The phrase "a basic obligation" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to a fundamental duty or responsibility that one is expected to fulfill.
Example: "As a citizen, it is a basic obligation to vote in elections and participate in the democratic process."
Alternatives: "a fundamental duty" or "a primary responsibility."
"It's a basic obligation," Mr. Wisan told the meeting of more than 40 people.
The editorial states that "casting aspersions on a basic obligation of the United States government is insulting and irresponsible".
Many parents feel they have not fulfilled a basic obligation, while others quietly resent that their children's education has landed the family in such difficult territory.
Whether voters are clamoring for solutions to the challenges that we face or not, or whether people are coming out in droves to be heard, we have a basic obligation to make sure that every vote in America counts.
Singer has not regarded such conduct as an enormous moral sacrifice, but only as the discharge of a basic obligation of beneficence.
The U.S. government has a basic obligation not to deport anyone to death.
Abandoning public schools for a free-market system eviscerates our basic obligation to support them whether our own children are in public schools, private schools or religious schools, and even if we have no children at all.
"Though a prolific speechmaker, POTUS has failed his most basic obligation to participate in the process of governing our nation," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) said in a Twitter statement Wednesday.
"I won't hold negotiations with a government that does not stick to its most basic obligation of fighting terror".
And if that basic obligation exists in some form, then surely there comes a point when a culture in which it's crowded out by other goals, other pursuits and yes, other pleasures can be aptly described as … what's the word I'm looking for … decadent?
