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Freedom: It's the Law, Part 2

Submitted by Staff on Fri, 2024-07-08 11:00.


Freedom: It's the Law™
Let's regain our freedom by restoring the Bill of Rights

(Read:  Part 1  Part 2)

Part 2: One Practical Suggestion

In the first part we identified the history and meaning of the Bill of Rights (BofR).  Fundamentally, the BofR enshrines at the root of American law the nonaggression principle.  Any law that a legislature passes, the executive branch imposes, and the judiciary approves, but which violates the nonaggression principle, is null and void.

Very simply, the BofR protects any peaceful, voluntary act among consenting adults from government coercion.  Further, according to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, all citizens have complete freedom of production and trade.  Congress shall make no law respecting, nor shall the individual states interfere with, your free choices as persons or as economic beings.  It's the law.

Note  -  Any fees sought by governments for operation are entirely voluntary.  Nothing in the Constitution gives any government the authority to criminalize an individual's decision not to pay a tax.  Perhaps civil penalties for nonpayment are appropriate, such as retraction of the right to vote, but the only valid legal consequence for nonpayment of a so-called good tax is social opprobrium (disapproval of one's peers).

So there it is, and available scholarship bears it out.(1)  Some of us are making even better scholarship as we go along.  The Bill of Rights, in particular, is our charter for undiluted freedom.  Any coercive act by government—most acts by government over the years have been coercive—violates the law and will not stand.

Or at least they will not stand if the citizens rise up and insist on their birthright.

American Citizens' Tribunal (ACT)

What do we do now?

That's a question my longsuffering webmeister is constantly bringing up when I make some grandiose proposal, like "Let's set the sea on fire.  Y'all work out the details."

What follows then is my humble proposal of a candidate set of practical details, a real flesh-and-blood plan, for restoring the BofR.  Note, other people will need to actively ramrod and lead this effort, which I'll certainly join.  But in the immortal words of Detective Harry Callahan, "A man's got to know his limitations."(2)

Also, as preface, please understand the umbrella organization for prosecuting the BofR cause is the organization that first conceived it, renowned libertarian writer L. Neil Smith and the Bill of Rights Enforcement site.

The following plan is an idea thrown out, as might occur in a brainstorming session among leading libertarian thinkers.  It may or may not appeal to the umbrella-site folks; just remember "there are many houses in the kingdom of heaven," and you deserve to feel welcome in any of them.

  Blueprint for Success  

  1. Purpose: establish citizens' organization with mission of radically reducing government force by decisively implementing the Bill of Rights.

  2. Implement BofR via American Citizens' Tribunal (ACT) by widespread, protracted citizen monitoring and recording of violations of the BofR by public officials, accompanied by judicious common-law assessment of penalties for said infractions.

  3. Organization

    1. Initial assembly:
      Initiator(s) at state level makes arrangements to convene citizens interested in Constitutional freedom.  Appeal to Libertarians, Constitutionalists; the two or three intelligent, conscientious Demopublican officeholders in the state; your county's four freedom-friendly cops; biker anti-helmet-law people; anti-seatbelt-law people; drug-freedom people; anti-imperial-war people, education radicals in the parent-teacher association at your local school [I'm guessing the radical parents have abandoned local schools a long time ago, you might try the Homeschooling crowd.  —Ed.]; and so on.

      1. Preplanning meeting by initiator with his/her team for best methodology for convening the first general assembly.

      2. Good idea to have the theme made explicitly in the promotional literature, with summary layout of the methodology you will use.

      3. Initiator(s) prepare a set of bylaws.  You can pattern after the bylaws of any premier Libertarian Party state organization; the LP of Michigan has one of the simplest.  Convention will be run according to Robert's Rules.

      4. Initial assembly may have ancillary events at discretion of initiators, but I recommend keeping them to an absolute minimum.  Simplicity and main business are of the essence at this first gathering, especially.

      5. Facility may need to be a large convention hall or even a big tent with folding chairs and a podium, with a loudspeaker and microphones, but otherwise minimal bells and whistles.

    2. Type of organization and funding:
      This will have to be configured by the initiator(s) prior to general initial assembly.

      1. The idea behind this group is to restore the BofR, which applies certainly to the First Amendment.  The 1st provides absolute freedom of voluntary association, so you don't need to register with any government agency.

        1. If initiators determine registration with a state is advisable, then make the purposes of the organization apolitical.  The organization is a public service to promote better government, like the League of Women Voters... not a partisan entity.

        2. Ideally have an attorney familiar with all state election laws and campaign finance, public-institution recording statutes.  Also, a first-class libertarian lawyer to defend against statist attacks is essential.

      2. Since funds will be required to carry on the work of the association, make them all in the form of "donations."  The organization will need to have a treasurer, and unless you want to fight the state on less pertinent matters, probably organize as a "doing business as" and maintain whatever records the state requires for disbursement of funds.

      3. Fundraising will be important, as will giving thought to the entire operational structure.  If you can make a professionally operated business out of this, with minimal state oversight, the organization will be more effective.  All I'm saying here is these are matters to think about deeply.

    3. Vision of structure/methodology:
      Form follows function.  Therefore, because the function of the organization is to monitor and assign merits and demerits to all public officials in the state who have BofR effect, the form should be parallel to the existing political apparatus.

      1. Like the LP, focus on electoral posts, but go beyond to consider political appointees and specific force-using employees as well.

      2. From the first assembly recruit citizens to either individually or as small groups to "watch" a single official: judge, legislator, executive, cop, jailer, etc.  That will be their job as a member or subgroup of ACT-<your state's name>.

        1. Political subdivisions are Congressional district, state legislative districts, county commission districts, city and village councils, chief enforcement personnel at state and county levels, etc.

        2. It will not be necessary to hold elections for these monitoring and assessing posts; if more than one individual volunteers to monitor a specific official in his political subdivision, so be it.  Further, one citizen can belong to more than one monitor/assess entity.

        3. You need to develop a concept/name for the monitor/assess entities (Nametakers?); these are the citizens who en masse will be responsible for collecting the information and making the judgments necessary for achieving a government consistent with the BofR.

        4. You need to develop a methodology for monitor/assess.  This should be efficient and grade the penalties to the offense; for example, murder in the line of duty receives life in prison without parole, not execution—even though such may be morally warranted.  In general penalties will be slightly less than for similar crimes committed by civilian criminals, on the basis that a lot of people democratically sanctioned this system.  Also, time is a factor, statute of limitations.

      3. Cycle of evaluation and assemblies/subassemblies:

        1. The timeframes for evaluation vary according to the nature of the subject of evaluation.  For example, a mayor may be elected for a three-year term.  Perhaps, though, an annual cycle is appropriate, the conclusion of which is marked by a citizens general assembly for ratification and publication.

        2. The methodology will cover this end of it.  Deliverable to the general body for approval by the monitor/assessors will be a report of a common format.  Put a lot of thought into the methodology:  Probably the document flow is similar to a legal brief or what a general set of impeachment articles would look like.

        3. Deliverables will be assembled, tabulated, published.  Over time, in states where initiative and referendum are allowed, they can serve as foundation for citizens dictating to the state officialdom to adhere to the BofR and face the consequences in their own legal system.

        4. Over time, the existing legal system cleans up and liberty wins.

      4. Miscellaneous notes:
        A document needs to be generated that thoroughly describes the system for citizen monitor/assessment for the BofR restoration.  How meetings are run, people recruited, techniques for obtaining information.  RTF will put its noggins together for that purpose through the next several months, look for launch of a state ACT (or similar agency) by early 2006—though, again, this will occur at the initiative of others besides RTF.
        National group will to form from the state groups or in a parallel fashion.

    4. Political alliances:
      ACTs will have natural political alliances with the LP and Free State Project, multiple thinktanks, Internet resources, obviously all the BofR Enforcement sites, Freeway Blogger, and so on.  A fullfledged, professional publicity machinery is a desirable objective, and can provide many jobs for dedicated activists.  Tee shirts, coffee cups, bumper stickers, TV ads, songs on MTV, the works.

    5. Longterm:
      In the long run, ACT (or something like it) will effectively determine the future of American politics (and hopefully through illustrious example, planetary politics).  The direction will be to sever the national security state cartel from the economy, dismantle the privileges of this cartel, and thwart--through education and calm rational persuasion--any collectivist aggression that may still threaten society from an unenlightened Left.  (We'd also like to see the slogan, "Don't Tread on Me," resurrected with enthusiasm.)  Reason and liberty become the foundation of a benevolent, humane future.

  4. Last words on mission:

    Enforcement or animation of the Bill of Rights is of paramount importance today.  The liberation of people politically will also secure economic success, considering new technologies that will come to augment then probably replace many of the old ones currently protected by the power-elite.  Hemp and fail-safe nuclear power come to mind, as does a new era in transhumanist biotechnology and space development.

    As a peripheral but highly important activity, ACT will declare amnesty for all civilians undergoing state punishment for nonaggressive crimes.  It will be their declaration of independence.  We will also formally expunge the criminal records of any civilian who has been convicted of a nonaggressive crime.

    Finally, the Bill of Rights project must embrace its own educational project—spreading the word to the young on the BofR is especially important—with the appropriate radical perspective.  The Bill of Rights means nothing less than complete liberty in our time.  Government-school kids need to know this.

Note  -  The ACT approach is all about sharing.  If your state ACT organization has some ideas that will help others, make sure to keep the track to that knowledge open.  Also, don't be afraid to learn from others.

Summary

Like our friends at the Rational Review, we see little alternative to political action except a large popular movement to rescue the Bill of Rights and to redirect power to the citizenry.  We desperately need to reestablish Constitutional government, radically and quickly eliminate government functionality in favor of free market economics, and withdraw the un-American military empire.

What I have set forth in the outline is only one idea of implementing that.

As the intellectual leadership of the reason-liberty movement (RLM) gathers formally and informally, they will come to consensus on details for practical programs.  Soon practical tactical programs will emerge to fulfill the strategic conditions of the Rational Review program.  Stay tuned, and be prepared to join the ACT in your state.  It's a good way to achieve our objectives with the "non-aggression principle."

Read:  Part 1  Part 2


  • Definition of the nonaggression principle: The nonaggression principle holds nobody initiates physical force against another.  The only moral use of force is in retaliation, and only against those who initiate its use.


  1. We're in the early stages, so formal literature in support of the BofR project is scarce.  Surf the Web and check out what's available.  Hook up with the Cato Institute and Laissez Faire Books.  They'll have the latest information. back to text
  2. Magnum Force, Warner Brothers, 1973. back to text
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