ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two simple principles that enter into setting human rights priorities for citizens. The first is that people are responsible for the anticipated consequences of their actions. For citizens, that responsibility extends to the policy choices of their own state, to the extent that they can affect them with relative impunity; the responsibility is far greater in a functioning democracy than in a military dictatorship, for example. The second truism is that if a profession of high principles is to be taken seriously, these must be applied to oneself, not only to official enemies or others designated as unworthy in the prevailing political culture. In some cases, the priorities and responsibilities of citizens seem clear, at least if moral truisms are considered applicable to ourselves. The chasm that separates the responsibilities of citizens from the "modern notions of justice" of the "enlightened states" seems starkly delineated. Throughout, the human rights priorities and responsibilities of citizens should be clear.
