“We are going to have to redefine citizenship” with a changed focus on obligations and responsibilities, he said.”
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This is code for “progressives”, socialism and we are running your life. Be especially afraid of the last statement, as they mean obligations to the collectivist goals and obedience.

In total agreement with you about the need to think about a change in how citizenship is viewed and what sorts of responsibilities that entails.

We need to get beyond today’s model, which may be encapsulated in a paraphrased quote from Fareed Zakaria: “Every politician goes on television and says that the American people don’t want to be lied to, just before they go on to say they can have more services with lower taxes”.

But that kind of makes your point about citizenship and responsibility. America is so indebted. The huge state system, of which Chicago is a leading client, may soon collapse. What to do facing such a future? Sustainabiilty, it seems to me, begins with thinking how we would respond to a future where we are much more responsible for ruling ourselves, getting things back to normal in the midst of a crisis, in a greater freedom/responsibility created by the bankruptcy/aging of the present form of state welfarism.