Updating our Contract: Redefining Citizenship, Government and the Gives and Gets

We are at a moment when we can — and must redefine what it means to be a “citizen”. Beyond a health and economic crisis, we are at a demographic moment where youth, diversity and global realities should carry the day, lead the way — through our apparently ever more relevant leadership, economic and environmental crises.

First some Definitions and Context.

• The dictionary definition? c. 1300, “inhabitant of a city or town,” “city-dweller, town-dweller, citizen”. So this obviously needs to be redefined, no doubt. We have enough troubles with our urban/rural, blue/red divides — that are perpetuated by those that will divide us.
• As Wikeipedia takes note, a citizen is a sense of “freeman or inhabitant of a country, member of the state or nation, not an alien” is late 14c. Meaning “private person” (as opposed to a civil officer or soldier) is from c. 1600. As a title, 1795, from French: During the French Revolution, citoyen was used as a republican alternative to Monsieur. So yeah, this needs some work too.
• And then there are the US legal definitions: “citizenship is defined in the first clause of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment as all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.” Hence, we need to talk through the naturalization process — which Congress and Presidents past and current have been unable to resolve. And well, then the current ICE definitions — that is not even worth considering as viable nor reflective of our values. So let’s get to the quote below.
• Quote: He is not a citizen who is not disposed to respect the laws and to obey the civil magistrate; and he is certainly not a good citizen who does not wish to promote, by every means in his power, the welfare of the whole society of his fellow-citizens. [Adam Smith, “Theory of Moral Sentiments”]. Well, heck, let’s use this one as it is behaviorally based. Talk is cheap, behavior matters.

I come from simple stock, my Dad was a cop, my Mom a teacher. I went to Catholic schools and sponged into my soul a sense of responsibility for the other. And having worked in the nonprofit sector for many decades, the classic fundraising phrase “give, get or get off” can be tweaked to apply here. So yeah, behavior matters to me.

Beyond whether you have immigration papers, beyond past mistakes, beyond political power wielded through the force of money, beyond blue, red — what does a “citizen”, and “civic engagement” and the “social contract” mean right here, right now — and how might it look going forward? In this COVID 19 moment I think we can see some glaring gaps in how we in the US have envisioned citizenship in our nation.

So can we draft an updated and honorable social contract?

As noted on Wikipedia, a social contract is “the implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits, for example by sacrificing some individual freedom for state protection. Theories of a social contract became popular in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries among theorists such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as a means of explaining the origin of government and the obligations of subjects.”

As time has progressed here in the US, we have thankfully been updating the social contract to be more honorable, more inclusive, more reflective of our beautiful demographic reality. From the Constitution to the Emancipation Proclamation to the New Deal to the Civil Rights laws of the 1960’s — we have attempted to develop a full package of rights to happiness, health, housing, gainful employment. But that progress still has a distance to go.

And during that same period, we have also been vacillating on what we expect of citizens. Is it just birthright, is it serving in the military through a draft, is it volunteering in the community, is it voting, is it not committing a crime? Ironically we have had top leaders that have leveraged anything from educational deferments to bone spurs — to not fulfill draft obligations. We have had an array of leaders corruptly abuse their power for self-dealing. Not right, though not a surprising demonstration of privilege. Not acceptable. Let’s write a new contract for all of us.

The Deal?

Simply put, it is giving and getting. Certainly, some in the community may not be capable of giving in exactly the same way of the majority of us. And even more certainly, we can find equitable, common sense solutions — not everything has to be equal. But we do have to set a standard, an aspiration of behavior — beyond just mere birthright and seek a truly equitable social contract.

Give?

• National Service: Before the age of 25 commit to one year of national service — in the military or with an NGO.
• Taxes: Pay them, and if you run for office — share them — because as a voting citizen — we should get to see who is representing us.
• Civic Engagement: Voting, voting registration should be as frictionless as possible. And we should all be required to vote. How else does democracy work?
• Respect for the rule of law: Behavior matters. And yes, we need to have enough nuanced thinking to discern between small misdemeanors and something really serious when comes to affecting paths to citizenship.

Get

• Transparency and Facts and Accountability from all level of government — including during the campaign process, and during the acts of governing. And ideally, more transparency and accountability from the private and nonprofit sectors.
• A safety net for a potential life trip. Yes, we all fall. And some of us have bigger personal safety nets than others. Let’s create a sustainable safety net that strengthens our ties, is built on community.
• Investment in self, health, home, retirement should be facilitated and leveraged. What government policies can enable that?
• Privacy should be respected, honored, and monitored by the public sector. The growing role of the internet, big data, corporate behemoths — is troubling and no match for one individual’s vigilance. We need public policies.

All of this should help redefine the social contract, and also clarify how an immigrant can sign on the dotted line and formally join the nation. We need to set a standard for citizenship and shine a light on that path for those that have, or want to enter the door, like most of our relatives generations past.

Next steps?

Get off? Get off false paradigms and let’s collectively decide what it means to be a citizen.