Citizenship as Foundation of Rights: Meaning for America
Dr. Richard Sobel
Cyber Privacy Project; Northwestern, and Harvard
Talke to the College of Complexes, Chicago, February 21, 2015
Cyberprivacyproject@hotmail.com
www.cyberprivacyproject.org
I.
Introduction: Empowering Citizenship
II.
The Nature of American Citizenship as the Foundation of Rights
III.
The Right to Vote
IV.
The Right to Employment
V.
The Right to Travel
VI.
Threats to Citizenship Rights in Identification Regimes
VII.
Protecting Citizenship Rights as Protecting Human Rights
VIII.
Conclusions: Sustaining Empowering Citizenship
The nature of United States citizenship and the rights flowing from U.S. citizenship
create fundamental bedrocks of American democracy. Citizenship as Foundation of Rights
explores the unique constitutional and political powers and implications of American citizenship.
It advances this understanding by explaining the nature, foundations, meanings, powers, and
consequences of American citizenship for rights in politics, work, and travel.
Specifically, the talk (and future book) expand on the signficance and policy meanings of
American citizenship for political, work and travel rights (Sobel, 2008). It explains that political
citizenship includes rights that are inalienable and empowering. It extends and deepens the
discussion of the right to vote (Sobel, 2009, 2014). It explains the right to employment has
constitutional and political foundations (Sobel, 2008, 2013). It develops the right to travel in its
historical and constitutional dimensions (Sobel & Torres, 2013, Sobel 2014).
The current debates around citizenship, immigration, and national identification systems
generally neglect the nature of citizenship as a source of power for citizens and others aspiring to
become citizens. Similarly, most of the debates neglect the negative effects of immigration
“reforms” that undermine citizenship and its rights by imposing ID requirements on the exercise
of rights to vote, work and travel. The book explains why restrictions, for instance, on citizen
political, work and travel rights by imposing ID requirements undermine the foundations and
meaning of citizenship and democracy. It reveals why strong citizenship rights benefits all
people here, including non-citizens. While everyone has personal, natural and human rights, they
provide less secure protections than citizenship.
The word “citizenship” is in the frequently discussed in debates today. From “path to
citizenship” to “citizen scientists” (Ormes et al, 2013) to “citizen musicians” (Caro, 2013), the
phrases are common and often mentioned. But the meaning of American citizenship at its most
powerful needs a more thorough airing and explanation to inform the public and policy debates.
Alternative approaches to citizenship that emphasize benefits, responsibilities, human rights, or
global factors differ from the focus here on rights and empowerment of U.S, citizenship.
Citizenship as Foundation of Rights holds that American citizenship is constituted in
fundamentally powerful political and related rights. Those rights can be exercised just became
of citizenship, and the government must assist and not abridge them. In short, citizenship is the
source of many of our most significant rights.
In summary, Citizenship as Foundation of Rights provides insights into the powerful
nature of American citizenship and its constitutional foundations for political, employment, and
travel rights. It explains the consequences of weakening and strengthening citizenship rights in
these areas against ID demands that undermine those rights. Recognizing and opposing more
widely ID requirements that must not be allowed to compromise citizens' constitutional rights
can be a source to strengthen those basic rights of meaningful citizenship in twenty-first century
America.
Public awareness of citizenship issues can strengthen the foundations of citizenship and
citizen rights in politics, work and travel. Citizenship as Foundation of Rights explains that the
strength of citizenship supports the foundation of rights for a healthy democracy. Bringing these
perspectives to public debates can enhance the understanding of their significance and contribute
to reversing the erosion of citizenship’s rights from national ID requirements. The widespread
explanation and discussion of the character and rights of citizenship in Citizenship as
Foundation of Rights: Its Meaning for America inspired and energize debates across the nation to
sustain the foundations of our democratic government and society.
"The High Costs of 'Free' Voter Photo Identification Cards" (2014)
http://www.charleshamiltonhouston.org/2014/06/voter-id/
"Citizenship as Foundation" (2008)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8c980ziz95duilg/Sobel_CitizenshipAsFoundation.pdf?dl=0
"The Right to Travel and Privacy: Intersecting Fundamental Freedoms" (2014)
http://repository.jmls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1746&context=jitpl
"New ID Rules Would Threaten Citizens' Rights"
(2013)
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/opinion/sobel-id-immigration