The Constitution of Freedom
A constitution of democracy for the societies of the world
Free to read, distribute, adopt or modify without restrictions
Established by Georgios Mavropalias and written in collaboration with others
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
1. Rights
All the following rights are indivisible, inalienable and inviolable and shall be guaranteed by the state except in the case of their abuse.
1.1. The Right to Freedom
- A person shall not be arrested, detained, or imprisoned except under the provisions of the law and under judicial supervision.
- In all criminal cases, the accused is entitled to a public and speedy trial by an impartial tribunal, and shall be presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
- No person shall be held in bondage, tortured, or otherwise subjected to inhumane or degrading treatment of any kind. Capital punishment may never be introduced into law. Involuntary servitude or confinement, except as a punishment for crime, are not allowed.
1.2. The Right to Information
- Citizens have the right to request and obtain official information. Public administration shall be open and transparent and shall preserve detailed documentation.
- The right to anonymity and the right to oblivion are ensured except when they compromise the rights of others, or they involve issues with the transparency of the decision-making system.
- The inviolacy of private life, home, and family shall be guaranteed. A person’s body may not be searched nor their residence or belongings except with a court order or special authorization by law. The same applies to a search of documents, postal transmissions, telephone calls, or other communication as well as any other comparable breaches of privacy, except when they compromise the rights or the safety of others.
1.3. The Right to Possession
- The possessions of citizens, including their land, are theirs alone. Citizens are free to act upon them as they see fit, provided they are not destroying the environment or violating the rights of others. Only through special exceptions defined by the laws of the state, can emergency services gain access to their property.
- Whenever the state requires the acquisition of a privately owned domain, its owner shall be ensured full compensation.
1.4. The Right to Expression
- Citizens have the right to lead a life of their own design and creed, as long as it does not violate the freedom of others. Everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the society, artistic, scientific, and technical creativity, and to use their achievements. Censorship shall never be exercised; All individuals have the right to express their opinion through speech, writing, imagery, or any other means of expression and publication.
- There is no official religion nor there shall be any religious education by the state. No religious organization shall receive state funds or privileges of any kind. Citizens have the right to follow the religion of their favor. Religious practices must adhere to the laws of the state and respect individual and collective rights, without exception.
- Citizens have the right to freely and without requiring any specific authorization start associations, as long as they are not promoting violence and their objectives are not contrary to the law. Associations have the right to conduct their affairs freely without interference from public authorities and cannot be dissolved by the state or have their activities suspended except in the cases provided for by the law and as a result of judicial decisions. Armed, military, militarized, and paramilitary associations are not allowed[a], nor are organizations that promote hate, racism, or tribalism.
- All persons have a right to strike to protect their professional, economic, and social interests without being fired or exposed to economic or criminal penalties.
1.5. The Right to Equality
- Every citizen shall be guaranteed the basic necessities of life including food, clothing, shelter, education, transportation, communication, energy, and medical care.
- No citizen shall ever be discriminated against based upon the color of their skin, their race, special needs, gender, social status, family origin, sexual orientation, or philosophy, and nor shall they receive any kind of favor or advantage for their differentiation.
2. Pursuits
All the following pursuits shall not be punishable in the case of their neglect or refusal, but they should comprise the main ethical background for the actions of the state and its people.
2.1. The Pursuit to Improve
It is the duty and the active pursuit of each citizen to improve and develop themselves, their possessions, and their surroundings. A society cannot function properly if each citizen does not actively pursue to improve themselves in each aspect of their character, and physical and mental capacity.
2.2. The Pursuit to Assist
It is the duty and the active pursuit of each citizen, to assist those in need of assistance as well as educate and inform those that wish to participate in the improvement of society.
2.3. The Pursuit to Protect
It is the duty and the active pursuit of each citizen to respect the limits of the environment and its resources, ensuring minimal consumption and waste, and whenever possible, to take actions towards the restoration and protection of the biosphere.
3. State
3.1. Government
The political system of the state is democracy. The state and the nation are governed by the people and each decision taken is for the good of the people. Every citizen has the right to propose, discuss, vote, and participate in each matter or initiative of the state, through means that shall be provided, and their universal access be ensured by the state.
3.2. Citizens
The citizens of the nation constitute the state. The physical location, natural resources, or the borders are not the nation or the state. The citizens are the only asset of the nation, and the nation is the asset of all citizens. The pursuit of the state is the education, cultivation, protection, and happiness of its citizens.
3.3. Equal Power
Whenever any citizen gains more political power or authority than another, democracy ceases to exist. No citizen shall receive preferential treatment by the state over another, and no one's opinion or vote will hold more power than another's[b]. The pursuit of the state shall be to develop and equip every citizen with the means and abilities to enrich the state with their participation.
3.4. Independence
Every group or person has an unconditional right to self-determination, including the right to secession. Groups of people that wish to become independent in their land can do so provided they are the rightful owners of the land, their system of government remains direct democracy and they do not engage in hostile activities. Human rights and the rights additional in this constitution shall remain as they are, and in case of abuse, the surrounding societies shall act upon the reestablishment of order.
3.5. War
War throughout history has cost immense amounts of energy and resources and caused irreparable destruction in every society be it attacker or defender. Aspiring to an international peace based on justice, order, and reason, the people of the state forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling disputes. Land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, shall steadily be diminished until fully eliminated. Compulsory military service may never be introduced into law. The right of belligerency of the state shall not be recognized. Hostilities or acts of warfare shall not be tolerated and shall be opposed through peaceful actions such as a complete embargo on trade, financial transactions, and touristic travel.
4. Environment
By law all shall be accorded the right to a healthy environment, fresh water, unpolluted air, and unspoiled nature. The state shall take the requisite measures to protect the environment and species of flora and fauna throughout, maintain the ecological balance, ensure the correct location of economic activities and the rational development and use of all natural resources, within the context of sustainable development, respect for the rights of future generations and the preservation of species.
4.1. Wildlife
Torture or unnecessary death of animals shall be opposed by the state. Wildlife that is not a necessity for the survival and well-being of the human species or the ecosystem shall not be hunted, captured, or disturbed.
4.2. Energy
The active pursuit of the state is the total independence from non-renewable sources of energy through the gradual replacement and adoption of renewable sources of power, as well as the improvement of efficiency in energy consumption. No further permission for the use or extraction of non-renewable sources of power shall be granted except for short-term, temporary uses in cases of emergency.
4.3. Ecology
The state shall ensure the proper management and rational use of the nation’s natural resources, all in preserving the environment and the conservation of these resources for generations to come. The cultivation of crops or herding of animals should follow ecological and sustainable principles that promote biodiversity.
[a]How is this more free than the US is currently? Because there are armed militias in the US legally right now.
[b]I suggest that we want to make democracy more like the scientific method. Scientist don't just get together and vote on what is a scientific law or not: They build their conclusions based on the strength of their repeatable evidence. They build a case for a certain model of the world. We can do the same thing with economics.
It would be relatively easy to create a website that facilitates open cost benefit analysis of policy proposals
A cost benefit analysis is a scientific way of "optimizing" our desired outcomes, with our limited resources.
The congressional budget office's, federal reserves, and every major college economics department have economic models that could easily be smashed together into one giant model in such a way that the public can see the levers that affect our economy, and can see the strengths and weaknesses of each equation. We could combine these in a way that allows open democracy to interact with them.
Each economic policy model has inputs (spending, taxation, tax break, etc) and outputs (a proposed increase or decrease in another variable, such as GDP, average savings, number of hours worked). You would have inputs in one column, and outputs in another column. You could sort by either column. When you click on an equation you would see the equation at the top of the page with a short description and links to additional information. You would have two tables: reasons to support the equation, and reasons to oppose the equation. The two tables would be sorted with the highest scoring arguments at the top of the page. All of the scientific justifications and limits of the model would be open to the public, and the models would be scored by how many times the equation has been justified in different independent scenarios. For any combination of inputs and outputs there would always be one equation that is shown to be more valid than the other equations. The most valid equation could be the only equation that affects the model, or you could potentially weigh each equation by their relat