Reflections on Citizenship’s Obligations

I. The Bill of Obligations

A. Introduction

We are challenged today to consider what it means to be a true citizen of our country: to consider our Rights as American citizens in the context of the Bill of Rights and Constitution and our Obligations and Responsibilities to the country and each other as American citizens in the context of what it takes to make our Constitution work.

We hear, read, and say a great deal about our rights as citizens and say, read, and hear much less about our obligations as citizens.

B. The Ten Habits of Good Citizens

In his book The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens, author Richard Haass starts the reader with a discussion of rights and their limits, as well as the importance of addressing citizens’ duties and responsibilities, the performance of which is necessary to support and assure the maintenance, preservation, and enforcement of those rights. Haass then articulates his thoughts on restoring the essentials of good citizenship if we are to avert threats to the future of our country. Those ten habits are:

1. Be Informed. Haass notes that an effective, functional democracy necessitates an informed citizenry, and goes on to ask what is an informed citizenry, and what does it take to be an informed citizen? He highlights an awareness of civics, understanding the fundamentals of how the country functions from a governance and governing perspective, and notes the importance of understanding the world in which the country operates, including both domestic and international challenges. He comments that being informed is essential to casting one’s vote in favor of particular candidates and understanding what those candidates bring to the table from the perspective of experience, judgment, ethics, and trustworthiness, as well as their function in both governing and representing the country. He notes the importance of exercising judgment as to peoples’ opinions and how the uninformed may be subject to being manipulated by misinformation and the intentions of the various people seeking to be part of the governance of the country. Haass notes the plethora of information and newspapers, magazines, television, podcasts, websites, social media, and the other tools used to transmit information and opinions, and he points out that an informed person must be able to choose sources that are significant to being informed and avoiding those aimed at misleading or misinforming an aware citizen. He notes that being informed is essential to one’s ability to hold people accountable for their actions, pronouncements, etc., and that accountability is essential to a functioning democratic country given that the people vote on who is best to lead that country. It is also true that being informed is significant to influencing the views of others who are less informed and still essential to voting practices within a democracy.
2. Get Involved. Haass immediately asserts, with respect to getting involved, that a democracy will depend on the participation of its citizens, and that again, it is essential that these citizens are well informed and capable of exercising their responsibility to act, as well as their responsibility to hold others (particularly elected officials) accountable for their actions. He notes the importance of individual actions to making a difference in the way society performs and how particular individuals, by simple acts, have created changes in policy.
3. Stay Open to Compromise. Haass notes that while on the one hand, compromise can be viewed as a sign of weakness, on the other hand, compromise is essential to the functioning of a democracy so that multiple interests can be addressed and recognized. In many ways, compromise was at the heart of drafting the Constitution and many other achievements of our society from civil rights to other matters of American government interests, as well as our societal interests. Haass comments that while compromise is a value, it’s also important to be able to describe and understand the give-and-take in the process, as well as the ultimate choices made and matters considered in effecting a resolution. Through compromise, he says, one can help the country move beyond stalemate to arrive at action.
4. Remain Civil. Haass notes the importance of civility as a means of overcoming cynicism and bridging disagreements that come in a democracy by exercising respect for various sides. Haass notes that in discussions where there are multiple sides and issues to be resolved, civility is sometimes an essential quality in reaching resolution.
5. Reject Violence. Haass highlights the differences between democracy and democratic governments and authoritarian systems. He notes that in particular, rejecting violence in almost any situation is preferable to using it to achieve any kind of political end, as in a democracy, violence is the antithesis of achieving results that reflect the best interests of the groups involved, etc.
6. Value Norms. Haass notes the importance of observing and respecting norms, mores, and social conventions that form the fabric of a society, as one can’t make laws to cover all situations, nor is a society purely based on laws and their observance, to the exclusion of these other elements that are essential to a society’s viability.
7. Promote the Common Good. Haass notes that the “common good” is critical to the functioning and existence of a democracy. Looking past our own self-interests, it is critical to look at the best collective interests of the country itself for civil and political service.
8. Respect Government Service. While Haass notes that it is very American to be suspicious of government and governmental authority, it is also critical to respect those who provide government service as a social good, who often take less and have a sense of public service that motivates them to do the work they do, which should be respected, and not denigrated.
9. Support the Teaching of Civics. Haass and others have noted the current critical failure of the teaching and knowledge of civics, resulting in a lack of understanding of and commitment to the structure and critical elements of our democracy. Interestingly, in order to become a citizen of the United States, those seeking to immigrate are required to review materials including civics information pertaining to U.S. history and government as part of the naturalization process. (See Section II.) Recently, the American Bar Association’s Task Force for American Democracy and deans of American law schools have stressed the critical importance to our society and its founding principles of improved education with respect to civics and the primacy of the Rule of Law.
10. Put the Country First. Interestingly, Haass notes that governing one’s self, personal character, integrity, and tolerance towards others is essential to the functioning of our democracy. He comments in particular on several situations in which the interests of the country were not put first, but were sacrificed to political objectives, and the damage to the interests of the country and its principles as a whole resulting from that kind of action.

II. The Citizenship Pledge for Newly Naturalized Citizens

A. Introduction

When persons seek to become U.S. citizens, they must obtain an application from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and they must review materials containing civics information pertaining to U.S. history and government in preparation for an interview with a USCIS officer, who may ask ten or more questions from a list of one hundred questions in the materials. Applicants who answer at least six questions correctly and are approved for citizenship are invited to participate in a naturalization ceremony, where the applicants must raise their right hands and swear an Oath of Allegiance. As a new citizen, each person taking the Oath of Allegiance agrees to take on and perform those duties and responsibilities sworn to in the Oath.

B. The Seven Undertakings of Newly Admitted American Citizens

1. In order to become a citizen, each person renounces all allegiance, loyalty and fidelity to any foreign ruler, state, or sovereignty of whom or which such person had once been a subject or citizen. In other words, the applicant renounces all loyalty, citizenship, duties, or obligations to any non-U.S. leader, state, or country.
2. In order to become a citizen, each person promises to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution and the laws of the United States, essentially a commitment to the rule of law as an essential element of U.S. citizenship.
3. In order to become a citizen, each person commits to support and defend the U.S. Constitution and the laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
4. In order to become a citizen, each person promises to bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law.
5. In order to become a citizen, each person agrees to perform noncombative services in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by U.S. law.
6. In order to become a citizen, each person agrees to perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by law.
7. Further, each person taking the Oath swears “under God” that they have agreed to perform the duties and responsibilities in the Oath “freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.”

“Reflections on Citizenship’s Obligations” by John H. Stout, co-chair of the American Bar Association Business Law Section’s Rule of Law Working Group, is part of a series on the rule of law and its importance for business lawyers created by the Rule of Law Working Group. Read more articles in the series.