I thought I’d post a question here and see what people think.
Actually it’s two questions :
a) What do you owe your government?
b) What does your government owe you?
Apart from actual tax refund/owing situations, obviously.
What do you think? is there such a thing as duty any more?
The word “entitlement” gets tossed around a lot.
What are you entitled to?
And if it makes you more comfortable, replace the word “government” with “society” if you like.
(a) I owe my government my share of the taxes necessary to provide the services in part (b).
(b) My government owes me its best effort to protect my life, person, liberty, and property. If someone assaults me, or enslaves me, or robs me, or steals from me, it should prosecute that person. It owes me the duty of providing courts so that I can enforce contracts which I and another party choose to enter, and so that I can seek restitution if defrauded. It owes me armed forces to protect our society against foreign enemies too powerful to be deterred by ordinary law enforcement. That’s all.