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Old 12-22-2005, 03:09 PM
peritonlogon peritonlogon is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 120
Default Re: Athenian Democracy circa Pericles\' time

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Do you think everyone born in the United States should have to sign onto the Constitution before it applies to them?

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Sounds good to me.

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And to me too.

In fact, it has been my personal conviction that being the free citizen of a polity should be a matter of choice and not of privilege or mandate. People who reach a certain pre-determined age should be allowed to choose, on an all-or-nothing basis, whether or not to accept the polity's laws and rules. It goes without saying that this would also mean accepting a number of obligations, such as taking up arms to defend the polity.

Of course, as soon as the people become citizens, they will have, like every other citizen, the right not just to change the government and the people's representation in it, but to question or try to change the very rules and laws of the polity!

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It's kind of amazing that this is the argument for how things "should" be... I'm pretty sure that this is how things are. By sticking around, ie, not emigrating, you are accepting the polity's laws and rules. It's usually referred to as a tacit choice, or an implied choice.

What you described in your last sentence is what people normally call taking part in free speech/assembly/association and voting.

The fact that so many people yern for a feeling of citizenship indicates to me two things (that aren't necessarily mutually exclusive) the reason for this I don't really have room to spell out.

1) Individualism in America (for whatever reason) has become simply become a justification for selfishness. People routinely mistake freedom and liberty with autonomy and, and they seem to think that they should be free to take from the common weal without being bound to contribute.

2)The "Democratic" nature of America and Americans is really heading towards exitinction.
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