The USA, like most liberal polities,
imposes few duties on its citizens other than
a general obligation to obey the law (which
of course applies to aliens as well) and jury
duty. Voting is not required (unlike in
Australia, for example), and compulsory
military service was abolished in the 1970s.
By the same token, almost all of the rights
of US citizens are also enjoyed by legal resident
aliens. The main exceptions – rights that
attach to citizens only – are the right to remain
in the USA without fear of possible deportation;
the right to vote (although some localities
have extended the franchise to aliens as
well); citizens’ greater right to sponsor alien
relatives for immigration to the USA; access
to certain high-level appointive and elective
governmental positions; and the right to
certain public welfare benefits denied to
legal aliens (although most of these have
been restored to those who resided legally in
the USA in August 1996 when Congress
limited aliens’ benefits) (Schuck, 1998:
186–90).