The RR Challenge

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/rights-amp-responsibilities/ from the article: ... we live in a time when too many speak of these rights and seek to enjoy them as entitlements, but do not sufficiently recognize the responsibility to create and protect them. This is where Jews have a particular role to play. Observing mitzvot–that is, acting on our obligations and responsibilities–means remembering the Exodus from Egypt, respecting the "other," and treating the stranger as we expect to be treated, with dignity and rights. It means expanding the fields of justice and peace by actively engaging with the poor and the most vulnerable in our American society and in the world. It means interpreting Jewish tradition in the framework of an interconnected world where famine, war, disease, and poverty anywhere on the globe affect us all. It means acting out of our Jewish value framework to set an example for others, acting on our responsibilities, and so enhancing the poss...

BBC News - Australia election: Fines, donkey votes and democracy sausages https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-48210783/australia-election-fines-donkey-votes-and-democracy-sausages Australia has one of the highest voter turnout numbers. 

Seven Deadly Sins: Wealth without work Pleasure without conscience Knowledge without character Commerce without morality Science without humanity Worship without sacrifice Politics without principle to that list we can now add: Rights without Responsibilities

Krista Tippett mentions an oath taken by med students entering the university of Minnesota program.  Particularly touching is a part that says "We will cure sometimes, treat often, and comfort always." https://onbeing.org/blog/an-oath-for-new-physicians/ So what then is the distinction between an oath or promise, and the inherent Responsibility in becoming a physician and healer?  Both seem to incorporate agreement between/among parties, but an oath is one sided.  Mutual promises between lovers could be broken by either one alone. Responsibility and Rights are general principles that cannot in concept be separated nor abrogated.  Individuals can choose to not follow such principles, but that does not alter the fundamental validity of the Right and the Responsibility which are bound together.

The right to vote costs no money, but it requires citizenship and good standing.  Simply put, the responsibility to vote is so poorly exercised as to be shocking.  Is it because items that don't cost cash money are perceived as somehow having "no value"?  Wouldn't it be great if voter participation in elections were more like 98% or 99%, with the small percentage that don't vote either actively dying or induced coma for healing purposes?  We deserve the elected officials and public policy we get.  If you don't like them (the people or the policies), don't (just) complain, go out and Vote next election, and every election after that.   The vote it one of the most important rights of a citizen, so let's not abdicate the high duty and responsibility that goes with it.

We hear a lot of people talk about Rights. As in God-Given Rights. Sure, there are Universal Declarations of Human Rights issued by the United Nations as far back as 1948, yes 71 years ago. Rights are very much front and center in the American Declaration of Independence, including "We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness" from July 4, 1776, yes 243 years ago. Rights without responsibilities cannot logically exist, much as the proverbial Free Lunch.  Every Ying has its Yang, every Darkness its corresponding Light, as inseparable and indivisble as the North and South poles of a magnet, even as Newton's Third Law : "Newton's third law is: For every action, there is an equal andopposite reaction. The statement means that in every i...