{"id":505,"date":"2006-08-08T15:08:44","date_gmt":"2006-08-08T22:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/balafon.net\/?p=505"},"modified":"2006-08-08T15:14:10","modified_gmt":"2006-08-08T22:14:10","slug":"a-semi-libertarian-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/?p=505","title":{"rendered":"A Semi-Libertarian Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inspired by such creative works as Kim Stanley Robinson’s Constitution of Mars<\/i> and the Constitution of Oceania<\/a><\/i>, as well as such worthy real-world constitutions as those of the United States and Switzerland, I’ve long played around with possible constitutions. Herewith my latest effort, with commentary.<\/p>\n

La Konstitucio de Agordio<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Constitution of Accordia<\/i>.<\/p>\n

This latest effort is written in Esperanto in an effort to see if it would be more precise. I don’t know if that worked out, but the effort of translation made a huge difference in simplicity and clarity. In addition, I use the Esperanto neologism “ri” as the gender-indefinite pronoun.<\/p>\n

The constitution is meant to be a broad statement of principles, purposely leaving many details vague.<\/p>\n

The word Agordio<\/i> means something like “Harmonia”. I picked it because it contains the syllable “Gord”. In English I use “Accordia”.<\/p>\n

1: Anta\u00c5\u00adklarigo<\/p>\n

1.1: Ni, la fondantoj de Agordio, por anta\u00c5\u00adgardi la bonstaton de la popolo kaj la respubliko de la nacio, fondas \u00c4\u009dian registaron per \u00c4\u2030i tiu konstitucio.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1: Preamble<\/p>\n

1.1: We the founders of Accordia, in order to preserve the well-being of the people and the commonwealth of the nation, establish its government by means of this constitution.<\/i><\/p>\n

I think we should recognize the tension between individual freedom and preservation of the commons.<\/p>\n

1.2: \u00c4\u02c6ar la libereco estas la plej grava valoro de Agordio, la celo de la registaro ne estu devigi la bonon, sed sole evitigi la malbonon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1.2: Whereas liberty is the highest value of Accordia, the aim of the government shall not be to compel good, but only to prevent evil.<\/i><\/p>\n

Compulsory virtue is no virtue at all.<\/p>\n

1.3: \u00c4\u02c6ar la tiraneco malfeli\u00c4\u2030e oftas je homaj aferoj, la le\u00c4\u009do estu la plej grava a\u00c5\u00adtoritato de Agordio.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1.3: Whereas tyranny is unfortunately common in human affairs, the law shall be the highest authority in Accordia.<\/i><\/p>\n

1.4: \u00c4\u02c6ar \u00c4\u2030ia povo procedas de la popolo, la registaro estu de la popolo kaj agu por la popolo kaj la komuna ri\u00c4\u2030eco de la nacio. La registaro havu neniun povon, kiun ne priskribas \u00c4\u2030i tiu konstitucio.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1.4: Whereas all power proceeds from the people, the government shall be of the people and act on behalf of the people and the common wealth of the nation. The government shall posess no power not described in this constitution.<\/i><\/p>\n

This is the grand experiment of the United States: power trickles up from the people to the government, rather than down from the crown to the people. It may not seem to work that way, but the US is the longest-lasting state in existence today, so they must have done something right.<\/p>\n

2: Rajtoj de la Popolo<\/p>\n

2.1: Egaleco je la le\u00c4\u009do: la registraro ne distingu la\u00c5\u00ad sekso, raso, religo a\u00c5\u00ad aliu tia kvalito. Tamen iu ajn, kiu ne agas pro la registraro, povu distingi iamaniere ajn, krom .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2: Rights of the People<\/p>\n

2.1: Equality under the law: the government shall not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, religion or other such quality. However, anyone not acting on behalf of the government may discriminate in any manner.<\/i><\/p>\n

2.2: Libereco de penso kaj esprimo: la registraro ne krimigu pensi a\u00c5\u00ad esprimi ion ajn, krom esprimoj, kiuj incitas krimfaradon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.2: Freedom of thought and expression: the government shall not make it a crime to think or express anything, except expressions that incite the commission of a crime.<\/i><\/p>\n

2.3: Libereco de asocio: la registraro ne krimigu asocii, krom se tia asocio celas krimfaradon. La membroj de \u00c4\u2030ia asocio, inkluzive de korporacioj, respondu pri la agojn de tiuj asocioj.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.3: Freedom of association: the government shall not make it a crime to associate, except if such association is intended for the commission of a crime. The members of all associations, including corporations, shall be responsible for the actions of those associations.<\/i><\/p>\n

2.4: Privateco:<\/p>\n

2.4.1: La registraro ne povu ial ajn preni poseda\u00c4\u00b5on de persono a\u00c5\u00ad esta\u00c4\u00b5o.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.4: Privacy<\/p>\n

2.4.1: The government shall not for any reason take posession of the property of a person or entity.<\/i><\/p>\n

2.4.2: La registraro ne povu observi a\u00c5\u00ad eniri proprecon de persono sen pravigo de ju\u00c4\u009distaro.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.4.2: The government may not observe or enter the property of a person without a warrant from the court.<\/i><\/p>\n

2.4.3: La registraro povu nek devigi sin identigo nek aresti personon sen rezona suspekto de krimo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.4.3: The government may not compel anyone to identify oneself, nor arrest a person without reasonable suspicion of a crime.<\/i><\/p>\n

2.4.4: La registraro ne povu devigi sinkulpigon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.4.4: The government may not compel anyone to incriminate oneself.<\/i><\/p>\n

2.4.5: La registraro ne povu malpermesi posedadon de fajrarmiloj a\u00c5\u00ad cifrecaj programaroj.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.4.5: The government may not forbid the posession of firearms or encryption software.<\/i><\/p>\n

If political power is to remain with the people, the people must<\/i> retain access to firearms and secure communication.<\/p>\n

2.4.6: La registraro ne povu devigi militan a\u00c5\u00ad civilan servon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.4.6: The government may not compel military or civil service.<\/i><\/p>\n

2.4.7: La registraro ne povu kolekti propran informa\u00c4\u00b5on en unu datenaro; \u00c4\u2030iu oficejo kolektu diversajn datenarojn, ilin kunrilate nur kiel necese.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.4.7: The government may not collect personal data in one database; each department shall administer various databases, only correlating them as necessary.<\/i><\/p>\n

This is to make it harder for one person to play Big Brother: it should take a certain amount of process to correlate data on a person.<\/p>\n

2.5: Justeco:<\/p>\n

2.5.1: La registraro sciigu justatempe \u00c4\u2030iun kulpigatulon de la akuzoj kontra\u00c5\u00ad ri, kaj ri povu renkontri rian kulpiginton, kaj alrespondi la kulpigon anta\u00c5\u00ad \u00c4\u00b5urantaro, kiu decidos rian kulpon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.5: Justice<\/p>\n

2.5.1: The government shall in good time inform an accused person of the charges against them, and they may face their accuser and respond to the charges before the court which decides their guilt.<\/i><\/p>\n

2.5.2: La \u00c4\u00b5urantaro supozu senkulpecon sen klara kontra\u00c5\u00ada provo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.5.2: The court shall presume innocence without clear evidence to the contrary.<\/i><\/p>\n

2.6: Neniu persono povu dungi\u00c4\u009di per la registaro pli ol tuto de dek jaroj dum ria tuta vivo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2.6: No person may be employed by the government more than a total of ten years during their entire life.<\/i><\/p>\n

Let’s make sure the government remains dynamic. Constant turnover in government can hardly function worse<\/i> than an entrenched bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

3: La Le\u00c4\u009dejo<\/p>\n

3.1: La popolo balotu dujare du \u00c4\u2030ambroj por fari le\u00c4\u009dojn, titolata la Urba Domo kaj la Senato. \u00c4\u02c6iu kvincentono de la popolo balotu unu reprezentanton por la Urba Domo. La tuta popolo balotu cent unu senatanojn por la Senato.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3: The Legislature<\/p>\n

3.1: The people shall elect every two years two chambers for the purpose of legislation, named the Civil House and the Senate. Every five-hundredth of the population shall elect one representative to the Civil House. The entire population shall elect one-hundred one senators to the Senate.<\/i><\/p>\n

It is better to have multiple houses with cross-cutting constituencies to keep things shaken up.<\/p>\n

3.2: Le\u00c4\u009do ne havu pli ol unu subjektojn. \u00c4\u02c6iu le\u00c4\u009do ne da\u00c5\u00adru pli ol kvin jaroj sen renova\u00c4\u00b5o, kaj havu mezureblan prova\u00c4\u00b5on por \u00c4\u009din renovigi.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3.2: A law may not have more than one subject. Each law may not be in force for more than five years without re-evaluation, and shall contain a quantifiable metric for renewal.<\/i><\/p>\n

The first clause, interestingly, was a feature of the constitution of the Confederate States of America.<\/p>\n

3.3: La le\u00c4\u009dejo povu juste kaj minimume taksi komercon por financi la laboron de la registaro, sed neniam enspezon a\u00c5\u00ad hereda\u00c4\u00b5on.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3.3: The legislature may appropriately and minimally tax commerce in order to finance the work of the government, but never income or inheritance.<\/i><\/p>\n

4: La Regantaro<\/p>\n

4.1: La regantaro enhavu la jenan oficejojn, kaj neniu plu. La registraro neniam povu administri medicinon, edukadon, religion, edzecon a\u00c5\u00ad iajn aliajn aferojn.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4: The Executive<\/p>\n

4.1: The executive shall contain the following departments, and no more. The government may never administer medicine, education, religion, marriage, nor any other affair.<\/i><\/p>\n

4.2: La Oficejo de la Komunoj reguligu la\u00c5\u00adle\u00c4\u009de la komunajn naturajn rimedojn de Agordio. \u00c4\u0153i anka\u00c5\u00ad reguligas datenaron de nasko, nacianigo kaj morto.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4.2: The Office of the Commons shall regulate according to the law the common natural resources of Accordia. It shall also administer a database of birth, nationalization and death.<\/i><\/p>\n

“Natural resources” is intended to mean bodies of water, forests, the EM spectrum, the soundscape, air quality, etc.<\/p>\n

4.3: La Oficejo por Interrilato reguligu la\u00c5\u00adle\u00c4\u009de vojojn kaj havenojn kaj policaron, kaj administru ambasadojn esktere de Agordio por servi la Agordianojn kaj faciligi rilatojn kun aliaj nacioj.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4.3: The Office of Intercourse shall regulate according to the law roads, harbours and the police, and administer embassies outside of Accordia to serve Accordians and facilitate relations with other nations.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Esperanto is prosaic, but I couldn’t resist the most succinct English translation. Heh.<\/p>\n

4.4: La le\u00c4\u009dejo elektu dujare la estrojn de tiuj oficejoj, titolata Konsuloj. Ili servu kiel naciestroj.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4.4: The legislature shall elect every two years the heads of these offices, known as Consuls. They shall serve as heads of state.<\/i><\/p>\n

4.5: La Oficejo por Milito reguligu memvolan starantan militistaron por defendi la nacion. Okaze de militado, la le\u00c4\u009dejo povu nomi militestron por batali kontra\u00c5\u00ad malamikoj de Agordio dum ne pli ol unu jaro. La militestro ne povu neniigi iu ajn parton de \u00c4\u2030i tiun konstitucion, e\u00c4\u2030 provizore.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4.5: The Office of War shall regulate a voluntary standing army in order to defend the nation. In times of war, the legislature shall name a Commander-in-Chief to make war on the enemies of Accordia for a period of not more than one year. The Commander-in-Chief may not suspend any part of this constitution, even temporarily.<\/i><\/p>\n

I suspect a lot of the vagueness of documents like the U.S. constitution is intended to promote debate. In this case, what if the war lasts more than one year?<\/p>\n

5: La Ju\u00c4\u009distaro<\/p>\n

5.1: La konsuloj, kun konsento de la le\u00c4\u009dejo, nomu tri grupojn de tri ju\u00c4\u009distoj por klarigi la le\u00c4\u009dojn, titolata “\u00c4\u02c6efaj Ju\u00c4\u009distaroj”. \u00c4\u02c6iu \u00c4\u2030efa ju\u00c4\u009distaro elektu tri subju\u00c4\u009distarojn, kaj tiel plu, \u00c4\u009dis estas tri ju\u00c4\u009distarojn en \u00c4\u2030iu urbo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

5: The Court<\/p>\n

5.1: The Consuls, with the consent of the legislature, shall name three groups of three judges in order to interpret the law, named “Chief Courts”. Each chief court shall choose three subordinate courts, and so on, until there are three courts for every Polis.<\/i><\/p>\n

5.2: Iu ajn kondamnitulo povu apelaci verdikton je sekva alta ju\u00c4\u009distaro, a\u00c5\u00ad je la tuta \u00c4\u02c6efa Ju\u00c4\u009distaro.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

5.2: Any convicted criminal may appeal their verdict to the next higher court, or to the entire group of Chief Courts.<\/i><\/p>\n

6: Diversoj<\/p>\n

6.1: Ne povu ekzisti subnacia registara esta\u00c4\u00b5o pli granda ol la “Urbo”, kiu enhavu nur tridek du mil personojn.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

6: Miscellaneous<\/p>\n

6.1: There may not exist any subnational governmental entity larger than the “Polis”, which may be comprised of no more than thirty-two thousand people.<\/i><\/p>\n

6.2 La le\u00c4\u009dejo povas aldoni al \u00c4\u2030i tiun konstitucion per tri kvarona vo\u00c4\u2030dono en amba\u00c5\u00ad \u00c4\u2030ambroj.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

6.2: The legislature may add to this constitution by means of a three-quarters vote in both chambers.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspired by such creative works as Kim Stanley Robinson’s Constitution of Mars and the Constitution of Oceania, as well as such worthy real-world constitutions as those of the United States and Switzerland, I’ve long played around with possible constitutions. Herewith my latest effort, with commentary. La Konstitucio de Agordio The Constitution of Accordia. This latest … Continue reading “A Semi-Libertarian Constitution”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","category-rants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/balafon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}