What Our Democracy Needs: Devoted Citizenship

People often ask, what actions can we take to preserve our democracy? To address this very question, Richard Haas has just published his book on being a good citizen in a democracy. The title of the book is “The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens”. The obligations Haas presented are: Be Informed, Get Involved, Stay Open to Compromise, Stay Civil, Reject Violence, Value Norms, Promote the Common Good, Respect Government Service, Support the Teaching of Civics, and Put Country First. Along with explaining each obligation in depth, he provides an extensive reading list for avid readers to learn more about our democracy.

Some of us have never learned the habits that Haas proposed, or have forgotten what is required of us if we want to preserve our democracy. For instance, I attended a meeting with my Congressional representative during which three hecklers kept interrupting when they did not like what was being said. When it was my turn to speak, I told them they will lose our democracy when they try to suppress dissenting views. This goes to show that we need to resist any and all efforts to overturn our democracy, as no other form of governance encourages citizen input.

This blog post is the third in a series of posts devoted to answering the question, “What can I do personally, to promote a well-being economy?” The first post presented an assortment of actions each of us can do individually. The second post highlighted possible lifestyle changes you could make by scoring whether you are living within the doughnut of a sustainable economy. Please read the other two posts. Together, they provide a wealth of resources and opportunities to foster greater well-being for everyone.

Rex S. Green