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Glossary & Spelling
Gregory Flanagan
Director, Libertocracy Association |
Libercratic Government
The political philosophy of Libertocracy is based on the
sovereignty of the individual to choose to join or to create consensual governments whose
laws are enforced through contract
insurance. Such a system does not place a monopoly over territory. Libercratic law applies only to those people who choose to join the
government that has jurisdiction over areas of interaction in which they voluntarily place
themselves, their property and their activities. It leaves individuals responsible for
governing their interactions with other people through contracts that are enforced through
contract insurance where people come together to form consensual regulatory
authorities--private contractual governments. By voluntarily entering into contracts,
which may be explicit or implicit in the choice to visit the territorial jurisdiction of
any individual property owner, persons signify by those choices which private courts will
settle their disputes. Such governance does not apply to non-civilzens
or anarchists who stay on their own property and don't infringe
on the rights of others and places no obligations on anyone to join anything.
Libertocracy is free self-government,
it is a consensual government of sovereign individuals that respects the freedom, dignity
and rights of all human beings. Libertocracy or consensual
government is organized so as to allow people to develop and
operate their own system of governments that interact through constitutional governments
and treaties that are entered into voluntarily.
While the state is a monopoly, Libertocracy
may be compared to the free enterprise system of economics which is not a monopoly, it is
a system, an environment of freedom, because within a free enterprise system, people may
organize any economic system that applies only to those who choose to join it, they may
organize a cooperative or even a commune, these economic systems may exist within the
larger free enterprise system as long as they are not imposed on anyone else, because free
enterprise is not imposed, it is an environment of freedom to choose to organize one's
economic enterprises anyway one wants.
Libertocracy is a free enterprise system of
government, it is not a monopoly, it is a system, within which individuals may choose
their own form of government, a democracy, republic, monarchy, theocracy or any system
which applies its jurisdiction only to those who choose to be under its authority and is
not imposed on others. Libercratic government is not imposed
on others who choose to lead responsible sovereign lives, a
sovereign individual may live independently within the Libercratic
system and not come in contact with any external government as long as one doesn't
infringe upon the rights of others. Libertocracy is a system
of freedom itself that protects the
sovereignty and rights of people to govern themselves. People who are civilzens
of these various governments are not forced to support a universal institution or state,
because universal Libertocracy is the maintenance of freedom
for all. Libertocracy protects individual sovereignty, it enforces
freedom and uses force only to defend the individual against those who would violate one's
freedom and bring to justice and punish the transgressors against individual freedom. So
whatever from of supreme or civil government one may choose to order and regulate one's
private life, social associations and other consensual interactions to suit oneself, the
universal government is the same for all, Libertocracy, a
government of freedom.
Libertocracy is the only truly legitimate
government and can be the only universal government because it is the
only form of government that respects the sovereignty of the individual to live one's life
as a subject to no one. In fact, an individual who may be an anarchist,
may live completely isolated as a government onto oneself or as no government at all, as
long as that person respects the rights of others and lives and let's live, then those who
are anarchists are consistent with Libercratic government.
Because Libertocracy is essentially an individual's
self-government which is extended to governing one's interactions with others, if a person
wants to remain separate, all one has to do is to take personal responsibility, meaning
governing one's own actions, so as to not to violate the rights of others. If a separatist individual should go onto someone
else's property and commit a crime or a civil liability then that person will be subject
to the government of the person who has been wronged by the action.
If an independent sovereign should commit an act, such as;
pollution or public endangerment while on one's own property and
this action crosses the line from one's property to trespass on the rights of others then
other people have the right, either individually or within their government or alliance of
governments to take action to defend themselves
and protect their property against any trespasses.
Most disputes among civilzens
may be settled within their consensual government, where they have pre-arranged procedures
for adjudicating their disputes. Since people live in a natural state of freedom and enjoy
natural rights, persons who live responsibly and respect those rights never trespass on
other's rights or place an obligation on other people. Should someone trespass on the
rights of others, then that one has made a choice that, in effect, gives one's consent to
accept the consequences which involves the obligation of
restitution on the part of the trespasser.
People who are not signatories to any common government or treaty
organization may arrange to settle such disputes by agreeing in good faith to enter into
negotiations to decide how best to adjudicate such disputes in a manner at is fair for all
concerned. Should a person who has refused to even negotiate or discuss ways in which
justice may be served trespass on the rights of others, then the person whose rights have
been and are being violated may take any defensive action that one reasonably deems
necessary to protect one's rights.
Should an alien live without a recognized government,
then the alien should enter into negotiations to decide on a fair and neutral court to
decide any potential disputes with one's neighbors, or the alien should prepare for the
possibility of facing a blockade and boycott against one's property and businesses which
will isolate that person from the rest of civilization for refusing to practice
responsible self-government. Besides that, such a person will not be accorded
protection by a Libercratic government, except when within Libercratic jurisdiction, outside of Libercratic
jurisdiction they will be regarded as living under no government at all and anyone may
attack them, steal their property or kill them without expecting any outside intervention.
It is only the responsibility of FSUTO and it's
members to maintain law and order within its own jurisdiction, outside of it people will
have to fend for themselves, the best way of avoiding such a predicament is to join into a
Libercratic government for mutual protection.
Except when one acts in self defense or in defense
of an innocent person who is in immediate and imminent danger, any action against an alien person to arrest or claim restitution for
a prior alleged crime must be taken through the channels of FSUTO
or in the case of civil litigation, through the alien's government. The
reasoning for this, is, firstly; the alien is a sovereign person and may not suffer one's
sovereignty to be violated by, what is to that person alien government authorities, and
secondly; the only justification for the invasion of a sovereign property is in defense of
oneself or an innocent person to stop an action from occurring which is directly violating
someone's rights, and thirdly; if the alien has been involved in negotiation on a treaty
or court agreement, but no decision has been reached, or the alien is holding up any
agreement or is otherwise being obstinate, then the alien suspect who is successfully
blockaded and boycotted is effectively placed in detention and is punished with exclusion
from the rest of civilization. Only if all of the surrounding
property owners agree to the blockade. Even many persons who are convicted and
placed in detention or even incarceration have a more extensive liberty to interact with
other people and engage in other activities, than would an individual who is so blockaded
and isolated on one's own property. So anyone who would be so
arrogant as to refuse to even talk about appearing before a fair and neutral court which
would settle any disputed crime against others, would suffer a self imposed punishment
that should prove to be a deterrent against such contempt for the justice system that
protects the rights of all people.
So, for the alien suspect, it would be in that person's
interest to be willing to respond to a warrant and appear in court so that the person may
either be found not guilty or if one is found guilty, then one may pay restitution and get
on with one's life and eventually rejoin society with the liberty to interact with the
larger civilization.
An independent sovereign may sign a treaty agreement with any other government or individuals
under any negotiated terms
that are acceptable to all. These treaties or contracts will specify ways in which any
dispute might be settled. To people of the Libercratic
government those independent sovereigns who have not declared one's government or has not
agreed to possible ways in which to settle disputes or has not even attempted to negotiate
a treaty or contract will be considered as living by no government at all and it
will be considered as an implied acceptance of the authority of the government or treaty
organization with which that independent person is most closely associated. This
accepted authority is a necessary means that allows a person who has been the victim of a
crime to seek justice against a suspect who may be an alien or is taking refuge on an
alien's property if that alien refuses to practice responsible self-government and shows
contempt for other people's rights and legitimate pursuit of justice. And this implied choice of acceptance is the way in which universal Libercratic government is applied.
An alien who doesn't live under a responsible
government over sovereign property may be invaded with a warrant from the FSUTO authorities to place the suspect under arrest and seize any
evidence material to the warrant. Because the alien who does not declare one's sovereignty
and does not govern one's self, is regarded as having accepted the authority of the larger
treaty organization to take action against that person for any suspected crimes. Such an
alien person without a recognized government has not, by implication,
accepted any other authority of those governments and is not bound to any
regulation or litigation procedure. All the alien has to do to be responsible in governing
one's own actions and living a sovereign individual who enters into all association though
consent of all concerned. Anti-social criminals are not practicing responsible government.
Free consensual government is universal and applies to everyone in the sense
that it upholds natural
rights, on which all laws are based. For those who join an
organized Libercratic government they give their consent to be
governed under the terms of which they choose and by using contract
insurance they may compel compliance with the laws, not only for themselves and for
other treaty members associated with their government, but also for any individuals or
groups of which there is an implied or explicit contract which comes with it the
requirement for contract insurance.
For people who are not a member of their government nor
a member of any treaty organization or signatory to any contract with them, the
independent sovereign is considered a government onto oneself, if one declares one's
sovereignty. And as all legitimate consensual government's
just responsibilities involve defensive actions against violations of individual rights,
every person within a Libercratic government recognizes the
right of every other individual and their legitimate chosen government to take any
defensive action in protection of those rights. For the independent sovereign has the same
equal right to defend oneself against trespasses by others as does any other government.
The way to settle any disputes that might arise among people of different governments who
may live under different laws and justice systems is through treaty agreements or other
contracts and finally by common law definitions. But, as
stated, any action against an alien territory must be taken through FSUTO,
because all signatories have given their consent to allow FSUTO
authorities to take action for them against aliens.
This creates a universal system of free consensual governments who are united
in their commitment to individual freedom, anyone who tries to operate any other form of government which is imposed on people against their consent is at war
against sovereign humanity and such illegitimate systems cannot be tolerated. This
requires everyone to accept Libercratic government as the
means to settling all legal disputes. Therefore, Libercratic
government is universal in its jurisdiction.
So, as you can see, free consensual
government allows every individual to choose one's
government or to enjoy self-government independently while voluntarily negotiating
contracts or treaties to settle any potential disputes and at the same time it is a
universal form of government which includes everyone who lives as a free sovereign and respects the
rights of others whether they have signed any contracts or not and having universal
legitimacy in has the authority to enforce freedom on everyone who would violate it and
bring them to justice for violations of individual rights.
Libercratic government exists by respecting
natural universal laws that are self enforcing.
They are self enforcing because the primary concern of any
individual is one's own sovereign rights and the freedom to exercise them. Most people who
capitulate to the coercion of the state do so because of ignorance about their rights and
the peer pressure that comes from other citizens who are also ignorant of their rights.
People are kept ignorant by the state of the way in which free self-government works. When
people understand their rights and the principles of how free self- government works, they
can no longer be manipulated by the propagandists.
They will then realize that their freedom and other rights depend upon
respecting the rights of other people to live freely. They will realize that to enjoy
individual freedom requires individual responsibility and accountability, and to secure
this, they will choose to join consensual governments which
will protect and promote their rights and provide ways in which conflicts may be justly
settled. People may choose very different forms of procedural
government, but if all these governments are based soundly upon the principles of
individual sovereignty, which they must be by definition if they are consensual, then the
difference among these governments will only be procedural;
they will exist under the same fundamental natural law. Procedural differences and
differences among legal codes of the governments may then be settled through treaty agreements which provide neutral procedures for adjudicating disputes
among the various governments. Since sovereign individuals' primary concern is their own
sovereignty and freedom, and they choose to form consensual governments to better secure their rights, everyone working in concert, though
different channels, end up with the same ultimate concern--protecting individual
sovereignty. For this reason the many governments that people choose
will be self enforcing institutions that secure individual rights, both through the
different procedural choices and legal codes of the various governments, and ultimately,
in forming a superstructure of governing procedures that protect this system of consensual
governments and provide a means for them to settle their disputes in a just manner.
If anyone within a consensual government betrays one's contractual
commitment, then that person will face the appropriate charges, just as someone who
betrays one's treaty agreements. People who live separate from governments organized under
the treaty agreement are self governing sovereigns and pose no
problem to others unless they trespass on other's rights. Should any group organize
themselves into a criminal organization, such as; trying to reestablish the
political-state, or should a member government of the treaty organization betray its
commitment and threaten the other governments, then all the member governments will join
forces for mutual defense and arrest and bring to justice or destroy those in the
conspiracy.
Should one of the member governments become tyrannical
and begin oppressing the rights of its civilzens, and should
it try to prevent its civilzens from renouncing citizenship
and casting off that government which no longer has their consent, or should it stop
people from seeking aid and protection from other governments, then the other member
governments are bound by their treaty to defend the rights and lives of all sovereign
individuals who are its signatory. They would then join forces and move to defend
those individuals who are being oppressed, and they would seek
to bring to justice the tyrants who betrayed their commitments, or, if the tyrants should
resist, then they must be destroyed in defense of sovereign individuals everywhere.
As long as individuals are free to accept and renounce civilzenship
in any government, they are free to change governments if the one they have chosen fails
to live up to its word or if they simply no longer consent to be a part of it. It is a
primary duty of all treaty members to defend this sovereign right to choose one's civilzenship--which is a basic expression of individual sovereignty.
The only moral and legitimate form of government is one that
respects the free will and personal responsibility of the individual and holds one fully
accountable for one's actions. It presumes people to be incapable of
making responsible choices and therefore it presumes them to be innocent until proved
guilty, by this reason all moral governments must refrain from any form of prior
restraint, as prior restraint is tyranny and a crime against human rights because it
presumes everyone to be guilty and forces them to prove their innocence through compliance
to an authority who presumes to know what is best for the mass of a society which is
without responsibility. This presumption that people are not
free to make their own choices and therefore they are not responsible opens the door to
totalitarianism and at the same time it encourages criminal activity, first by encouraging
the criminal activity of the state by enslaving people and robbing them of their
opportunity to exercise their own rights, but certainly it encourages crimes among the
people who are already treated as irresponsible. If the government is responsible
for everyone's behavior and regulates every activity to control that behavior, then the
government is responsible for all crimes and civil trespasses committed by all citizens
controlled by that government.
The only moral form of government is Libertocracy
which respects the dignity and freedom of all individuals to control their own
lives, property and actions. Any governmental regulation that imposes prior restraint is
immoral and undermines the law of free and civilized government.
In the state, criminals aren't justly held accountable for their actions,
meaning that instead of the criminal having to pay restitution to the victim, the state
uses the crime itself to rob the people even more. When an individual commits a crime
against another individual, say a theft, when the state's police arrest the suspect, their
goal is not restitution to the victim, instead they want retribution against a person who
disobeyed the state's authority. Remember, that for citizens of the state, there are no
crimes against human rights, there are only crimes against the state;
theft, rape and murder are not crimes against human beings, they are an act of
disobedience against the authority of the state. As acts of
disobedience the offender must be punished with retribution and to do this it means that
the innocent victims of the crime, who have already lost property or life, will now be
robbed by the police thieves who steal even more from the victims than did the original
thief, the victim is robbed by the court system, and by the prison system; the victim has
to pay support to the thief all so that the state can punish a disobedient subject, and
should the victim demand restitution and try to take it from the criminal or even if the
victim should make a deal with the person who committed the crime by agreeing to a private
bargain to pay restitution or perform some service to avoid further punishment, then the
state will use force against that victim for that person for daring to assert one's
individual rights by actually claiming ownership of one's body and property and by doing
so holding others accountable for violating that which is theirs and by that reason giving
you the right to negotiate your own settlement for trespasses against your rights. This type of assertion of individual sovereignty can't be tolerated by the
state because it discounts the state completely, it makes the state useless and irrelevant
in enforcing law, but the state does not enforce the law of nature it enforces its power,
and people who would assert their sovereign rights are enemies of the state, they are
subjects who must be made to be obedient or be destroyed.
In Libercratic government,
people are held accountable, when a person chooses to commit a crime, that person is held
fully accountable and must pay restitution, the victim is not continually robbed by the
system, but the government serves and protects the victim by extracting restitution from
the criminal and forcing the criminal to pay for the corrections process since it was the
person's choice to commit the crime, so that person must fully pay for it.
Hopefully, as free societies respect individual
dignity and responsibility, a person who does the wrong of committing a crime will repent
of that action and choose to cooperate in paying restitution in order to save oneself from
greater punishment, in Libercratic government the punishment
is clearly and strictly for the crime of violating human rights.
As a citizen of a state if you wish to withdraw your support
you will be subjected to violent force; put under arrest and thrown in prison or killed
for resisting. In Libercratic governments
we provide services that people want and for which they are willing to pay, they are fully guaranteed, and if for any
reason you are not completely one hundred percent satisfied, you are free to renounce its
jurisdiction over you and your property and to withdraw your support, and in cases where
services have not yet been consumed, you will get your money back.
The purpose of Libertocracy
is self-government, not the communistic self-government of mob rule; legitimate
government is governing your interactions with other people and finding ways to settle
disputes so as to avoid violating the rights of others, the purpose of the political-state
is to conspire together to violate the rights of other people, extorting money from them
and using it to enslave them and feed the insatiable hunger of the political mobsters for
power.
The universality of Libercratic
government is the union of consensual governments in treaty organizations to defend
individual sovereignty and enforce the laws of the various governments reconciled within
the treaty. Libertocracy is able to enforce the law of
protecting individual freedom on everyone. If some people choose not to recognize Libercratic government and commit acts that threaten or violate the
rights of others, then the Libercratic treaty union will use
force to defend the innocent individuals and bring to justice the guilty party.
Libertocracy works as a
universal system of government because it requires every person to live freely as a
sovereign individual and govern oneself responsibly, it requires people to formulate
procedures to settle disputes among them, this is not a problem that each individual has
to solve oneself as FSUTO
provides a complete system for seeking justice in matters involving different sovereign
governments. Libercratic government may enforce human
rights law, based strictly on individual freedom, and bring to justice those who violate
individual rights.
Libercratic government is not
a monopoly because any individual may join or form one's own government and operate it to
suit oneself; and it is fully accountable, not to an amorphous mob, but to the sovereign
individual who has total control through one's consent, to enter into any negotiated terms
that one finds agreeable and associate with other people only on those terms. Libercratic government enforces the law only on those people who
violate the consensual contract to which they have agreed with other people and enforces
individual freedom against those who would violate it.
You may ask, how may Libercratic
law be applied to non-civilzens on alien property? Anarchists
and aliens who refuse to sign a Libercratic treaty or contract
will be governed by common law. To settle disputes between people who have no government
or who are citizens of illegitimate governments and to precisely define and clarify points
of law which may extend onto alien territory, common law
interpretations will prevail in a particular area. That means that the
anarchist or alien will be held to the definition of the law on their own property as
determined by interactions among both Libercratic persons and
aliens, so that if there is a dispute between them, the case should be tried in a neutral court that will not impose the law of one
person's government on the other, but will determine what was the understanding of implied contractual legal
concepts between the parties in question.
Political-states are two dimensional
and are thus limited in their jurisdiction though unlimited in their power over those who
are unfortunate enough to live within territory that has been confiscated by them. But
free consensual Libercratic government is universal and
extensive in its reach to all people who would live freely and consent to associate
together under voluntarily accepted terms, which, of course, is the only just form of
government.
Bruce Benson proposed competitive free market governance
thus; "The effectiveness of competition among political jurisdictions is inversely
proportional to the costs of changing one's jurisdiction. ... The high cost of switching
results from the fact that political jurisdictions correspond to geographical regions, and
geographical relocation is not always feasible. ... If people could switch political
jurisdictions without switching location .... competition would be higher, and the amount of state interference
that people would tolerate without switching would be lower .... The threat of losing
'customers' would push taxes and wasteful spending far below their current monopoly
levels. The presence of alternatives would also lower the incidence of government
oppression by linking revenue with accountability."
The people establish Libercratic
government as an umpire which they have provided to settle disputes that may arise among
them, and as such it is by its nature a benign form of government to those who respect
other's rights, because such a responsible person need not have any contact with the
functioning of government -- one will never have to buy a license to exercise one's
rights, will never have to pay taxes and may never have to appear in court, but against
the malevolents of the world, it provides the force to bring
them to justice, punish them and extract restitution, so that the innocent enjoy just
government that doesn't infringe upon their rights or property and still provides them
with the greatest security and justice possible in this world. Libercratic
government is the only form of government that is legitimate and the only system that may
be universal.
Everyone must live freely by self
government, as a sovereign individual you can't but live freely and govern
yourself, true self government is regulating your own life and affairs and governing your
interactions with others through consensual contracts. People who choose not to join a
civil government accept independent self government by default,
so it is regarded that all people live under free government and are responsible for
respecting universal human rights law.
by Gregory Flanagan
Copyright © 1999-2000 (4999-5000) Libertocracy© Association and Gregory Flanagan. All rights reserved.
Quotes
"Man being
born, as has been proved, with a title to perfect freedom and an uncontrolled enjoyment of
all the rights and privileges of the law of Nature, equally with any other man, or number
of men in the world, hath by nature a power not only to preserve his property- that is,
his life, liberty, and estate, against the injuries and attempts of other men, but to
judge of and punish the breaches of that law in others," - John Locke, Second
treatise on Government
"One essential
of a free government is that it rest wholly on voluntary support. And
one certain proof that a government is not free, is that it coerces more or less persons
to support it, against their will. All governments, the worst on earth, and the most
tyrannical on earth, are free governments to that portion of the people who voluntarily
support them. And all governments --through the best on earth
in other respects--are nevertheless tyrannies to that portion of the people--whether few
or many--who are compelled to support them against their will. A government is like a
church, or any other institution, in these respects. There is no other criterion whatever,
by which to determine whether a government is a free one, or not, than the single one of its depending, or not depending, solely on voluntary support." -
Lysander Spooner, No Treason II |
Human Liberation Alliance
FSUTO
Librademia
Poliveria
Valenturia
Liberation Journal
Introduction to
Libertocracy
Principles of Libertocracy
How to a Build a Better
Civilization
Free
Enterprise Government without Taxes
|
