Bad

Defining a "bad citizen" is difficult. By "bad citizen" we see this as anything that causes harm to the society or the people in it.

Bad Citizen Examples: -Committing a felony crime, or some other serious crime that has a negative effect on society. -Not paying income taxes -Ignoring jury duty -Looking out only for yourself -Littering and wasting resources -Leaving all political matters to the so called "experts"

-While most people often commit smaller crimes or fail to follow city ordinances, these crimes are minor and commonplace. Committing a felony crime though can have powerful effects on the society as obeying the law is an essential aspect of citizenship. By committing a felony crime you are often doing harm to another person. You are also responsible for the millions of dollars it takes to incarcerate you, trial fees and rehabilitation costs.

-Not paying income taxes or any sort of taxes that is required of you in your community is very destructive. By not paying taxes you are not paying your fair share of tax obligations. In order to have a high functioning society with roads, police, fire, military, education, social services or any other public service taxes are required. Even if you do not agree with the amount of taxes you owe you are still required to pay. If you do not agree with the tax policy, this is where your role in citizenship can change. You may vote in representatives who you agree with the most regarding taxes, talk to your representatives or run for government office yourself.

-Ignoring jury duty may not seem like a big deal or it may not be a duty you wish to perform, but it is an essential duty of citizenship. In the US, 90% of citizens agree that everyone should have a fair trial by jury. But only 12% are willing to accept jury duty. In order to have a trial by jury system, jurors are needed to make the system function. You simply cannot take from the system and not give anything back.

-Looking out only for yourself is a broad statement concerning a bad citizen. Basically the idea comes from the writings of James Madison, who believed that most citizens of a democracy will only be concerned with their own self-interest. He believed that for a democratic society to work, citizenship would require everyone to put the needs of the greater good ahead of the needs of the individual. Excessive democracy he believed would lead to a society that benefits only the majority and ignores minorities. Whether this is true or not in the US is up for interpretation, but their is no doubt that looking out for the interests of only for yourself causes damage to the interests of the public.

-Littering and wasting resources refers to the selfish act of causes damage to the environment. The idea of environmentalism is a society stems from the idea of every person doing their part to properly dispose of their own trash. By not doing this, others are made victims and are obliged to pick up after your mess. Wasting resources refers to the idea of consuming mass amounts of resources, which in turn means less resources for others. Non-renewable resources are commonplace so it requires everyone to watch their consumption levels.

-The last example is very important because as a citizen you are a part of the democratic process. You are responsible for matters in your government. By leaving political matters to the so called "experts" you are not taking responsibility. Instead of blaming political problems on the decisions of these "experts" a citizen should take an active role in some phase of government. The ordinary citizen has an immense amount of power in a democratic form of government, more than what the ordinary person may think.