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Forget the Mt Vernon Statement: Mine's Better
Feb 19, 2010 | GeronL

Posted on 02/18/2010 10:42:02 PM PST by GeronL

Okay, we have all seen and read the vague, watered-down generalized conservatism presented in the Mt. Vernon Statement.

It was very disappointing.

I got to thinking. How should we "organize" our society? The first thing that came to mind is that we shouldn't, it should all be voluntary.

So without further ado, here is my statement.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Government; Politics
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General Agreement

Organizing Principles for Voluntary Cooperation

We the undersigned solemnly pledge ourselves to living as SOVEREIGN individuals, governing nobody and allowing nobody to govern us. We ask nothing of each other but the benefits of voluntary mutual trade and we demand nothing but the respect for individual freedom. Government, as it has been known, is a failed endeavor.

It has been shown that there can be no such thing as a free country for any length of time if it gives power to control people and their economy to a government.

Government becomes your ruler, your master instead of your employee. Understanding this, we divest ourselves of the failed, past models of governing.

Instead we choose to govern ourselves and cooperate with others when we believe it is proper and we are free not to join others if we believe it is the better course.

Voluntarism is the centerpiece of individual freedom; no person shall be forced to pay for another man’s ambitions. No one shall be forced to expend his treasure on another man’s appetites, ideas or needs.

If there is to be a government let it defend the nation from foreign attack and invasion and insure that the individuals who are citizens are not impeded in their freedoms in any way through its court. Otherwise government should do nothing or it has stretched beyond its useful dimensions.

If there is to be a government entity let it not own land other than for government business, let it be limited to a single flat tax applicable to all citizens of no more than 10%. It shall have a few specific duties and have no say in the affairs of the individual and his church or business.

The sovereign INDIVIDUAL shall have the inalienable right to life for without this there is nothing else to talk about. The individual shall have the freedoms of speech, thought, expression, assembly, worship, create, buy, trade, own, sell, commerce, defense, travel & other without regard or respect to government laws, restrictions, licensing or permissions.

The individual who respects the same rights and freedoms of other individuals shall be able to live free of interaction, interference and molestation of any government entity.

The FAMILY is the most important unit of organization of all organizations and as such holds a central place in any kind of free country or land. The mother and father shall have the right to control and direct the education and upbringing of their children. The family that abides by the General Agreement shall not suffer the interaction, intrusion or molestation from any government entity.

The parents shall have the right to protect and guide their children through their education and health unto adulthood. The violation of the un-matured child shall be considered the vilest act imaginable and is thusly exempted from the concept of all-encompassing liberty.

The CHURCH shall face no controls or sanctions from any government entity, nor shall it be limited in its freedoms of speech, thought, expression, assemblies, worship, create, buy, trade, own, sell, commerce, defense, travel & other. It shall not require permission, license or permit.

BUSINESS shall have the same rights as individuals to be free from interference, control, license, permission or molestation from any government entity. All shall have the right to create, produce, buy, own, sell, trade & other as they see fit. As long as business or other shall not infringe on individual freedom they should operate free of government stricture.

Whether the business be a single individual or a multitude of shareholders it shall be owned and controlled by its owner(s) and operate by their rules.

VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION

A voluntary association shall be one where multiple individuals have come together of their own volition for a single purpose. That purpose could be any legal activity that does not violate individual freedom. Whether it is to build a playground, a neighborhood swimming pool, bank, a radio station, a library, fire department or a road, feed the poor or build a hospital it really doesn’t matter.

These individuals and entities (such as church and business) shall raise their own funds from amongst themselves and elect how to proceed from amongst themselves. They shall not have their activity restricted or controlled from outside. They shall have the power to pool their funds, buy land and other, construct and to operate without interference, license, permission or molestation from any government entity.

We believe that these are the foundations of a free country with free and sovereign people.

1 posted on 02/18/2010 10:42:03 PM PST by GeronL
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To: GeronL

I need to relearn how to do a table and make this narrower and easier to read.


2 posted on 02/18/2010 10:42:52 PM PST by GeronL (I pledge allegiance to the Principles of the Bill of Rights and to protect and defend it...)
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To: GeronL

Bump


3 posted on 02/18/2010 10:43:58 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
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To: Jet Jaguar; JohnHuang2; Travis McGee; PJ-Comix

Thanks Jet.


4 posted on 02/18/2010 10:46:57 PM PST by GeronL (I pledge allegiance to the Principles of the Bill of Rights and to protect and defend it...)
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To: GeronL
I got to thinking. How should we "organize" our society? The first thing that came to mind is that we shouldn't, it should all be voluntary.

I don't know, I figgered that negative rights thang pretty much sewed it up

5 posted on 02/18/2010 11:09:35 PM PST by Talisker (When you find a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be damn sure it didn't get there on it's own.)
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To: Talisker

lol.

I guess mine would be even more negative then. I barely let the government have defense.


6 posted on 02/18/2010 11:11:21 PM PST by GeronL (I pledge allegiance to the Principles of the Bill of Rights and to protect and defend it...)
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To: GeronL

For the family part, would you allow polygamy or homosexual couples? Open marriages?


7 posted on 02/18/2010 11:15:55 PM PST by PugetSoundSoldier (Indignation over the Sting of Truth is the defense of the indefensible)
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To: PugetSoundSoldier

Allow?

I don’t care what consenting adults do in their own homes.

Its not like there would be any government benefits or anything. No one else would be forced to condone or approve of their “marriage” and they would have no right to demand any such recognition from others.


8 posted on 02/18/2010 11:19:34 PM PST by GeronL (I pledge allegiance to the Principles of the Bill of Rights and to protect and defend it...)
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To: GeronL

All these statements, position papers, attempts to rewrite the Contract With (From) America, are coming so thick and fast now, that it’s clear NONE of them is going to be adopted, going forward, as the new Republican Party platform. The dozens of disparate and diffuse Tea Party groups nationwide, would be better off operating by instinct, and involving themselves locally, as per their own interests and talents/
Your statement is probably better philosophically than any
I’ve read, and echoes the philosophy that most appealed to me as an adolescent: philosophical anarchism, a la the great Russians, Bakunin and Kropotkin (Mutual Aid). In my own cultural background, it was the British critic, poet and novelist, Sir Herbert Read, that guided me. it is a venerable tradition, this form of anarchism, and we only experience it in little bursts, like when people voluntarily come together in times of crisis to keep one another out of harm’s way, always WITHOUT government intervention. Government NEVER gets it together in time, the perfect recent example being Katrina and NOLA: the only way for the Feds to come out on top was to make a split-second decision to TAKE OVER THE ENTIRE OPERATION, go right over the heads of the LA. city and state resources. It was a NO WIN situation; the slightest goof by the Feds would’ve been seen as a tragic blunder by Bush, who should’ve just let the Mayor and Governor tend to it themselves , even though they had no intention to. So what happened instead is that for the most part people found a way to save themselves.
Your thesis and principles deserve refinement, and a restatement, a fleshing-out, and more historical examples
situating these ideas in a realm that is also OUTSIDE of poltics, because there are really only a few things we NEED politics FOR. Politicians would have all of us believe that we need them for EVERYTHING.


9 posted on 02/18/2010 11:34:14 PM PST by supremedoctrine (Time is the school in which we learn that time is the fire in which we burn.)
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To: supremedoctrine

Thats true. I don’t think there is much political about my statement. My statement has an absence of politics as a core principle.


10 posted on 02/18/2010 11:50:17 PM PST by GeronL (I pledge allegiance to the Principles of the Bill of Rights and to protect and defend it...)
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To: GeronL

bump for morning read (well, it IS, technically, morning).


11 posted on 02/19/2010 12:41:09 AM PST by EDINVA (Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.)
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To: EDINVA

definitely bed time for me..

g’nite cruel world... again


12 posted on 02/19/2010 12:43:38 AM PST by GeronL (I pledge allegiance to the Principles of the Bill of Rights and to protect and defend it...)
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To: GeronL

I like it. Good work. I’d like to see at least the SPIRIT of this be implemented little by little until we shake off the bonds of the Nanny State.


13 posted on 02/19/2010 5:40:37 AM PST by King_Corey (www.kingcorey.com)
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To: GeronL

I suppose “Bugger Government!” would be too...succinct?


14 posted on 02/19/2010 5:48:57 AM PST by Mr Rogers (I loathe the ground he slithers on!)
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To: GeronL
I need to relearn how to do a table and make this narrower and easier to read.
Hey GeronL how is this format? By the way, very well stated.

General Agreement

Organizing Principles for Voluntary Cooperation

We the undersigned solemnly pledge ourselves to living as SOVEREIGN individuals, governing nobody and allowing nobody to govern us. We ask nothing of each other but the benefits of voluntary mutual trade and we demand nothing but the respect for individual freedom. Government, as it has been known, is a failed endeavor.

It has been shown that there can be no such thing as a free country for any length of time if it gives power to control people and their economy to a government.

Government becomes your ruler, your master instead of your employee. Understanding this, we divest ourselves of the failed, past models of governing.

Instead we choose to govern ourselves and cooperate with others when we believe it is proper and we are free not to join others if we believe it is the better course.

Voluntarism is the centerpiece of individual freedom; no person shall be forced to pay for another man’s ambitions. No one shall be forced to expend his treasure on another man’s appetites, ideas or needs.

If there is to be a government let it defend the nation from foreign attack and invasion and insure that the individuals who are citizens are not impeded in their freedoms in any way through its court. Otherwise government should do nothing or it has stretched beyond its useful dimensions.

If there is to be a government entity let it not own land other than for government business, let it be limited to a single flat tax applicable to all citizens of no more than 10%. It shall have a few specific duties and have no say in the affairs of the individual and his church or business.

The sovereign INDIVIDUAL shall have the inalienable right to life for without this there is nothing else to talk about. The individual shall have the freedoms of speech, thought, expression, assembly, worship, create, buy, trade, own, sell, commerce, defense, travel & other without regard or respect to government laws, restrictions, licensing or permissions.

The individual who respects the same rights and freedoms of other individuals shall be able to live free of interaction, interference and molestation of any government entity.

The FAMILY is the most important unit of organization of all organizations and as such holds a central place in any kind of free country or land. The mother and father shall have the right to control and direct the education and upbringing of their children. The family that abides by the General Agreement shall not suffer the interaction, intrusion or molestation from any government entity.

The parents shall have the right to protect and guide their children through their education and health unto adulthood. The violation of the un-matured child shall be considered the vilest act imaginable and is thusly exempted from the concept of all-encompassing liberty.

The CHURCH shall face no controls or sanctions from any government entity, nor shall it be limited in its freedoms of speech, thought, expression, assemblies, worship, create, buy, trade, own, sell, commerce, defense, travel & other. It shall not require permission, license or permit.

BUSINESS shall have the same rights as individuals to be free from interference, control, license, permission or molestation from any government entity. All shall have the right to create, produce, buy, own, sell, trade & other as they see fit. As long as business or other shall not infringe on individual freedom they should operate free of government stricture.

Whether the business be a single individual or a multitude of shareholders it shall be owned and controlled by its owner(s) and operate by their rules.

VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION

A voluntary association shall be one where multiple individuals have come together of their own volition for a single purpose. That purpose could be any legal activity that does not violate individual freedom. Whether it is to build a playground, a neighborhood swimming pool, bank, a radio station, a library, fire department or a road, feed the poor or build a hospital it really doesn’t matter.

These individuals and entities (such as church and business) shall raise their own funds from amongst themselves and elect how to proceed from amongst themselves. They shall not have their activity restricted or controlled from outside. They shall have the power to pool their funds, buy land and other, construct and to operate without interference, license, permission or molestation from any government entity.

We believe that these are the foundations of a free country with free and sovereign people.


15 posted on 02/20/2010 2:12:31 PM PST by B-Cause (Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: B-Cause

very very nice!!


16 posted on 02/20/2010 2:15:44 PM PST by GeronL (I pledge allegiance to the Principles of the Bill of Rights and to protect and defend it...)
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To: 50cal Smokepole; Allegra; AZamericonnie; b4its2late; backhoe; Bahbah; bannie; BellStar; Big Horn; ..

Input for GeronL ping!


17 posted on 02/20/2010 8:02:10 PM PST by writer33 (Rush Limbaugh Is "The Passion" of Conservatism And Pretty Good At That Radio Thingy)
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To: HeadOn; HighlyOpinionated; Hildy; hinckley buzzard; HitmanNY; hosepipe; Humidston; irishtenor; ...

Input for GeronL ping!


18 posted on 02/20/2010 8:02:31 PM PST by writer33 (Rush Limbaugh Is "The Passion" of Conservatism And Pretty Good At That Radio Thingy)
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To: oldteen; onyx; PennsylvaniaMom; PGalt; potlatch; Quix; Red Badger; right way right; rllngrk33; ...

Input for GeronL ping!


19 posted on 02/20/2010 8:02:50 PM PST by writer33 (Rush Limbaugh Is "The Passion" of Conservatism And Pretty Good At That Radio Thingy)
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To: writer33

BTTT


20 posted on 02/21/2010 2:58:13 AM PST by E.G.C.
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