ABSTRACT
Historically, the practice of citizenship developed as a way to draw people from diverse backgrounds, opinions, and interests toward a common purpose. If the people-as in “We, the people”—remain America’s most encompassing civic designation, “I am an American citizen” parses the collective into its individual agents each acting purposely with a commitment to the polity. That does not mean that all citizens agree on policy, values, opinions, what constitutes the public good, or anything else. Citizens must agree on only two things: that the polity is worth preserving; and that preserving it requires participating in its governance.
