Let’s make ‘citizen’ a verb

Recent studies show that more and more Americans are tuning out of politics.  Who can blame them? Today, we see a politics of personal promotion, rather than a politics that inspires collective problem-solving. The last straw may have been when a governor from one political party would not meet with the president of the United States from the other party to cooperate on recovery from a hurricane. No wonder Americans crave something different from our national leaders than a politics of division.

Such a sea change must clearly come from the ground up — from citizens themselves who recognize that they, under our constitutional republic, are in charge and demand a different approach. 

In his book, “We Hold These Truths,” written for the celebration of the bicentennial in 1976, Mortimer Adler reminded us that citizen — not president, senator, or governor — is the highest office in the land. He said, “Most Americans, I fear, do not know …that citizenship is the primary political office under a constitutional government. In a republic, the citizens are the ruling class. I am sorry to say that most Americans think of themselves as the subjects of government and regard the administrators in public office as their rulers, instead of thinking of themselves as the ruling class and public officials as their servants for carrying out their will.”

Citizens who have recognized this fact have stepped forward to effect profound change. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin reminds us that all transformational initiatives across our history initially emerged from private citizens, often with no public office or platform. The founding of the country, the creation of national parks, the civil rights movement, and countless other efforts that changed the course of our history were first ignited and led by citizens who dreamed of a more perfect union.

In turn, national leaders who recognized this core principle have been wise to awaken citizens to action. We think of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, John F. Kennedy in his Inaugural Address, George W. Bush after 9/11, and others who awakened Americans to be citizens, not spectators. Their leadership struck a chord because it awakened people to their better angels and created a greater sense of “we.”

The word “citizen” is a noun. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the United State and of the State wherein they reside.”

As PBS host Baratunde Thurston suggested at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s terrific Thought Leader Forum last week, we also want “citizen” to be a verb — a recognition that individual Americans have the power to effect change and that national leaders would be wise to tap them to serve our communities and country in countless ways.

A culture of citizenship as a verb could include a year or more of national service — in civilian programs like the Peace Corps, Habitat for Humanity, Earth Conservation Corps or Medical Reserve Corps or in one of the six branches of the military. Such citizenship builds character, cultivates skills needed for work, and bridges divides across politics, race and ethnicity.

Citizen as a verb could be reaching out to a neighbor in need, volunteering at your local food bank, school or hospital, or starting a new nonprofit to effect changes across a community or the country. Citizen also means stretching out your compassion to areas of need around the world, helping to end malaria deaths by donating a bed net, deploying as a doctor across borders, or contributing to emergency response.

Citizen as a verb could be running for public office at the local, state or national level and being a true public servant who recognizes the powerful role that individual Americans play in improving our communities and country. 

Citizen activation is not just good for others. The latest neuroscience tells us such citizen service activates regions of the brain that make us fundamentally healthier and happier. Citizen as a verb makes us more complete, whole human beings, and helps create healthier communities and a better country.

That, of course, was the kind of happiness that Thomas Jefferson was writing about in the Declaration of Independence — the inalienable right to the “pursuit of Happiness” with a capital H. It was not just an individual right, but a cooperative enterprise we help one another achieve by being active citizens.

We live in a time of heightened polarization, low levels of trust in each other and institutions, and a national politics that is ripping us further apart. Let’s each commit to make “citizen” a verb in our own lives and unleash the better angels of our nature to give back to the communities and country we love and leave a better world for our children and grandchildren.

John Bridgeland is co-chair and CEO of More Perfect and former director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and member of the White House Council for Community Solutions under President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, respectively.