The many discussions and thoughts that went into creating the sixth republic often involved citizenship. Many of us had concluded that it was citizenship that most contributed to the fall of the fourth republic. The idea of citizenship, and how it was assumed to be a thing that was conferred either by birth or by naturalization, and after that was simply a characteristic of a person, similar to appearance or age or heritage. That is how citizenship has been regarded in most of the societies that we know about that recognized the idea at all.
For the sixth republic to avoid the failures that doomed the fourth, though, we concluded that citizenship needed to be more dynamic. Something one did, more than something one was.
In the sixth republic, citizenship is a choice made by adults, and with more than just one option. One can choose citizenships, and while some have to do with one’s physical location, others are related to different things, including expertise and interests. The idea of citizenship in the sixth republic is much broader than a resident of the fourth republic would be familiar with, and includes some aspects of what were, in different times, trade unions, guilds, and fellowships.
Citizenships are consistent in several ways: they do not confer rights, which all individuals share already, but they do confer responsibilities. The responsibilities differ, but include actions that must be taken. Citizenships are also continual choices; one can choose to end a citizenship and also to choose others. In some cases (currently most cases), neglect of one’s responsibilities as a citizen result in that citizenship being terminated. This has, again, no effect on one’s rights; only on privileges.
The rights conferred by the sixth republic include most of those enumerated in the fourth, and as I’ve mentioned previously, rights are both positive and negative. In addition to what we have continued from the fourth republic, the rights of the sixth include housing, medical care, sustenance, and hope. They do not include free access to weapons, in order to avoid the obvious contradictions.
Because these are rights, and citizenship is not directly associated with rights, the sixth republic assumes these rights are accorded to everyone, regardless of their physical location. It is thus the responsibility of the sixth republic to work toward providing these rights to individuals anywhere in the world. This is, of course, an ongoing project. But even the sub-people who reject the sixth republic have the same rights.
If you choose to become a citizen of the sixth republic, your decision is generally valid for one year, although you have the ongoing option to change. With your citizenship comes the responsibility to participate in discussions around the nature of governance of your community. Community can be local, virtual, and federated with other localities and virtualities.
When europeans first encountered the civilizations in north america, the intellectuals among them (principally the Jesuits) were surprised to find that entire populations were at least as knowledgeable and capable of reasoned discourse as the best of the europeans. This comes from education and practice, and is a key component of our plan to make the sixth republic resilient and sustained. It remains an ongoing project, and thus far the results are encouraging.
Sustainability is not just related to governance, of course. The sixth republic exists in the same world as everyone else, and we have responsibilities in that sphere as well. When and if the portal again opens, my next report will address those efforts.
