Countless examples follow this basic pattern. On the one hand, we want to enjoy public benefits. We want things to be done for us or given to us. On the other hand, we are unwilling to serve or contribute to public endeavors. That basic principle represents half of the communitarian agenda.
Strong rights presume strong responsibilities.
At stake here is our underlying conception of human nature. If we assume that people are good by nature and they are going to take to virtue like ducks to water, then we are going to develop one type of policies and institutions. If we assume that people are evil by nature and beyond redemption, we will go another way. I would like to suggest that people by nature have an inner struggle between the base part and a nobler part. We need to talk about the social arrangements that would make people nobler than they would be otherwise.