Abstract
All human beings are born with rights, and the chief function of the government is to secure those rights. The rights of the individuals come first, before their corresponding duties. The proponents of the concept of active citizenship claim, however, that citizenship essentially demands obligations. "Citizenship as obligations" stems from civic republican thought, for which active political participation is the duty of all adult citizens, as members of a society. Citizens' rights are correlative with, and conditional on, obligations. The adult citizens receive their rights from the community in return for fulfilling their obligations. The community's sanity comes first...
