FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2011
The loss—and the duty—of citizens: We thought President Obama
did a good job Wednesday night helping create a sense of community, focusing on the value of the people whose lives were lost. To our ear, there has been a bit of a statistical oddness to this event. Gabrielle Giffords seems to be an especially sane and sensible member of Congress—despite the fact that she has been criticized for daring to be a “Blue Dog.” Somewhat similarly, Christina-Taylor Green seems to have been an unusual nine-year-old, from her date of birth on. Several young people have emerged—young people who are remarkably poised and impressive. We think of Daniel Hernandez, age 20. And of Christin Gilmer, a remarkably impressive and poised young activist who organized a “counter-protest” to shield the Green family from the lunacy of the “Westboro Baptist Church,” who were threatening to bring their brand of public insanity to Christian-Taylor Green’s funeral. For the transcript of Gilmer’s discussion with Anderson Cooper, just click here—though you’ll miss her extraordinary sense of sanity, devotion and calm. (Gilmer: “It's about protecting this family and letting them grieve and show the compassion that our entire community has for them.”) A federal judge was lost that day too. We were struck by Obama’s words about Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard:
OBAMA (1/12/11): Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson together about 70 years ago. They moved apart and started their own respective families, but after both were widowed, they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy's daughters put it, "be boyfriend and girlfriend again."
When they weren't out on the road in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ.
If liberals want to create a saner conversation, we’d suggest that we focus on the notion of citizenship. If you want to persuade a person of something, it helps to connect your presentation to that person’s pre-existing values—values in which they have an investment. Most people have a (positive) sense of the value—and the duties—of citizenship.
What are a citizen’s duties? A citizen shouldn’t be hateful or violent, of course—but a citizen also shouldn’t be foolish. We’re all inclined to believe certain things. But we have a citizen’s duty to question our own inclinations—to make sure that we aren’t being utterly foolish in the ideas we advance?
A tremendous amount of damn-fool nonsense has defined our public discourse for the past several decades. Have you ever seen a major press organ introduce that concept into our discourse—introduce the notion that we citizens, who may end up believing various things, do have a citizen’s duty not to be flat-out foolish?
We’re all inclined to believe certain things—things which reinforce our instinctive world-view. Don’t we have an obligation to do better—to question our own inclinations? To follow Obama’s child-centric framing from Wednesday, let’s quote Laura Ingalls Wilder from September 1921: “In the light of experience and the test of the years, can you see how your mother might have been more to you, could have guided you better? Then be sure you are making the most of your privileges with the children who are looking to you for love and guidance.”
We’re all inclined to believe certain things—but don’t citizens have a duty to do better? Don’t citizens have a duty to avoid advancing ideas or beliefs which are utterly foolish? Of course, we liberals can’t impose this regime on The Other until we observe it ourselves.
