Ethical Democratic Citizen

What does it mean to be an ethical democratic citizen? This questions has probably been asked throughout the history of this country. When answering this question, you must consider each component of the question individually: what does it mean to be ethical, democratic and a citizen?

The first point that must be considered is "what does it mean to be ethical?". No matter where you go, this is a very big question. Some will say that truth is relative (meaning a 'truth' may be true for one person, but not for another). This, however, does not make sense. Ethics by definition deals with right and wrong. It is impossible to be ethical if there is no such thing as a right or wrong that applies to everyone. You can only have ethics if there is such thing as absolute truth. This being said, there has to be things that are right and wrong for a country. In order to be an ethical part of a country, you must abide by these things. You must do the things that are right.

The second point that must be taken into account is "what does it mean to be democratic?". The goal of a democracy is to secure the rights and liberty of all those who live in the nation. In order to do this, the people in a democracy have to band together or democratic goals will not be met. In order to secure rights and liberty, people have to watch out for their neighbors; they have to make sure that everyone is being treated rightly. If no one does this then a democracy will break up and die, and this will lead to anarchy. Also you must have 'love' for other people. When I say 'love', I mean that you have to care for conrete others, not just care for the idea of other people.

The last point that must be considered is "what does it mean to be a citizen?". What does it mean to be a citizen? The literal definition of a citizen is one who lives in a country. However, this definotion does not go far enough in this case. There are two types of citizens: good citizens and bad citizens. The key to being a good citizen is to be active in the government. This means that you have to make an effort to be aware of what is going on around you. Also, it means that have to fulfill your duty to make decisions in the government, which is to say you must vote. On the contrary, a bad citizen is one who lives in the country, but doesn't make an effort to be involved in any politics.

What does it mean to be an ethical democratic citizen? To be ethical you not only have to hold a set of beliefs and stand by them, but they have to be good towards all other citizens. Being democratic has everything to do with love. If you act in love you will act in a manner that treats everyone in the right way. To be a citizen you must make an honoest effort to be active in your government.