Citizens or Subjects?

English: SAN DIEGO (July 2, 2010) Service members recite the oath of citizenship during a naturalization ceremony on the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum. Three hundred service members from 51 countries became U.S. citizens during the ceremony sponsored by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class James R. Evans/Released) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Most Americans, I fear, do not know or appreciate the fact that citizenship is the primary political office under a constitutional government. In a republic, the citizens are the ruling class. . .

I am sorry to say that most Americans think of themselves as the subjects of government and regard the administrators in public office as their rulers, instead of thinking of themselves as the ruling class and public officials as their servants – the instrumentalities for carrying out their will.

– Mortimer J. Adler, from “We Hold These Truths,” (Collier Books, 1987)