ABSTRACT
Citizens having any shred of political influence are responsible for exercising it against policies of aggressive war and attacks upon the homelands of others. At some point, the dissenting citizens' actions become strong and sustained enough to absolve them of responsibility or liability. The central issue in modern Western political philosophy has been the rights and duties of states to citizens and citizens to states, what these rights are and how they are justified. Surely a citizen acquires some level of responsibility for the actions of his or her government when that citizen, through the political machinery of a democracy, votes before the fact for the government's actions. Eighth Air Force caused thousands of noncombatant casualties by collateral damage. In the death of the typical German citizen killed collaterally when the US Eighth Air Force attacked the Schweinfurt ballbearing works.
