Accountability to others is the price of freedom for ourselves. But too many Americans want...
https://www.editorialboard.com/accountability-to-others-is-the-price-of-freedom-for-ourselves-but-too-many-americans-want-democracy-on-the-cheap/
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The conservative hegemony of the last 40-45 year, starting with Reagan, was a period in which citizens were turned into consumers and society was atomized into millions of self-interested individuals. Your book, and its four profiles, seems like a counterargument.
Im trying to reframe conventional language about responsibility. Often, we think about it as self-reliance, taking care of ourselves or our families. I want to say that in a democratic society, responsibility means more than this. It means taking responsibility for harms that stem from institutions and processes in which we participate.
Our political institutions make us complicit. Because we can shape political outcomes through voting and through answering opinion polls, we bear some responsibility for things our government does.
Democracy is not simply a set of institutions. It is also a way of life underpinned by ideals, like self-rule, equality and solidarity. We cannot be true to those ideals if we do not take responsibility for harms that result from institutions and processes in which we participate.
Again I do not necessarily mean blameworthy.
Rather, I mean having a duty to respond.
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