Citizen Responsibility
When we heard something about citizen responsibility, our first response is to think that it might be related to paying tax, abiding the law, etc. We are born into this world to live where a national state is a reality. It' s very difficult to imagine a life without state, without government. Actually, state is of course not an absolute reality. We made it, by a contract at the moment of the establishment of the state, by constitution or any other means.
By accepting state as an absolute reality has advantages as well as disadvantages. The advantages are the aura of the protection of the state, positive law to govern the civil conduct, protection of public and private properties, and many other. Without state, those might be difficult to achieve. When we have a disagreement with someone, we don't have a mediator, in this case: state. We might have to solve the disagreement by ourselves or find a good mediator, which might not be easy. We also feel safe in the presence of law, remembering that crime is punishable by law, so we do not have to carry weapon or learn martial arts to protect ourselves. Our protection is guaranteed by law.
By accepting state as an absolute reality actually IS the disadvantage in itself. We surrender ourselves to the presence of the state, then we forgot that our presence as humanbeing is actually more absolute than the state. We rely to the state on anything, even thinking. We want the state to think what is best for ourselves.
Is it necessary that living together in a state need to be like that? No, not necessary. The people of Greece in ancient time lived in polis. In a polis, each citizen is responsible for the wellbeing of the state. Each held office in turn, serve as civil officer and judge. They lived an active political life (the word politics is derived from polis, although lost the meaningful part).
Maybe we need to reinvent the ideal state, to recapture the responsibility of a citizen. Maybe we are too comfortable after we surrender the responsibility to the politicians. It cannot be like that forever. Having lived in a third-world-country, I personally experience the effects of that surrender. The politicians are not serving the state, but themselves. And we, the people, must face the consequences those are not our wrongdoings.
By living as an active citizen, we are fulfilling our destiny as a humanbeing. Like Aristotle said, we are a political animal, an animal who lived in a polis, who are responsible to govern ourselves, not to be govern by others. Read more!
By accepting state as an absolute reality has advantages as well as disadvantages. The advantages are the aura of the protection of the state, positive law to govern the civil conduct, protection of public and private properties, and many other. Without state, those might be difficult to achieve. When we have a disagreement with someone, we don't have a mediator, in this case: state. We might have to solve the disagreement by ourselves or find a good mediator, which might not be easy. We also feel safe in the presence of law, remembering that crime is punishable by law, so we do not have to carry weapon or learn martial arts to protect ourselves. Our protection is guaranteed by law.
By accepting state as an absolute reality actually IS the disadvantage in itself. We surrender ourselves to the presence of the state, then we forgot that our presence as humanbeing is actually more absolute than the state. We rely to the state on anything, even thinking. We want the state to think what is best for ourselves.
Is it necessary that living together in a state need to be like that? No, not necessary. The people of Greece in ancient time lived in polis. In a polis, each citizen is responsible for the wellbeing of the state. Each held office in turn, serve as civil officer and judge. They lived an active political life (the word politics is derived from polis, although lost the meaningful part).
Maybe we need to reinvent the ideal state, to recapture the responsibility of a citizen. Maybe we are too comfortable after we surrender the responsibility to the politicians. It cannot be like that forever. Having lived in a third-world-country, I personally experience the effects of that surrender. The politicians are not serving the state, but themselves. And we, the people, must face the consequences those are not our wrongdoings.
By living as an active citizen, we are fulfilling our destiny as a humanbeing. Like Aristotle said, we are a political animal, an animal who lived in a polis, who are responsible to govern ourselves, not to be govern by others. Read more!
posted by Oni Suryaman at 10:46 am
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