Ask not what you country can do for you, said JFK in his inaugural address in 1961, but what you can do for your country. Kennedy was well-placed to throw down this gauntlet – he had actively sought out dangerous combat service in the second world war when he could easily have avoided doing so. It’s a challenge that has echoed down the decades, especially for conservative-minded people who tend to think about patriotism in terms of individuals’ obligations to the nation and to the state.
All the same, there does come a point when it is reasonable for people to turn the question around once again. It is possible for countries to fail their citizens, for governments to pile unbearable and unjust burdens on the backs of their taxpayers, to ignore their most fundamental duties.
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