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Guest Articles

Freedom vs. Responsibility

by Charles Kennedy,
Instructor of Political Science, Penn State - York

If you were to ask the average American citizen, Joe Sixpack and Sally Chablis, what democracy is all about, I am sure that most of us would say, proudly and loudly, freedom. What we forget, however, is that the other side of the coin of freedom is responsibility. We simply cannot have, nor sustain, freedom unless we the people take responsibility for our freedom.

This is not a new issue. It goes to the beginnings of democracy in Athens, the wellspring of our western democratic heritage. During the Golden Age of Athenian democracy, Pericles was asked, "What makes Athens so great?" He responded, "We are the only people who believe that they, who do not meddle in the affairs of state, are not lazy, nor idle, nor indolent, but good for nothing."

By meddling in the affairs of state, he meant that it was the responsibility of the Athenian citizens to become involved—to try to make their little corner of the world a better place. If citizens did not assume this responsibility, they were useless.

In his famous studies on the reasons for the decline and fall of both the Roman and Athenian empires the noted historian, Edward Gibbon, concluded, "When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then both Rome and Athens ceased to be."

To be very honest with you, this is the point that I get very nervous about when I examine the state of our democracy today. I am afraid that too many of us want freedom from responsibility—that we have become too much of a Me-ist society. We are content and obsessed with ourselves and our entitlements—content to let somebody else make the sacrifices in time, money, life …

We have completely reversed the exciting and inspirational words of President John F. Kennedy's clarion call to service in his inaugural address, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Today, too many of us, too frequently, are saying and even demanding, "What can my country do for me … give me this … give me that … I am entitled …"

We need to re-energize our democracy, our purpose as a nation, and our sense of responsibility for the destiny of our democracy. President John F. Kennedy attempted to revitalize democracy in America with the creation of the Peace Corps in 1961. He gave us the opportunity to practice the idealism and altruism that had been dormant.

I was one of the thousands of Americans, young and old, who responded to President Kennedy's clarion call and joined the Peace Corps. We had the most splendid opportunity to volunteer and to be of service to our country and try to make our little corner of the world a better place.

In his classic, Democracy in America, the Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, predicted in 1835 that the United States would become a great nation. He based this prediction on the "volunteer spirit" that he found so prevalent and plentiful in our nascent country.

We need to recapture this sense of responsibility and social conscience. We need to renew our sense of citizen service and re-energize our volunteer spirit.

I believe the health of the democratic system depends deeply on the involvement and concerns of its citizens. No society can function, let alone flourish, if its citizens do not take responsibility for it.

Participation in volunteer programs will re-establish the link between benefits and obligations in society, and strengthen the underlying concept of citizenship. The volunteer spirit can be a positive force to overcome obstacles to a truly just society. As Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, "Anybody can be great, because anybody can serve."

The volunteer spirit epitomizes the faith and confidence of individual citizens who proudly believe "… their country is still an experiment and it must stand for something beyond mere survival."

(Charles L. Kennedy is a senior instructor of political Science at Penn State York and a former Peace Corps Volunteer.)