Recently, I received this question from one of our participants at Common Sense Civics and Citizenship. He asks, “The problem (one of many) is, many modern Americans have a very haughty opinion of themselves, just because they are American…They have a high opinion of themselves simply because they can claim “citizenship”. Candace, please “dive in” to that aspect of “being a proud American” – What, REALLY, is true “citizenship” in America?
Belief Shapes Behavior
I have addressed this topic in the past by using the premise, “What you believe is how you will behave.” Then, I have reinforced the idea that what makes you an American is what you believe about our country’s founding documents, American ideals, and American values.
Belief is the root; practice is the trunk — true citizenship shows itself in daily choices and commitments.
Birthright and Foundation
Where you are born has a lasting effect. Our Founders and Framers understood this, having lived under State servitude. So, our forefathers sought to provide a foundation of personal, individual freedom for “ourselves and our posterity.” They studied a variety of sources and historical facts to ascertain what makes a people free. They concluded that We the People running the government is more likely to lead to freedom than any other form of government. But, it is up to the People to keep their freedom by daily exercising their citizenship, guarding their liberty, living it, and passing on patriotism to their children.
Values That Sustain Freedom
The Founders understood that citizens needed to adopt values like integrity, loyalty, courage, and purity to remain free. They embraced biblical values of truth, honesty, justice, respect, and self-control. Biblical values do NOT make you religious, and they don’t make you a Christian.
Some examples:
-Americans appreciate the value of loyalty in their families and workplaces.
-Stealing: Americans who don’t steal have a clear conscience to focus on other important matters.
-Honesty: Honest people are not distracted by the constant need to cover their tracks.
-Courage: Who else would willingly die to defend their nation and fellow soldiers by choice, not by force? Americans choose service above themselves. Americans live these values out in their daily lives.
Justice: Read the Source
And then there’s Justice. To understand justice, don’t read a newspaper.
Instead, read Article III and the Constitution’s First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments.
In fact, read the Constitution to understand how these values translate into the most humane form of government on the face of the earth.
Lessons from the Bondage of Others
People who have lived under dictators, regimes, or even monarchies understand freedom from experiencing what it is like to live in bondage to the State. They can’t stop talking about how incredible freedom is. They see the free exercise of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition as unlimited potential and the freedom to keep and bear arms as imperative to maintaining those rights. They take their citizenship seriously.
A Call to Renewed Appreciation
If our nation could return to an exuberance, an appreciation of what our Founders gave us, instead of trying to turn us into the governments that many new citizens left behind, think of the unlimited American potential that could be released!
What does your American citizenship mean to you?
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