The Constitution of the Libertarian Social Democratic Republic

I'm a libertarian and a radical republican, which means that I value freedom and democracy. Democracy is not sacred or sacrosanct. It's value is merely utilitarian. Liberty is similar. Sometimes it may be necessary to curb liberty and democracy for the sake of justice. A majority must not be allowed to oppress a minority. The liberty of one person must be restricted to allow equal liberty to others. The real goal, which overrides everything else, is justice and human well-being.

I advocate republicanism or representative democracy. However, I don't believe that the people should be allowed to vote for whatever they want. The people can't be allowed to vote away democracy and establish a dictatorial monarch. Democracy must have strict limits. Consequently, the republic ought to have a constitution. The constitution is not a magic document that restricts government powers, but a primary source of law that tells the government what it is supposed to do and provides a compass that helps the people know when they need to rebel against the State. When the State is no longer loyal to its constitution (or when the constitution no longer accords with the general will of the people), then it is time for a new revolution.

The constitution should place certain limits on liberty and democracy. It should guarantee justice and equity. It should establish the basic political and economic institutions of the republic. The following is a list of basic rights, liberties, and institutions that ought to be established by the constitution of the republic.

• (1) That each person has an unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
  • (A) That these unalienable rights entail other such rights, namely:
    • (i) That the right to life entails the right to security and protection from would-be murderers.
    • (ii)That the right to life entails the right to access food, shelter, and healthcare.
      • (1) If a person has no access to food, they will die. If they are deprived of healthcare for preventable diseases which may cause death, their right to life is violated. If they are left to die of exposure or hypothermia due to lack of shelter, they are deprived of their right to life.
    • (iii) That the right to liberty is universal and, therefore, entails a limitation on liberty insofar as each individual must allow for the equal liberty of all other individuals. The right of one person to do whatever they want must be restricted to such actions as do not violate the equal rights of others.
      • (1) This means that slavery and aggression must be prohibited.
    • (iv) That the rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness entail a right to possessions and certain limitations on possessory rights.
      • (1) An individual is not free if all land and other means of production are hoarded by other individuals or groups.
        • (a) If an individual is dispossessed and someone else owns all the land and machinery, then they have no option but to work for that other individual or group as a virtual slave.
        • (b) This means that distributive justice is of utmost importance. The republic ought to seek the widest possible distribution of ownership of land, productive property, and wealth.
      • (2) Each individual's right to possessions must be limited by the equal right of all other individuals to similar possessions.
    • (v) That liberty and the pursuit of happiness entail a basic income and basic standard of living.
      • (1) In order to he free to pursue happiness, each individual must have the necessary means to exercise their freedom.
        • (a) This means that each individual is entitled to some share of excess social wealth.
      • (2) In order to pursue one's happiness, one must be informed about the options and possibilities.
        • (a) This means that all people are entitled to free education.
• (2) That the establishment of basic institutions to guarantee the rights elaborated above is necessary.
  • (A) That the protection of these rights requires the establishment of an institution for national defense.
    • (i) That national defense ought to be organized through the confederation of local national guards or militias.
      • (1) That these militias should be constituted of every able-bodied adult in the republic.
      • (2) That the leadership of these militias should be elected democratically by the soldiers themselves and confirmed by democratic councils at an appropriate/corresponding level of government.
  • (B) That protection of these rights entails institutions to prevent crime and protect or compensate the victims of crimes. Restorative justice is the form of justice that matters most.
    • (i) That securance agencies, public security agencies that insure persons and possessions against aggression and crime should be established. (Security + Insurance = Securance)
      • (1) That these public securance agencies will implement measures to prevent crimes.
        • (a) They will utilize security cameras, have security guards patrol high risk areas, etc.
      • (2) That these securance agencies will pay victims of crime in compensation for damages that result from any crime.
        • (a) If a person is robbed, they will file a claim for reimbursement for stolen possessions.
        • (b) If a person's possessions are vandalized, they will file an insurance claim with the securance agency.
      • (3) That these securance agencies will act like detectives and bounty hunters.
        • (a) When a person calls the emergency number for securance agencies and files a claim, the securance agency will pay them for damages. The agency will then investigate the crime and attempt to track down and arrest the criminal behind it.
          • (i) Captured criminals will be tried by jury. If found guilty, they will be required to reimburse the securance agency for the cost of damages, including legal fees, that resulted from their crime.
  • (C) That crime shall be defined as “a violation of the rights of another” and criminal cases shall be adjudicated via trial by jury.
    • (i) That twelve jurors ought to be selected randomly, by sortition or lottery.
    • (ii) That the jury must reach unanimous consensus in order to convict.
    • (iii) That the jury shall have the right to judge whether or not the suspect is guilty and whether or not extenuating circumstances might excuse their actions.
    • (iv) That the jury shall have the right to not enforce the law if they determine that justice demands leniency under the particular circumstances.
  • (D) That community rules should be determined through a democratic process, enforced by communal police services, and adjudicated by democratically elected judges, arbiters, or tribunals.
    • (i) That community rules, or positive law (law that is posited) should be made either directly by the people or by their elected representatives.
    • (ii) That representatives shall be elected once every two years and governed by strict rules.
      • (1) Candidates for public office should be chosen randomly via sortition or lottery.
        • (a) This will eliminate career politicians.
        • (b) Randomly-selected individuals can decline to run for office, in which case they will be replaced by another randomly-selected individual.
        • (c) Each randomly-selected candidate will receive equal public funding for their campaign and be prohibited from accepting donations or spending more than the amount allotted.
      • (2) The people shall elect representatives through popular vote, choosing from the randomly-selected candidates.
      • (3) That the election process should utilize ranked-choice or instant-runoff voting.
        • (a) The voter would choose a favorite candidate, a second favorite, third, and so on, creating a hierarchy of preferences.
        • (b) If an individual's most preferred candidate cannot win, then their vote should shift and be counted towards their second most preferred option, and so on, until a representative is chosen.
      • (4) The chosen candidate shall be bound by the will of their constituents.
        • (a) The representative will be subject to recall or removal from office and replacement for any reason.
        • (b) If the candidate falls in popularity, or if their constituents believe that their representative is behaving erratically or unethical, they can be immediately recalled by popular vote and replaced with someone else.
    • (iii) That positive law, or community rules, shall be determined by representatives within a deliberative democratic assembly or council at the appropriate level of government.
      • (1) There shall be local councils as well as higher level councils.
      • (2) Councils shall discuss and deliberate over proposed policies and regulations.
      • (3) Councils shall use a qualified consensus process.
        • (a) While the council may not be able to reach full consensus, they shall have to reach a supermajority of 70% in order to pass a proposal.
    • (iv) That enforcement of democratically-determined communal rules shall be done via communal police.
      • (1) The communal police officers should be chosen via sortition or lottery and serve for no more than six years.
      • (2) Their appointment as officers shall be confirmed by a democratic council at an appropriate/corresponding level of government.
      • (3) The leadership shall be democratically elected by the workforce along the same lines as representatives in general are chosen.
        • (a) Candidates for leadership roles will be randomly-selected.
        • (b) The officers shall elect their leaders from the available candidates via ranked-choice vote.
        • (c) The leadership should be confirmed by a council at an appropriate/corresponding level of government.
        • (d) The leadership should be immediately recallable.
    • (v) That adjudication in civil cases regarding the violation of community rules and regulations shall be done by way of democratically elected judges, arbiters, or tribunals.
  • (E) That an individual or group is entitled solely to the produce of their own labor. Wealth produced by natural resources or by the community shall not be regarded as private property. Value belonging to the community shall be collected into the public treasury and distributed out to all citizens in the form of a social dividend or basic income.
    • (i) That individual possessors of natural resources, like land, shall be allowed to keep the land in their possession. However, they shall be required to pay an appropriate level of ground-rent or land value tax (LVT).
      • (1) The tax rate for LVT shall be 10%, but it's collection should be divided up into monthly payments in order to ease the burden of the tax.
      • (2) All revenue from this tax shall be distributed out to all citizens in equal shares.
      • (3) Lower level governments shall pay LVT to higher level governments, ensuring that government does not enjoy a privileged position. This will also guard against regional disparities of wealth.
    • (ii) That insofar as the profits of business are only possible due to the value contributed by society and the institutions of the republic, the social body is entitled to a share of ownership in every industry, whether done on an individualistic, cooperative, or corporate basis.
      • (1) This will serve as a just corporate tax.
      • (2) The tax rate will start at 10% and increase for industries with greater profits. Individuals and corporate bodies will both be taxed in a similar fashion on the income from their industrial and productive activities. This will serve as a sort of progressive income tax.
        • (a) An equal rate of taxation for different levels of income is inequitable. Equal taxation unequally distributes the burden of taxation. For instance, a 50% tax on a person making $10,000 a year is much worse than the same tax on a person making $10,000,000. The first person could barely survive under that tax, while the latter individual would still be able to live a life of luxury beyond complaint. Thus, a progressive income tax is a moral imperative demanded by justice itself.
      • (3) The revenue from this corporate tax/income tax, as a collection of the community’s share of profits, shall be divided up evenly and distributed out to each citizen as a social dividend.
  • (F) That government services shall be funded via communal membership dues as a flat tax on all citizens.
    • (i) This tax shall be in the form of an additional 10% income tax, although the people will be able to raise this tax rate through the democratic process.
    • (ii) Any excess revenue not used to fund government services, or allocated to future government spending, shall be devoted to funding scientific research, development of new technologies, etc.
      • (1) Preference should be given to research related to automation and labor reduction.
  • (G) That a universal health insurance scheme shall be established in order to provide all people with free healthcare.
  • (H) That all levels of education should be publicly funded and provided to students free of charge.
  • (I) That a digital monetary system or crypto-currency should be established and used as the legal tender of the republic.
    • (i) That each individual shall be allowed only one account for banking in this monetary system.
      • (1) The accounts shall be linked to fingerprints, retinal scans, private keys, and social security numbers or tax IDs.
    • (ii) That there shall be a land registry that is maintained on the blockchain and interfaces with the general ledger of the crypto-currency system.
      • (1) This would allow for the automatic collection and redistribution of income tax and land value tax via the crypto-currency system itself.
      • (2) Income taxes and land value taxes, from both individuals and corporations, shall be automatically collected according to an algorithm.
        • (a) The taxes shall be continuously recalculated and adjusted automatically in accordance with changing circumstances.
        • (b) The taxes shall be calculated and divided up into small monthly payments that will be automatically deducted from the citizens’ accounts.
        • (c) An organization functionally equivalent to the IRS shall be established to correct any errors or update information and to deal with individuals who don't have enough funds in the account to cover their share of taxes.
    • (iii) That new money shall be occasionally issued by the system in accordance with a predetermined algorithm in order to prevent fluctuations in the value of the currency.
      • (1) When this new money is created, it shall be invested in scientific research or R&D to ensure the continual progress of society both intellectually and technologically.
        • (a) Preference shall be granted to research in the realm of automation and labor reduction.
  • (J) That regulatory agencies shall be created for the purpose of protecting the best interests of the community and guaranteeing social well-being.
    • (i) Regulatory agencies that are functionally equivalent to the EPA, OSHA, FDA, et al. shall be established.
    • (ii) The Regulatory State shall prevent individuals and corporations from polluting the environment or harming the ecosystem.
      • (1) There shall be Pigouvian taxes to penalize ecologically destructive behaviors.
        • (a) Pollution emissions will be taxed, with the rate increasing as the amount of pollution increases.
          • (i) This will force people that pollute to bear the cost of their own actions rather than pushing the costs off onto the community. Furthermore, the tax will at some point become prohibitory. At some point, a company that pollutes will find that it can no longer afford to continue polluting.
        • (b) The revenue collected through these taxes will be invested in clean energy and eco-friendly R&D.
      • (2) The Regulatory State shall ensure a decent minimum wage and safe working conditions to all workers.
        • (a) Violations of regulatory standards will be penalized by steep fines.
          • (i) The revenue from such fines shall be used to fund science and R&D.
    • (iii) Other regulatory agencies shall be created through the democratic process and given a mandate and specified powers as is determined to be necessary by the national congress.
• (3) That the form of government is to be a radical republican "comprehensive counterbalanced democracy", a form of representative democracy that integrates other forms of democracy in order to create a more democratic system.
  • (A) That democratic institutions and practices are to be checked only by other democratic institutions and practices.
  • (B) That elements of direct democracy and consensus democracy shall be integrated into the system.
    • (i) Laws passed by congress or by lower councils shall be subject to veto by popular vote. The people should be able to reject laws passed by their representatives.
  • (C) That digital democracy should be used.
    • (i) The people shall vote for their representatives online or via an app on a smartphone.
    • (ii) The people shall also be able to rank representatives online, in a sort of continual election, and representatives should be automatically recalled and replaced if they receive less than 50% support in the polls at any time.
    • (iii) A website and/or smartphone app shall be created to allow the people to directly veto legislation passed by their representatives.
      • (1) If 30% of the populace vetoes any rule passed by any council or congress, the rule shall be nullified.

This is merely a brief outline for the sort of constitution that I would like to see in a libertarian social democratic republic. My hope is that this outline will be concise enough to clarify my political philosophy and make it understandable to others.