unit 6 what do you think are the greatest challenges of american citizenship today? –why and how...
TRANSCRIPT
UNIT 6
What do you think are the greatest challenges of American citizenship today?
– Why and how does constitutional democracy in the United States depend on the active participation of its citizens
– What are the advantages and disadvantages, if any, of being a citizen of both the United States and the state in which you reside?
United States Governments
1 national
50 state
89,476 local
http://www.census.gov/govs/www/index.html
Activity
• How many units of government are there where you live?
• Which units of government affect you the most on a daily basis?
• Which units of government do you care about most? Why?
Washington
1 state
39 counties
281 cities
1229 special districts
Citizen responsibilities
• Vote intelligently
• “Participate”
• Serve
Challenges of voting intelligently
• Understanding “the system”
• Information• News• Opinion• Advertising
• Making time
National elections
• President
• Senators (2)
• House of Representatives (9)
State elections
• Governor• Lt. Governor• Legislature• Secretary of State• Attorney General• Superintendent of Public Instruction• Treasurer• Insurance Commissioner• Auditor• Commissioner of Public Lands• Judges (superior, district, municipal, pro tem & 29 appellate)• Initiatives, referenda, referrals
Local elections
• Mayor• City Council/Commission• Municipal judge• County officials• Special districts
• School• Library• Fire• Water/sewer• Etc.
Participation
• Federalist #10
• Fundamental principles
• Enlightened self-interest
Seeking non-governmental solutions
• NGO’s– Ringo (religious)– Bingo (business)– Ingo (international
http://library.duke.edu/research/subject/guides/ngo_guide/
Service
• Jury service
• Boards/Commissions
• Private• Public
• Office holding
Dual American citizenshipDilemmas
• Hard to understand
• Conflicting loyalties/duties
Global responsibilities?
• Declaration of Independence
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Why bother?
Limited government assumes
citizen participation
“Ownership”
If we are not willing to rule in our turn, other men (Hegel’s civil citizens, professional politicians and professional revolutionaries, corporate bureaucrats, and so on) will rule out of theirs. They will call us citizens, but we will be something less. Perhaps I should say they do call us citizens, but we are something less.
Michael Walzer - Obligations
An alternative view
We all must obey the
laws. Unless we care about
an issue or candidate, we
have no political obligations.
Voting and participation are
opportunities, not rights or
duties.
• Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
• Where. . . do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. . . Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.
Eleanor Roosevelt
• You could start by convincing a friend. Aung San Suu Kyi