1 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr. In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: 1) collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive; 2) negotiation; 3) self-purification; and 4) direct action. We have gone through all of these steps in Birmingham … Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of the country. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any city in this nation. These are the hard, brutal, and unbelievable facts. On the basis of these conditions Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation . . . You may well ask, "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in your calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue . . . My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals . . . One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.” Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority . . . Source: King Jr., Martin L. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Letter to My Dear Fellow Clergymen. 16 Apr. 1963. Web. 11 June 2012. Article #2: Citizen Responsibilities The duties or responsibilities of a United States citizen can be separated into two groups: mandatory responsibilities, such as paying taxes, and duties not demanded by law, such as voting. Mandatory: Obeying Laws Laws are the rules under which a society or community is governed. Everyone who lives in the United States, regardless if they are citizens or not, must obey federal, state and local laws. Laws are necessary because no society could exist if all people did just as they pleased, without respecting the rights of others. Police officers and courts make sure that laws are obeyed. If a person breaks a law there is a penalty or punishment. The penalty for breaking a law depends on the law. For example, the punishment for not shoveling your sidewalk after it snows is less steep than the punishment for stealing a car. Take a moment to search or browse through the current United States Code and the Utah Code. Mandatory: Paying Taxes Taxes are required payments of money to the government. You may be wondering why we pay taxes. Taxes are necessary because they pay for things that most individuals could not possibly purchase for themselves, such a fire protection, schools, roads and much more. There are many different types of taxes: federal income tax, state income tax, property tax, excise tax (tax on tobacco, alcohol, gas), social security tax and sales tax. Each type of tax pays for different public programs and services. For example, federal taxes pay for F.B.I. agents, Medicare doctors, federal judges, national park rangers, veterans benefits, federal prisons and much more. Some of the things that state taxes pay for include state highways, universities, public schools, state parks and police officers. Mandatory: Jury Duty The right to a trial by jury is the privilege of every person in the United States, whether citizen or not. This right is guaranteed by both the United States and Utah Constitutions. However, it also requires that citizens give of their time to serve as jurors, and thus do their part to protect this American right. A jury consists of 12 people who are selected to hear the evidence in a civil or a criminal trial. After the jurors hear the evidence presented during the trial, they must try to decide if the defendant is guilty or not guilty. While being called to jury duty can be viewed as an inconvenience, many citizens also find it to be a learning process and a rewarding experience as well as a civic responsibility. Jurors' names are selected at random from lists of registered voters and individuals who have a driver's license issued by the Utah Department of Motor Vehicles. If an individual is chosen for jury duty, he or she must stop work and attend the trial as long as he or she is needed. Every American of legal age is subject to jury duty, unless he or she can show that such service would constitute a severe personal hardship. Mandatory: Serve as a Witness If you are subpoenaed or summoned to serve as a witness you must comply. A witness is someone who is called to testify under oath in a court trial or hearing about information or knowledge he or she might have about the case. Mandatory: Register for the Draft Virtually all males living in the United States are required to register with Selective Service within 30 days of their 18th birthday. Currently, women aren't required to register because the Selective Service law refers specifically to "male persons" in stating who must register and who would be drafted. Congress would have to amend the law for women to be required to register with Selective Service. Registering does not mean a man will automatically be taken into the military. During times of crisis or war, the government may decide that they need larger military forces than they feel they could get through voluntary enlistment. If this happens the Selective Service will: • Conduct a lottery to determine the sequence for selecting registrants for examination and induction. • Assign each registrant the Random Sequence Number (RSN) drawn by lottery for his date of birth. • Select and order registrants for examination and induction, beginning with RSN 001. Those selected are examined for mental, physical and moral fitness. Today, males can register online at the Selective Service web site or at their local Post Office. Voluntary: Voting The right to vote is a duty or responsibility as well as a privilege. It is important for all citizens to vote in every election to make sure that the democratic, representative system of government is maintained. Persons who do not vote lose their voice in the government. Before voting in an election, each citizen should be well informed about the issues and candidates. For more information about voting, go to the Elections section of this web site. Article #3 “Civil Disobedience” Henry David Thoreau spends most of "Civil Disobedience" in a sea of ambivalence, wavering between respect and admonition for the State. (Example: at one point he asserts, "the best government is that which rules not at all"-- later he makes a point to distinguish himself from "no-government men", saying that what he wants is not no government, but "at once better government".) In the following passage, Thoreau provides us with a mini-manifesto on the 'powers' of the State: "Thus the State never intentionally confronts a man's sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest. What force has a multitude? They only force me who obey a higher law than I. They force me to become like themselves. I do not hear of men being forced to have this way or that by masses of men. What sort of life were that to live? When I meet a government which says to me, "Your money or your life," why should I be in haste to give it my money? It may be in a great strait, and not know what to do: I cannot help that. It must help itself; do as I do. It is not worth the while to snivel about it. I am not responsible for the successful working of that, when an acorn and a chestnut fall side by side, the one does not remain inert to make way for the other, but both obey their own laws, and spring and grown and flourish as best they can, till one, perchance, overshadows and destroys the other. If a plant cannot live according to its nature, it dies; and so a man." (10)