Contractocracy: Rule by Strength of Contract

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Libercratus
Director,
Libertocracy Association

Contractocracy
Rule by Strength of Contract

Libertocracy is a system of competing free enterprise governments whose laws are enforced through consensual contracts in which individuals choose their own government, under their own preferred contractual terms, with conflicts among those governments settled through voluntary treaties that respect the sovereignty of the individual to live in freedom. You may refer to such a system as a contractocracy, rule by the strength of contract. Unlike in a democracy which institutionalizes the immorality of putting individual rights up for vote and laying open all private property for the mob to plunder, contractocracy restricts the government to rule by honest agreements accepted by all parties. A democracy makes all contracts meaningless, because no contract has integrity, no contract is inviolable, all contracts may be violated or nullified by the whims of the majority. In a democracy, the constitution is not a contract and therefor cannot be expected to protect anyone's rights, or even limit the government to its specified designs, the constitution is merely a suggestion sheet that the rulers may or may not follow depending upon what is in their interests.
   The entire private sector is governed effectively through contracts, virtually every institution has a contract that specifies their agreements with their members and those with whom they interact. All corporations are built upon a structure of contracts. Many private individuals contract their services to others under terms which are mutually agreeable. The only real problems encountered with these contracts are at the point where the state interferes by limiting the opportunity of people to form contracts and in some cases by making certain contracts null and void. Some of the areas where the state limits or prohibits contractual governance is in areas where it is most needed, particularly in the areas of private security. In place of the state's monopoly over a territory, people should be able to contract with security services to provide full police and defense services for their property, with the sovereign power to arrest and try suspects who trespass on their property and commit crimes. Because the statist system is not based upon contracts, because it's not based upon honesty and mutually agreeable terms to which all consent, it creates a system that must adopt tyrannical tactics to suppress freedom; including inculcating lies into the populace, perverting justice and plundering private property and the economy to sustain the corrupt system.
   Governments based upon contracts operate the same as any other private institution, they must first offer contracts that free and willing individuals agree to sign, and they must maintain a system of honesty to uphold their contracts in courts that can be trusted. The Constitution is the supreme contract, it may not be changed by a vote of any majority. Superior laws are made by contract, they may not be changed by majority vote, that way, it eliminates political corruption and manipulation of the people and the economy by special interests and the media.
   Libercrats may change their laws and the Constitution by proposing to renegotiate their contracts. To amend the Constitution requires a percentage of the population to sign a petition calling for an amendment, then a super majority of the people may sign an initiative to place the proposed amendment before the Demacouncil for consideration. The Demacouncil will then enter into negotiations with different segments of the population to offer the amendment in a form that will be acceptable to most of the people. To maximize the likelihood of the amendment being adopted, the Demacouncil will want to word the proposal in such a manner that will gain the support of most of the population. Once this proposed amendment is placed before the people, then every individual adult civilzen will have the opportunity to either sign on to the amendment, which means that they sign a new contractual agreement under these new terms, or they may reject the amendment and continue to live under the original contract of the Constitution. To expect unanimous acceptance of the amendment would be unrealistic, which would present the people with the choice of either withdrawing the amendment to maintain uniformity in the Government or it would lead to the creation of a Government that is designed to function in slightly different ways in relation to the different contracts under which they operate. If the large majority of civilzens sign onto the new amendment, then they and they alone will be bound by it. The Government would be charged with enforcing this contract among the individuals who have signed it. Civilzens who chose not to sign it would live under the original constitutional contract, which the Government would have the duty to uphold among them. The difficulty of passing amendments will keep the Constitution simple and maintain its original integrity, with the only amendments being passed when there is a consensus.
   To change laws, a percentage of Libercrats may sign a petition to change the law, which would go before the Demacouncil for consideration. The Council will listen to different civilzens groups and craft the legislation in such a way that will gain the support of most of the people, or they may offer designer legislation for certain groups of people or for particular industries or areas. Some legislation is meant to apply to relations among all people, but because the supreme law is individual sovereignty, when a society chooses to change its laws, some individuals may balk at those changes and fear they go too far or are not effective enough, those individuals have the right to withdraw their support and instead enter into different contractual agreements. The individuals who choose not to sign contracts that the majority of their fellow civilzens have signed are only bound to obey those new laws when on the property of the individuals who have signed on to those new laws. Legislation which has gray areas that may infringe upon the sovereignty of individual behavior or property may take extensive negotiations to reach a consensus. If no consensus is reached, then the original law will continue to be applied, because it is that original contractual law that all civilzens agreed to when they signed their civilzenship contract.
   If legislation is directed at specific activities or industries it may be crafted for those particular needs, it would be signed by those who participate in those limited areas and may be designed to appeal to different groups in different situations. Legislation that is addressed to a specific industry may be designed differently for different areas or it may create choices for different companies and other entities to have options in choosing the legislation which best fits their needs. Companies which do not accept the legislation will be exempt from it. As with wider social legislation, industry specific legislation which cannot be resolved through a consensus will be limited to those who sign it and any impasses will mean that the original law will remain in effect.
   This system provides great opportunity and flexibility for individuals, special interests and businesses to design the contracts that best fit their changing needs while maintaining the integrity of the protection of their original Constitution and legal system. The Supreme Government, restricts the formation of public contracts to provisions that uphold the Constitution and nothing more. Therefore, special interests and businesses may not sign contracts with Librademia that create a complex of power structures that result in the cartelization of government. The procedures that are in place to maintain the limited scope and power of the Librademian Government are the Repeals Council, whose job it is to repeal any legislation that is the slightest bit constitutionally dubious; the courts have the duty to overturn unconstitutional legislation; the police have a duty to refuse to enforce it; and the people have the power to initiate a referendum or recall to remove bad legislation from the public sphere. Special interests and businesses who wish to form a structure of contracts to create the kind of environment under which they wish to live and do business must do so privately or within an organized civil government whose powers are limited to those who sign the contracts to join it and is therefor essentially a private organization. A civil government may be formed under a contract that creates an organization to elect representatives who vote to pass legislation, in which case, the civilzens have already signed their contract which binds them to observe the legitimately enacted laws that govern their society. Individuals may create a civil government which is governed by an aristocracy, or by a theocracy or a board of directors or by any means they choose, functioning under any contractual terms, as long as it doesn't violate the sovereignty of its members or threaten the freedom of people who are not members of it. Questions of legitimacy would be determined by neutral courts of appeal or arbitrators who hear contractual disputes. If an individual who lives under a civil government believes that a law was passed illegitimately or that one's civilzenship contract has been violated, then that individual would have the power to file a complaint before the neutral court that has been charged with enforcing the civil government's contracts with their people. In addition, complainants may file an appeal to a Librademian court if they believe their fundamental human rights are being threatened. The role of the Librademian Government is limited to protecting the fundamental human rights of individuals, including overseeing its member civil governments to prevent them from abusing their power.

by Libercratus

Libertocracy Association; 20/1/5002

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