The Ideal Citizen

[silver 2039]

What are chartheristics that should be posessed by an ideal citizen in a democratic society?

 

[Mulholland]

Good question. The ideal citizen should be:
1)literate. To be able to read and understand a free press.
2)a critical thinker. To be able to sort through relevant information and see through biases.
3)skeptical. As to never take a statement at face value.
4)involved(not apathetic). If you think somthing needs to be done, then do it.

 

[kingjoshi]

Faithful.
Obedient.
Loyal.

Everyone that follows that will be happy.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Faithful.
Obedient.
Loyal.

Sounds like youre thinking of a kennel, not a democratic country.

 

[Tenochtitlan]

Good question. The ideal citizen should be:
1)literate. To be able to read and understand a free press.
2)a critical thinker. To be able to sort through relevant information and see through biases.
3)skeptical. As to never take a statement at face value.
4)involved(not apathetic). If you think somthing needs to be done, then do it.

Quite true, and to quote Thomas Jefferson, "Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."


A democracy cannot work with many of the people being either apathetic or illiterate or credulous.

 

[thetrooper]

Ideal citizen and democracy, that's incoherent...

 

[Dann]

What are chartheristics that should be posessed by an ideal citizen in a democratic society?

1) Obeys the laws as they exist and pays taxes as required.
2) Possesses a mind of his/her own. He/she scouts for information from various sources (since no one source is unbiased), and then forms his/her own opinion on matters.
3) Should there be any complaints with existing laws and regulations, or the way his/her nation is being run, exhausts all means to get the message across to elected officials instead of taking to the streets at the drop of a hat.
4) If there be no other choice left, demonstrates, but does so peacefully. Rioting, looting and burning other people's shops and businesses are not activities that garner sympathy.
5) Votes for government positions and referendum issues with the backing of personal analysis and opinions formed, instead of based on which party gave the most doleouts, the most impressive speeches or the prettiest dancers.
6) After the results have been counted, respects the results! The majority has spoken. He/she may not like the new leader or the result of that referendum, but that's what a larger proportion of the population want. A good citizen works with the system instead of engaging in endless litigation trying to claim the other party cheated in order to dethrone them, or doing nothing and griping endlessly. He/she should go back to doing 3) again.
7) One could, however, engage in activities to educate and convince others to his/her line of thinking in order to achieve different results the next time around. Peacefully and non-obnoxiously, of course. While it's true that democracies espouse free speech, citizens have the obligation to respect certain limits too.

EDIT: Edited for grammar.

 

[bhsup]

The saying is that a picture is worth a thousand words. Behold, the ideal citizen.

 

[Riesstiu IV]

Does Captain America ever age? He was fighting Nazis back in the 40's... he should be 80 by now!

Anyways, the ideal citizen would be:

1) Educated to at least the high school level.
2) Interest in politics, economics, and sciences.
3) Conservative when it comes to usage of resources.
4) Not morally bankrupt.
5) Not a criminal.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Does Captain America ever age?

The ideal citizen never ages enough to drain Social Security and Medicare funds out of the system.

 

[bhsup]

Cue El Machinae! Though actually, you have a point. El Mac may deserve honorable mention for striving to better the overall human condition by suspending aging.

 

[Irish Caesar]

To be serious (for a change), I pretty much agree with Dann's answer.

 

[HawkeyeGS]

The main principal of a citizen is to be loyal enough to point out when a government is stuffing a country up. You can love your country and still hate the president. If you just let some bozo run your country (and the world) into a hole simply because of 'the divine right of presidents' then you arn't very loyal to your country IMO.

 

[Shaihulud]

1.) Middle-Class
2.) Non assuming and modest
3.) Intelligent and aware
4.) Responsible and respectful of authority

 

[Dann]

1.) Middle-Class
2.) Non assuming and modest
3.) Intelligent and aware
4.) Responsible and respectful of authority

Hey that's me. Where's my prize?

 

[Shaihulud]

You can get to pay more taxes

 

[Rambuchan]

Good question. The ideal citizen should be:
1)literate. To be able to read and understand a free press.
2)a critical thinker. To be able to sort through relevant information and see through biases.
3)skeptical. As to never take a statement at face value.
4)involved(not apathetic). If you think somthing needs to be done, then do it.

I'll go with this. It's close enough.

Faithful.
Obedient.
Loyal.

Everyone that follows that will be happy.

Bozo was right. Dog kennel indeed. Frankly, you'd be nuts to call this a democracy and I'd say this post, unless you're being sarcastic, belies a few very serious misunderstandings about democracy.

 

[Panzeh]

The ideal citizen has a submachine gun in one hand and a ballot in the other.

 

[Dr. Yoshi]

The ideal citizen has a submachine gun in one hand and a ballot in the other.

I'm assuming the ideal citizen wouldn't be voting with the submachine gun, would he?

 

[Panzeh]

I'm assuming the ideal citizen wouldn't be voting with the submachine gun, would he?

The submachine gun is worth more in the power game, but occasionally you run out of ammunition.