“Is it still noble to be a citizen?”
— 2025 Question
Addie Foley will be a freshman at UND this fall. She is planning on double-majoring in Spanish Education and Journalism. On campus, she is excited to be involved in choir, theater, and the Honors program. In the future, she hopes to study abroad in a Spanish-speaking country.
Once upon a time, being a citizen was considered the best and most noble life a person could live. In classical Greece and Rome, citizens were honored to self-govern and—if you believe the philosophers—strove to be virtuous as they voted for the common good. This no longer seems to be the case. The last presidential election had the largest turnout in American history, but still, only two-thirds of eligible voters participated. 62% of North Dakotans voted while Minnesotans made it all the way to 79%. If this is the best we can do, hasn’t something gone amiss?
The excuses that most people give—”all politicians are the same,” “one vote doesn’t matter,” “it’s all about money,” passes the buck. What about our responsibility? How much are you and I to blame for shirking our duties as citizens, whether it’s not voting, or being a NIMBYer (Not in My Back Yard), or lacking empathy, or just not being concerned with the common good?
The purpose of this essay is to explore what it means to be a citizen in a capitalist society. Is citizenship as a political activity no longer meaningful when people are governed by their self-interest? Has participation in the marketplace replaced activity in the political sphere? Is it the case that all ways of life are equal?
Ultimately, in this essay, we’d like you to answer the main question: is there something particularly noble in citizenship and if so, what might we do to encourage our fellow citizens to fulfill their duties and obligations to our political society?
Addison-Foley-winning-essay-2025Click here to return to the Eliot Glassheim Essay Contest information page.