What Are We Doing Here?

by Marilynne Robinson

While the Citizen can entertain aspirations for the society as a whole and take pride in its achievements, the Taxpayer, as presently imagined, simply does not want to pay taxes. The societal consequences of this aversion—failing infrastructure, for example—are to be preferred to any inroad on his or her monetary fiefdom, large or small. This is as touchy a point as are limits on so-called Second Amendment rights. Both sensitivities, which are treated as if they were protections against centralization and collectivism, are having profound consequences for society as a whole, and this without meaningful public debate, without referendum. Citizenship, which once implied obligation, is now deflated—that is, given an artificial value by use that treats it as primarily a limited good that ought to be limited further.