Give Back America
La Rue 1
Rob La Rue
Give Back America A great man once said “ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country.” That great man was John F. Kennedy, our thirty-fifth President. Personal freedoms, along with democracy and other American traditions, require more than just knowledge of the latter. Freedom is not free; every person who calls themself an “American” should, and have, an obligation to reciprocate a small portion of themself back to society. American individualism, although one of our greatest and defining traits, has progressively helped to shadow our image of civic duty and what it means to be an American: free. In America, citizens strive to be individuals. Most persons favor someone who can take care of themself, but not everyone can take care of everything alone. At some point in an individual’s life, they will need the assistance of someone else or the help of society. Cornell West states in “The Moral Obligations of Living in a Democratic Society” that “the roots of democracy are fundamentally grounded in mutual respect, personal responsibility, and social accountability” (249). American individualism could be looked at as a chain link: each link is strong by itself, but
La Rue 2 combined with other links it becomes stronger as a chain, contributing to its surroundings while benefiting its own stability. Each individual has a small part to contribute, a civic duty to fulfill to ensure democracy and American traditions flourish. In “Civic Responsibility,” Charles Derber writes “when a community shows that it cares so deeply for each of its members that each, in turn, fully understand their debt to society and seek to pay it back in full” (252). Americans as a whole enjoy many personal freedoms because they live in a democracy, but often forget their part in democracy. “For the people by the people,” is that not the premise for American democracy? “Social rights are not a free ride for the population, for with
Rob La Rue
Give Back America A great man once said “ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country.” That great man was John F. Kennedy, our thirty-fifth President. Personal freedoms, along with democracy and other American traditions, require more than just knowledge of the latter. Freedom is not free; every person who calls themself an “American” should, and have, an obligation to reciprocate a small portion of themself back to society. American individualism, although one of our greatest and defining traits, has progressively helped to shadow our image of civic duty and what it means to be an American: free. In America, citizens strive to be individuals. Most persons favor someone who can take care of themself, but not everyone can take care of everything alone. At some point in an individual’s life, they will need the assistance of someone else or the help of society. Cornell West states in “The Moral Obligations of Living in a Democratic Society” that “the roots of democracy are fundamentally grounded in mutual respect, personal responsibility, and social accountability” (249). American individualism could be looked at as a chain link: each link is strong by itself, but
La Rue 2 combined with other links it becomes stronger as a chain, contributing to its surroundings while benefiting its own stability. Each individual has a small part to contribute, a civic duty to fulfill to ensure democracy and American traditions flourish. In “Civic Responsibility,” Charles Derber writes “when a community shows that it cares so deeply for each of its members that each, in turn, fully understand their debt to society and seek to pay it back in full” (252). Americans as a whole enjoy many personal freedoms because they live in a democracy, but often forget their part in democracy. “For the people by the people,” is that not the premise for American democracy? “Social rights are not a free ride for the population, for with