Oath Of Citizen Responsibility

What yours truly has been harping about for quite a long while at APOV (a convenient list of examples can be found here) is - citizen responsibility.

Simply put:

Because of the ignorance and egotism fostered by intellectual sloth, too many people forget a fundamental principle which underlies the very definition of any human right: the rights of one end where those of another begin. Period.

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Nowadays, everything is about Me, of what I perceive to be My rights, My needs, what I find acceptable, of how I feel, of how I intend to live My life. And to hell with the others!

The sad reality is that, in addition to forgetting the aforementioned fundamental principle, too many people also forget a corollary which is directly linked to the very concept of what is a "right": responsibility.

Responsibility to your neighbor. Social responsibility. Responsibility to yourself. Responsibility as a citizen of a democratic society.

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We are living in a dangerous period of the history of our democraties. You can blame the politicians, the media, the corporations, the lobbying groups, or anyone else, yet the painful and ever so tragic truth remains this: we have only ourselves to blame.

One of my recurrent mantras on this matter goes as follows:

So, let it be known ad nauseam: living in a democracy is a right and a responsibility.

And yes, this responsibility requires effort. But which is better: having your back bent by the effort required to keep on living in a democratic society, or letting leave for complacency and find yourself one day with a back bent under a totalitarian regime (however benevolent it may be)? We must not wait until it is too late to remember that one who uses fear and seeks to control information is one who would see himself as our master.

Incidentally, I found a very interesting article (which I offer herein for your consideration) which describes a "Citizens' Oath of Office" - and I certainly hope my fellow Canadians will be paying attention to this, for damn good reasons (simply replace "USA" with "Canada" and so on, and so forth).

(And here's a thought: how about teaching the recitation of the following Oath in schools instead of, or also with, any pledge of alliegance to a flag? Hmmm ...)

A "Citizens' Oath of Office" for Inauguration Day 2009
by Robert Jensen

Eight long years ago at a counter-inaugural event in Austin, TX, I administered a "Citizen's Oath of Office" to the people who had come together on the steps of the state Capitol to challenge the legitimacy of the incoming Bush administration and its right-wing agenda. In 2005 I offered a revised version that expanded on our duties during even more trying times.

In 2009, we welcome a far saner administration but also face far deeper problems, and hence such a citizen's oath is as necessary as ever. The Obama administration will no doubt step back from the reckless and reactionary policies of the past eight years, but the core problems of empire and economics -- U.S. domination around the world and corporate domination at home and abroad -- remain as threatening as ever. The robotic talk among Democrats of pressing on in "the right war" in Afghanistan (allegedly to fight terrorism) and a continued faith in the predatory capitalist system (albeit softened slightly in the face of potential collapse) offer little hope for meaningful change at the deep level so desperately needed.

As we celebrate the end of an eight-year disaster, we should recommit to the ongoing work required to create a truly just and sustainable world. With that work in mind, here's my suggestion for a 2009 Citizen's Oath of Office, with new language added in brackets:

"I do solemnly pledge that I will faithfully execute the office of citizen of the United States, and that I will, to the best of my ability, help create a truly democratic world by (1) going beyond mainstream corporate news media to seek out information about important political, economic, and social issues; (2) engaging fellow citizens, including those who disagree with me, in serious discussion and debate about those issues; (3) committing as much time, energy, and money as possible to help build [authentic] grassroots political organizations that can pressure politicians to put the interests of people over profit and power; and (4) connecting these efforts to global political and social movements fighting the U.S. empire abroad, where it does the most intense damage. I will continue to resist corporate control of the world, resist militarism, resist any roll-back of civil rights, and resist illegitimate authority in all its forms. [And I will commit to collective efforts in my local community to help build joyful alternatives to an unsustainable consumer society.]"

I think these bracketed additions are crucial. First, adding "authentic" as a modifier of "grassroots political organizations" reminds us that the campaign to elect Obama was not a movement, no matter how many times he uses that term. It was a campaign to elect a candidate from one of the country's two major parties, both of which are committed to imperial domination and predatory capitalism. That isn't to argue there is no difference between candidates, but to remind us that a slogan-driven electoral campaign for such a party is not a people's movement. Authentic movements for justice do not arise out of the Republican or Democratic parties but from people coming together to challenge illegitimate authority rather than accommodate it. Strategic decisions about voting do not replace organizing.

Second, in addition to traditional movement building, it's clearer than ever that we must focus some of our resources on strengthening on-the-ground alternatives to an extractive industrial economy that is undermining the ability of the ecosystem to sustain life. Those local experiments, such as worker-owned cooperatives and community-supported agriculture, will be increasingly important as the dominant culture proves itself unable to cope with economic and ecological collapse that is no longer a matter for speculation regarding the distant future but a reality we must face now.

(Keep reading ...)