What is "Civic Duty"?

[Blackhawk2001]

I looked up the definition of Civic Duty, which is "the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force".

The keywords in that definition are binds and demanded. Both of these words scream compel to me. YMMV.

I've noticed a number of words and phrases from my youth have had their meanings changed over the years. Of course, my father probably noticed the same thing.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Just as a curious aside, where does "Duty" fit in the phrase: Duty Honor Country?

 

[shibumiseeker]

I looked up the definition of Civic Duty, which is "the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force".

The keywords in that definition are binds and demanded. Both of these words scream compel to me. YMMV.

All that really means is that the term has a different context for you. I won't insist my interpretation is the only way the phrase can be interpreted, but a fair number of people take it the same way blackhawk and I do. I don't doubt a fair number of people take it the same way you do.

 

[SemperFiUSMC]

Just as a curious aside, where does "Duty" fit in the phrase: Duty Honor Country?

Don't know. That was a McArthur thing. Your general, not mine.

Our triumvirate is God, Country, Corps.

All that really means is that the term has a different context for you. I won't insist my interpretation is the only way the phrase can be interpreted, but a fair number of people take it the same way blackhawk and I do. I don't doubt a fair number of people take it the same way you do.

No disagreement at all.

 

[Eddie]

Just as a curious aside, where does "Duty" fit in the phrase: Duty Honor Country?

Duty stems from the root word due and implies that something is owed. I try to differentiate the concept of Duty as an obligation from the concept of having a Sense of Duty which means having an internal desire to behave a certain way.

I have a duty to my clients because we make an agreement for me to perform a service in return for pay; thus I am bound to discharge my duty under that obligation.

I have a sense of duty to my family because I love them. I am bound by my internal feelings to be loyal.

 

[JR50]

Civic Duty is the ugly deposit dropped by Honda Civics on the road.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

To beat this horse some more, apparently "Civic Duty" and specifically "Duty" implies for some of us, an obligation derived from ourselves (or our upbringing) while others look at "Duty" as an obligation imposed from outside ourselves. Most of us who have commented have said that they would be willing to contribute to their community (not "give back") in what seems to me to be a voluntary social compact: you help your neighbors and expect that they will help you. I don't recall seeing anyone comment that they feel a compulsion to "help the poor" or anyone else who won't contribute to the community, and we appear to be almost universally against being compelled to provide anything to the community. Anyone take issue with that?

 

[SemperFiUSMC]

To beat this horse some more, apparently "Civic Duty" and specifically "Duty" implies for some of us, an obligation derived from ourselves (or our upbringing) while others look at "Duty" as an obligation imposed from outside ourselves. Most of us who have commented have said that they would be willing to contribute to their community (not "give back") in what seems to me to be a voluntary social compact: you help your neighbors and expect that they will help you. I don't recall seeing anyone comment that they feel a compulsion to "help the poor" or anyone else who won't contribute to the community, and we appear to be almost universally against being compelled to provide anything to the community. Anyone take issue with that?

I think you've misread me a little.

I give a lot of time and money to causes. Church, local schools, local mission, friends, people I know but that aren't in my circle of friends, sometimes random strangers, etc.

I willingly help the poor; the lazy not so much.

I work with underprivileged kids locally.

I give because I want to, not because I'm required to.

I never expect anything in return.

I don't like, appreciate, or want to be told how, when, and to whom I must contribute.

I have resources (although much less than a couple years ago). I have a personal obligation to help others. That personal obligation comes from within my own heart, not from the government.

 

[Jay]

I felt a "civic duty" to this country in 1965, so I joined and served in the military. When we moved to this little town we still live in, back in 1971, I was glad that the community in town had kept things calm, peaceable, clean, and friendly, for us to live in. I do not respond to requests for donations via phone, or front door, so I exercised what I felt was an appropriate level of "civic duty" by taking the appropriate classes to become an EMT, and voluntarily serving as such on our locally owned and operated ambulance service for 15 years. My knees are too bad for me to continue in that mode, but I figure after 15 years as a volunteer, my "civic duty" has been fulfilled.

It's not anyone's place to even suggest what "civic duty" should mean to anyone else, any more than anyone should tell me what handgun to carry...... it's MY choice.

 

[Fletch]

It's not anyone's place to even suggest what "civic duty" should mean to anyone else, any more than anyone should tell me what handgun to carry...... it's MY choice.

RIGHT. ON.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I felt a "civic duty" to this country in 1965, so I joined and served in the military. When we moved to this little town we still live in, back in 1971, I was glad that the community in town had kept things calm, peaceable, clean, and friendly, for us to live in. I do not respond to requests for donations via phone, or front door, so I exercised what I felt was an appropriate level of "civic duty" by taking the appropriate classes to become an EMT, and voluntarily serving as such on our locally owned and operated ambulance service for 15 years. My knees are too bad for me to continue in that mode, but I figure after 15 years as a volunteer, my "civic duty" has been fulfilled.

It's not anyone's place to even suggest what "civic duty" should mean to anyone else, any more than anyone should tell me what handgun to carry...... it's MY choice.

Amen to that.

I've done enough volunteering and positively contributing to society to have racked up enough good karma points to last the rest of my life. And as long as I am capable, I will probably continue to do so. I figure that is something I pay forward, and when I am the one in need, I may get some small measure of it back.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I think you've misread me a little.

I give a lot of time and money to causes. Church, local schools, local mission, friends, people I know but that aren't in my circle of friends, sometimes random strangers, etc.

I willingly help the poor; the lazy not so much.

I work with underprivileged kids locally.

I give because I want to, not because I'm required to.

I never expect anything in return.

I don't like, appreciate, or want to be told how, when, and to whom I must contribute.

I have resources (although much less than a couple years ago). I have a personal obligation to help others. That personal obligation comes from within my own heart, not from the government.

I sincerely apologize if what I posted made you think I was implying you don't serve your community; that was directed at some folks (on different threads) who've basically said "I take care of me and mine; everyone else can stuff it". Even some of those folks likely don't mean that they do nothing to help in their community.

The idea for asking this thread question and my previous one about "neighborhood responsibility" came out of discussions of what constitutes "damage" to one's property, in context of laws and criminal behavior. The idea that "my right to swing my fist ends at your nose" deals with tangible damage to property; my question about whether a property owner had a responsibility to his neighbors arose out of comments about property values. I'm sure we've all heard of neighborhoods where the properties deteriorate and cause surrounding property values to drop. In a time where people are having trouble selling their homes anyway, I wondered if a case could be made against a neighbor whose badly-maintained property could be proven to have lowered the surrounding property values, thus causing another property owner "damage".

Out of that thread, where one prevailing thought seemed to be that we, as property owners, have no compelled duty to do anything for our neighbors, and that brought me to the, admittedly not-well-stated theme of this thread, searching for the common-sense links between libertarian concepts of freedom, crime, punishment, and societal relations.

 

[Fletch]

Out of that thread, where one prevailing thought seemed to be that we, as property owners, have no compelled duty to do anything for our neighbors, and that brought me to the, admittedly not-well-stated theme of this thread, searching for the common-sense links between libertarian concepts of freedom, crime, punishment, and societal relations.

Societal relations = "whatever rules you and I can agree to observe between ourselves"

In other words, there is no duty to the amorphous concept "society". There is only duty to individuals, and then only that which has been mutually and voluntarily agreed in advance, excepting cases of force and fraud.

The value of your property for resale is an expression of investment, and investment carries risk that the value will drop. Just as I have no responsibility to support the companies whose stocks you own, I have no responsibility to support the value of your property.

Personally I think the whole discussion is making a mountain out of a molehill. Yes, there will be the occasional lazy and sloppy neighbor. I've had the dubious pleasure of living next to two of them. But I say deal with it. Nobody promised you a rose garden -- unless they did, in which case you should have gotten it in writing. On the whole, however, most folks take at least moderate care of their property. All this fretting about "the entire neighborhood" neglecting the upkeep of their property strikes me as needless worry over something likely to only happen in the worst slums.

 

[dross]

I felt a "civic duty" to this country in 1965, so I joined and served in the military. When we moved to this little town we still live in, back in 1971, I was glad that the community in town had kept things calm, peaceable, clean, and friendly, for us to live in. I do not respond to requests for donations via phone, or front door, so I exercised what I felt was an appropriate level of "civic duty" by taking the appropriate classes to become an EMT, and voluntarily serving as such on our locally owned and operated ambulance service for 15 years. My knees are too bad for me to continue in that mode, but I figure after 15 years as a volunteer, my "civic duty" has been fulfilled.

It's not anyone's place to even suggest what "civic duty" should mean to anyone else, any more than anyone should tell me what handgun to carry...... it's MY choice.

RIGHT. ON.

Let's not get carried away.

Civic duty can mean a variety of things I don't object to, and just one that I will object to, that being use of force.

I might have a sense of civic duty that informs my choices about how I operate with my community. That comes from me. I can communicate and attempt to persuade others to adopt my sense of civic duty. I have every right to present my point of view.

If a lot of my fellows agree with me, we can exact any number of negative consequences upon those who don't share our viewpoint. If our neighbor won't mow his yard, we can shun him, or spit on the ground when he walks by, or give him the evil eye. We can curse him underneath our breath and raise the prices in our store when he walks in. We can refuse to invite his kids to our kids' birthday party.

We only go wrong when we try to use the power of the government's men with guns to impose by force our sense of civic duty on others.