“Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other.” John Locke
Just something to think about if you are nearing the end of your school year or already into whatever you are doing during the summer—your judgement as to compliance or resistance with leaders’ mandates is valid. Yet once we evaluate, we often still have to comply unless we can find ways to have our evaluation carry weight. There is the rub to figure out– though “we are all qualified, entitled and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers,” how do we get our evaluation heard to influence what happens next?
This really is the essence of our democracy–that each person has a vote based on evaluation of who would be a good ruler.