Political Obligation and Its Grounds

Grounds of Political Obligation

• The grounds of political obligation are the facts that give citizens the obligation to obey the law. They are the facts that generate the obligation, that give rise to it.
• If you have an obligation to do something because of some fact, then that fact is the ground for that obligation.

Example: Stop Sign in the Desert

• Scenario: Driving through a remote desert and encountering a stop sign.
• Conditions:
  • No other vehicles or people are visible for miles.
  • No danger to oneself or passengers if one does not stop.
  • No chance of being punished for not stopping.
• Despite the lack of self-interested reasons or moral obligations, you stop the car.
• Justification: "The law requires me to stop, and I ought to obey the law."
  • This stance affirms an obligation to obey the law.
  • Being asked why entails seeking a solution to the problem of political obligation, i.e., a ground for the obligation to obey the law.

Nature of Political Obligation

• Even if we have an obligation to obey the law, that doesn't mean that the obligation is necessarily decisive.
• Solving the problem of political obligation does not automatically imply that we ought to always obey the law, regardless of circumstances.
• Demonstrating an obligation to obey the law, even if it can sometimes be overridden, is sufficient to address the problem of political obligation.