From the Fascist Welfare State of America

by Lawrence A. Hunter
Social Security Institute

On this Fourth of July, 2012, I Lawrence A. Hunter, a sovereign human individual, a citizen of the United States and a resident of Warrenton, Virginia hereby declare my independence from the Fascist Welfare State that has illegitimately seized control of the United States of America under the color of law. I hereby formally withdraw my consent from and deny the legitimacy of all governing bodies of the United States – local, state and federal – putting the powers that be on notice that I pay their taxes and obey their laws, edicts and rules involuntarily under duress and the threat of violence and incarceration, not through a consensual acknowledgement of their legitimate right to tax, mandate, restrict, limit or punish the exercise of my sovereign right to do anything I desire to do, or not do, so long as I do not act in such a way as to unjustifiably encroach upon the life and property of my fellow human beings.

I further proclaim the reason for withdrawing my consent and denying the legitimacy of existing governing bodies to be that they have squandered the Mandate of the People, and thereby forfeited their legitimate authority to govern citizens of their jurisdiction by their many and despicable oppressive acts and their vast constitutional over reach, degenerating into unrestrained criminal syndicates ruling by violence and intimidation on behalf of their own agents, outside special interests and corporate combines, no longer remaining as they were intended to be, limited governing entities constrained by a constitution, governed by the rule of law, acting with the consent of the people and only in pursuit of the general welfare of all the people included within their jurisdiction.

In affirmation of my declaration of independence, I hereby declare that I am and remain a free and sovereign human being, a citizen of the United States; that as such I am absolved from all allegiance to usurping American governments, which by their criminal, unconstitutional and immoral acts have forfeited any claim on my allegiance; and that all political connection between them and me is and ought to be totally dissolved. Therefore, henceforth I will boycott all elections as a demonstration of my withdrawal of consent and denial of legitimacy of existing governments.

As a sovereign individual citizen of the United States of America, I hereby call upon my fellow citizens to join with me to demand the convening of local, state and national Conventions of Freedom across America to –

• Dismantle the existing system of democratic fascism, including secession if necessary, and replace it with a new system of governments based on the non-aggression principle, which holds that it shall be legal for anyone to do, or not do anything he wants, provided only that he not violate contracts he enters voluntarily without duress and that he not initiate or threaten violence against the person or legitimately owned property of another person.
• Restore a system of common law based on the precepts of natural law, which is discovered through long human experience, tradition and careful deliberation, and rests on the normative foundation of unanimity and consent, not majority rule and force.
• Construct a truly federalist constitutional republic that replaces electoral politics and hyperactive governments – which engage in unrestrained rule-making, immoral redistributive taxation and spending, and the promiscuous use of police powers – with limited governing bodies chosen at random from the willing citizenry and stringently restricted in their actions through super-majority voting requirements to pursuing the general welfare of all the people, not a mere subset of them, with full compensation guaranteed for those individuals harmed by the government’s legitimate actions.
• Design a system of limited governments that avoids tyranny by relying on the inner workings, incentives and structural arrangements of society and a properly designed political system, rather than relying on elections and the political process to prevent usurpation of individual sovereignty and infringement of individuals’ rights and freedoms.

I further propose the following governing framework for consideration and deliberation by such conventions when they assemble.

First, the fundamental principle of government shall be the non-aggression principle, and all taxing and police powers explicit or implied shall be restricted by the non-aggression principle.

Second, there shall in all instances be a presumption of liberty in deciding whether a proposed or enacted law, rule or edict denies or disparages rights and freedoms of the people, and no concept of “collective rights” or “individual entitlement” shall supersede any right or freedom retained by individuals under the non-aggression principle.

Third, the fundamental corollary of the fundamental principle shall be that the specification of certain rights in any constitution, law, judicial decision or government rule shall not be construed to deny or disparage other rights and freedoms retained by the people under the non-aggression principle.

Fourth, among the rights and freedoms protected by the non-aggression principle is that all individuals possess the inalienable right to leave their place of residence at any time, under any circumstances for any destination, domestic or foreign, they choose and to return freely and unimpeded at their own discretion. No government shall possess any power of extradition, passport confiscation or extra-territorial taxation under any circumstances.

Fifth, the legal concept of “sovereign immunity” shall not exist nor shall it be employed to shield from the full force of the law any governing body collectively nor any person individually who serves or who is employed or contracted by any government body.

Sixth, no government shall possess any war-making or police powers that reach beyond their borders unless in immediate response to a direct and open foreign attack or invasion, or pursuant to a declaration of war or militia-mobilization resolution that is duly enacted or affirmed by at least a three-fourth’s supermajority vote of the people in a duly held referendum, which shall be re-held annually or become null and void.

Seventh, there shall be no standing army.

Eighth, there shall be no income tax.

Ninth, there shall be no central bank nor shall any government issue money in any form other than gold or gold-backed notes fully redeemable on demand.

Tenth, no law, edict or government rule shall be enacted or issued except by supermajority vote of at least three-fourths by a legislative body enacting it or affirming its promulgation by an executive official.

Eleventh, all laws, edits and rules enacted by a legislative body, promulgated by an executive or decreed by an appellate judicial body shall be submitted to the people for affirmation – before the effective date or as soon thereafter as practicable and again every 10 years thereafter – in a ballot referendum in which the people shall be given the opportunity to repeal said enactments, edicts and decrees by majority vote.

Twelfth, all public officials shall be selected at random for limited terms in the following manner: Any citizen desiring to serve in a specific government office shall enter his name in a lottery, which shall be unregulated by any governing entity. The name drawn at random from the lottery list shall serve in said office until the expiration of the term of that office or until he is duly impeached and removed from office. At the expiration of the term of office, the current incumbent may run for re-election to that office, for one and only one additional term, against an opponent whose name shall be drawn from a new lottery list.

This is only a rough and incomplete framework, not meant to be definitive but to begin people thinking seriously about making their own personal declaration of independence and working to organize new Conventions of Freedom across America. Declare your independence from tyranny, and let freedom ring across the land once again.

Reprinted with permission from the Social Security Institute.

July 17, 2012

Lawrence A. Hunter [send him mail] is the President and CEO of the Social Security Institute.

Copyright © 2012 Social Security Institute

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