Philosophy of Law & Government
- Principles
of Government
- Essential
Principles for the Conservation of Liberty
- Philosophy of Government Compared
- Citizen Compact
- New
Constitutional Proposal
Principles of Conserving Liberty Compared to Present
Law
HOW THESE PRINCIPLES WOULD AFFECT
PRESENT LAW:
These principles, which ensure the preservation of
liberty, would prohibit many forms of existing law. The following
examples of unjust law are provided, accompanied by the various fundamental
rights which are violated by the enforcement thereof:
ECONOMICS:
1. Any printing of paper money, private or public,
without 100% asset backing (violation of the right of OWNERSHIP of
those holding existing currency having previously exchanged real assets
for such currency).
2. The existence of the Federal Reserve, with bank
regulatory powers, and debt monetization powers (violation of right
of free CONTRACT to form independent, unregulated banks; debt monetization
functions are a corruption of OWNERSHIP rights of holders of existing
currency).
3. Commerce commission regulations restricting free
entrance into any business pursuit, fixing of prices, and controlling
routes (violation of rights of CONTRACT and OWNERSHIP).
4. Anti-trust laws, when mutual cooperation and joint
action is purely voluntary (violation of CONTRACT rights).
5. All laws regulating employee-employer conduct,
that is not fraudulent, or mandating benefits or taxes as a condition
of employment (violation of LIBERTY, CONTRACT, and OWNERSHIP rights).
6. Union shop and forced collective bargaining laws
(violation of employer's right of CONTRACT and OWNERSHIP rights, as
well as right of LIBERTY of non-employed persons to freely bid for
a job invitation).
7. Health and safety regulations, as a prohibition
of business activity and where enforced by coercion, where non-consenting
persons are not affected (violation of right of SELF-RESPONSIBILITY
to take risks, and the right of CONTRACT to accept risk).
8. Restrictive licensing as a requirement to engage
in professional services (violation of the right of right of the purchaser
to be SELF-RESPONSIBLE for the risks of dealing with unlicensed persons;
also a violation of both party's right to CONTRACT). Prosecution of
fraudulent practices in violation of professional contracts would
be encouraged by these principles.
9. Any wage, price, rent, or interest rate controls
(violations of LIBERTY, CONTRACT and OWNERSHIP rights).
10. Any government restriction of international or
interstate trade between willing partners, except where such trade
would assist an enemy of these rights (violation of rights of CONTRACT
and OWNERSHIP).
11. Any involuntary taking of property for so-called
"eminent domain" or "public purposes" (violation
of right of OWNERSHIP).
12. Any government mandated zoning or land-use restrictions
not involving direct damage to other's property rights (violations
of OWNERSHIP). Voluntary restrictive covenants would be proper under
the principles.
13. Any laws giving powers to form cities which coercively
include properties of non-consenting owners (violation of OWNERSHIP,
LIBERTY and CONTRACT rights).
14. Any law prohibiting a US citizen from hiring
foreign persons as long as the citizen is willing to accept the full
responsibility for that person (violation of right to CONTRACT).
TAXATION:
1. Any taxation without a citizen-government contract
(violation of LIBERTY, OWNERSHIP, CONTRACT and ASSOCIATION rights).
2. Any laws mandating that persons or business entities
collect taxes for the government without compensation (violation of
LIBERTY, OWNERSHIP, CONTRACT rights).
3. IRS tax code, Income tax laws (violation of right
of PRIVACY, DUE PROCESS. The latter representing the taking of PROPERTY
without contractual consent).
4. Use of tax funds to benefit special interests
(job training, unemployment compensation, welfare, food stamps etc.
) without the consent of the giver (violation of CONTRACT, OWNERSHIP).
5. Inheritance taxes (violation of OWNERSHIP, and
right to dispose of one's property without penalty).
6. Involuntary participation in Social Security taxes
(violation of right of OWNERSHIP, CONTRACT, and SELF-RESPONSIBILITY
for retirement).
7. Any tax law that is not completely uniform to
all users of the service (violations of the principle of equal JUSTICE
under law).
8. The use of tax funds to promote partisan views
not held by all of the taxpayers (violation of rights of OWNERSHIP,
BELIEF)
CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAW:
1. Any law excusing criminal action by reason of
insanity (violation of SELF-DEFENSE rights of members of society).
This does not mean they are necessarily subjected to the same punishment
as crimes committed with full intent, but rather, that members of
society can demand restrictions upon the future actions of those insane
persons who have violated others rights.
2. The involuntary incarceration of mentally ill
or insane persons who have committed no crime or who do not represent
an imminent and pernicious threat to others (violation of LIBERTY,
PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE).
3. Any laws releasing criminals from responsibility
for their acts when technical violations of the rights of the accused
occur (violation of SELF-DEFENSE rights of the people, and the citizen-government
contract to uphold those rights). The better solution is to prosecute
both the criminal and the officer who violated his rights, but to
each according to the seriousness and damage caused by the respective
offense.
4. Bankruptcy laws (violation of CONTRACT and OWNERSHIP
rights of the creditors).
5. Limitations on prosecution of treason to a declaration
of war (violation of SELF-DEFENSE rights of every individual citizen).
6. Laws prohibiting capital punishment for those
proven to be an imminent threat to others by multiple or heinous offenses
(violation of SELF-DEFENSE contract implicit between citizen and government).
7. Laws restricting the right of victims to restitution
(violation of principle of JUSTICE that victims be restored to prior
condition to the greatest extent possible).
FOREIGN POLICY:
1. Any foreign aid, loans, or loan guarantees to
other nations (violation of OWNERSHIP rights of non-consenting taxpayers).
Voluntary contributions would be acceptable.
2. Any military incursions outside national boundaries
not in verifiable defense of the fundamental rights of US citizens
(violation of the defense purpose of Government and the OWNERSHIP
rights of those non-consenting persons who were forced to pay in taxes
for the military action). Defending the rights of others would have
to be on a volunteer basis unless the threatening power had also shown
its intent to ultimately violate US freedoms.
3. Any monetary support or future commitment, with
taxpayer funds, of international organizations who are in any way
hostile to our national sovereignty or these fundamental rights (violation
of defense role of government).
4. Any treaty or agreement which would subject our
laws, citizens, or properties to international arbitration without
the specific consent of the US parties directly affected (violation
of the citizen government contract to defend citizen rights).
5. Any treaty or agreement failing to defend US citizen
rights and properties from any threat, foreign or domestic (violation
of defense role of government).
6. Any public or private trade with communist governments
or persons under the influence of such governments that has openly
expressed opposition to these rights (constitutes aiding and abetting
an enemy and is a violation of defense role of government).
PERSONAL RIGHTS:
1. Civil rights legislation prohibiting private limitations
of association for any reason (violation of right of CONTRACT, ASSOCIATION,
BELIEF and free JUDGMENT).
2. Any law mandating public or private preference
for special minorities not merited by free negotiation between contracting
parties or uniform standards of performance (violation of equal JUSTICE
under law).
3. Any restriction on the right of any association
of belief (including religious beliefs) to influence government to
the degree such influence is exercised by the equal rights of all
citizens (violation of right to act on the right of BELIEF when not
treasonous or coercive).
4. All laws prosecuting individuals for voluntary
actions where no victim is capable of being specifically defined and
visible to the law (violations of LIBERTY, CONTRACT and ASSOCIATION)
5. Any laws prohibiting persons from taking health,
safety or financial risks, or laws mandating that persons take certain
actions for their own benefit when failure to do so does not coercively
affect others (violation of right of SELF-RESPONSIBILITY and freedom
to fail).
6. Any restriction on the unlimited right of persons
and associations to financially or otherwise support political causes
and candidates, not of a treasonous nature (violation of LIBERTY).
7 Any restriction on the free movement of citizens
not guilty of treason or criminal actions.
8. Any support or funding of abortions of convenience
(violation of right to LIFE).
9. All compulsory school attendance laws, school
and teacher certification laws (violations of rights of PARENTAL or
SELF-RESPONSIBILITY FOR EDUCATION, and rights of LIBERTY, and CONTRACT).
10. All laws giving public schools a monopoly on
the use of property taxes or other taxes from the general funds of
state or federal governments (violation of principle prohibiting use
of general taxation for special interests, the fundamental right of
OWNERSHIP, the freedom to CONTRACT with other schools without financial
penalty, and the right not to subsidize the promulgation of objectionable
beliefs and values taught therein).
CONCLUSION:
These principles of liberty and statements of the
fundamental rights of man should leave you with a great sense of hope
and inner peace, knowing that we are capable of discovering, with
the help of God, those ultimate standards which will enable us to
live at peace with other men of good will. But, with all the progress
represented here, these principles do not yet place all the difficult
questions of law into fixed legal language. There are still many conflicts
in life that will have to be decided by human judgment. We must take
great care in the training and development of wise men to serve as
legislators and judges.
In an even larger sense, we must never fail in our
sacred obligation to train up our own children in the defense of these
principles. I know of no school, public or private, where the full
range of truth in these matters is taught. Shallow references to patriotism
and nice stories about American history will not suffice in the sophisticated
and piecemeal decline in liberty that we presently suffer.
Toward the restoration of our liberties, I submit
to you, in conclusion, a Declaration of Sovereignty, setting forth
in the classical style of Thomas Jefferson, the essential elements
of freedom, our general grievances against tyrannical government,
and a declaration of our individual and family sovereignty. It is
a signature document, and I encourage you to sign it as a personal
pledge toward our mutual understanding and joint dedication to a renewal
of liberty and justice for all.
THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF MAN
Joel M. Skousen
DEFINITION:
Fundamental rights are those rights to act, or to
be, which all persons can do or possess simultaneously without compelling
any other person to provide a service or tangible asset.
1:
RIGHT TO LIFE
THE RIGHT TO LIFE ITSELF FROM CONCEPTION TO NATURAL DEATH,
EXCEPT AS A CONSEQUENCE FOR A CRIME AGAINST THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS.
COROLLARY RIGHTS relating to man's innate ability to think, believe,
and reason:
A. The right of FREE THOUGHT and JUDGMENT on the individual
worth of ideas, people and things. Every individual is unique, possessing
different capabilities and characteristics which may vary from time
to time according to the correctness of one's desires, thoughts and
actions. Therefore, in a free society, individuals must be free to
judge another's worth according to the merits as he alone perceives
them, without restraint or coercion, and to act upon such judgment
in each person's rightful economic, social and intellectual arena.
B. To BE FREE to BELIEVE according to each person's conscience,
without restriction, except when actions based upon that belief would
violate the fundamental rights of others.
2:
LIBERTY
THE FREEDOM TO ACT WITHOUT EXTERNAL OR PRIOR RESTRAINT WHEN
THOSE ACTIONS ARE NOT IN DIRECT AND HARMFUL CONFLICT WITH THE RIGHTS
OF OTHERS.
COROLLARY RIGHTS:
A. To be solely RESPONSIBLE for one's own health, life, education
and safety. It is, therefore, not the right or duty of other
men, whether by individual or government force, to coerce men to act
in any way they may deem beneficial for another's welfare, when failure
or refusal to so act will not directly or harmfully affect others
outside covenant and contractual relationships. This includes the
right to take PERSONAL RISKS without prior restraint
as long as others, who are not bound in a voluntary contractual relationship
with knowledge of those risks, are not involved.
B. To engage in any ECONOMIC ACTIVITY desired as
long as such activity does not involve compulsion upon others or the
assistance of an enemy of these fundamental rights.
1. To engage in voluntary CONTRACTS, written or verbal,
without restriction or regulation except where direct and harmful
non-contractual consequences to others occur; and to enforce such
contracts, which are unfulfilled, where real consideration in the
form of labor, assets or other property was given.
2. To unrestricted SELECTION and PURCHASE (from a
willing seller) of all available goods and services desired, whether
deemed good or bad by others, whether domestic or imported, except
where such purchase, possession or use will infringe upon the rights
of others, or directly assist an enemy of these rights.
3. To circulate and negotiate any tangible asset or sworn
evidence thereof as money or a MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE as
long as it is voluntarily accepted by another and fraud and misrepresentation
are not present.
4. To PUBLISH any written, photographic, or electronic
material, as long as others are not involuntarily exposed to such
material on their own or contractual property.
5. The right to state any opinion about another person
or product without providing proof or evidence as long as such statements
are labeled clearly as opinion.
C. To ASSOCIATE with other persons without coercion
as long as that association is desired by all parties, does not constitute
a direct and harmful threat to another's rights, and where such association
is not in violation of the desires of the property owner.
1. Individuals may PEACEFULLY ASSEMBLE in groups without
criminal or treasonous intent as long as private property rights and
free movement on public property are not infringed or impeded.
D. To DISASSOCIATE with other persons without public
reason or justification (but one cannot expel anyone from his presence
except on his own or contractual property)
E. To be FREE to WORSHIP God according to the dictates
of conscience, and to extend one's highest allegiance to Him. No individual
or government power may, therefore, rightfully coerce a person to
subordinate his ultimate allegiance to God to any earthly power, though
an individual may voluntarily do so. In the opposite sense, no man
may be compelled to acknowledge God or worship him.
3:
OWNERSHIP
THE RIGHT TO OWN, DISPOSE OF, AND CONTROL ALL PROPERTY AND
ASSETS WHICH ARE EARNED BY THE HONEST FULFILLMENT OF VOLUNTARY CONTRACTS,
RECEIVED AS A GIFT, INHERITED, OR EARNED IN PROPORTION TO THE APPLICATION
OF ONE'S LABOR TO UNOWNED PROPERTY.
COROLLARY RIGHTS relating to or restricted to ownership and property
rights:
A. To BE FREE FROM BEING ACTED UPON or involuntarily
influenced in a harmful manner, when on one's own or contractual property
and not directly and harmfully affecting the rights of others.
B. To exclude all persons not desired from one's own
property.
C. To make any WRITTEN OR VERBAL EXPRESSION, on property within
one's ownership or control, whether for personal
or commercial intent, without prior restraint or restriction of the
distribution thereof, except when acting so as to destroy or deny
to others some fundamental rights.
D. To act in PRIVACY, within one's own or contractual
property, free from search, seizure, regulation and internal surveillance
except when acting to infringe upon, or destroy another's rights.
4:
SELF-DEFENSE
TO DEFEND ONE'S PERSON, RIGHTS, AND PROPERTY AGAINST ANY OVERT
AND IMMINENT THREAT, AND TO USE THE MINIMUM, APPROPRIATE FORCE REQUIRED,
OF THE ALTERNATIVES IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE AT HAND, TO ELIMINATE SUCH
THREAT, WHEN NO IMMEDIATE RECOURSE IS AVAILABLE TO ASSISTANCE OR CONSTITUTIONAL
ADJUDICATION.
This includes the right to defend oneself against the aggression
of other persons acting unconstitutionally as a majority
within a government with the intent to take assets without
prior consent or otherwise deprive any person of these fundamental
freedoms.5:
FAMILY RIGHTS
FAMILY POSSESS TOTAL SOVEREIGNTY OVER FAMILY AFFAIRS THAT
DO NOT INFRINGE UPON OTHER'S RIGHTS AND THAT DO NOT CONSTITUTE AN
IMMINENT THREAT TO THE LIFE OF THE CHILDREN THEREIN
There exists a natural covenant relationship between parent and
child, beginning at conception, that is binding upon the parents and
requires them to assume the ultimate responsibility for child care,
safety, and education until the child arrives at an ability or desire
to be responsible for self.
However, in deference to the voluntary covenant relationship which
generally involves the sacred act engendering a child, governments
should never be granted power to intercede in the affairs of parents
and children as long as parents are not proven guilty of physical
abuse, or extreme negligence which threatens the life of the child,
as clearly defined in constitutionally restricted law, and in no case
against the will of the child, when at a sufficient age to speak and
have knowledge of the facts, he or she expresses an uncoerced desire
to remain with one or both parents.
Children have the right to demand of their parents, minimum CARE,
AND PROTECTION until reaching an ability, or desire to be self-sufficient--as
long as the child is not acting in rebellion with the requirements
of his parents which do not constitute extreme physical cruelty, or
gross negligence, as defined in constitutional law. Such definitions
shall not include normal physical discipline such as spanking which
does not break the skin or cause permanent physical harm.
Parents have the right to ultimate RESPONSIBILITY and AUTHORITY
for the health, education, and welfare of their dependent CHILDREN
without interference or prior restraint from government, except when
proven guilty of gross physical cruelty, or gross negligence, as defined
by constitutional law, and where the child does not object to such
government interference, as provided above.
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