What follows is the author’s personal opinion, not that of The Zelman Partisans.

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There is no rule of law.

Dictators shut down states for the common cold.

States are violating the Constitution and federal laws, and the Supreme Court Clown Show says, “So what?”

What we do have is mob rule. Let’s look at that last one.

• Mob commits breaking and entering.
• Mob trespasses.
• Disturbing the peace.
• Vandalism.
• Circuit Attorney calls all that First Amendment “peaceful protest,” and threatens the innocent homeowners.

Perhaps there’s a lesson there for us honest folk to take to heart in dealing with these governmental scumsuckers…

Or not. I think we’re past the point of no return. Anything we do to defend freedom is just a delaying action.

delaying action
noun Military.
a maneuver in which a defensive force delays the advance of a superior enemy force by withdrawing while inflicting the maximum destruction possible without engaging in decisive combat.

But such is necessary if anyone who still values freedom is going to get out. Pockets of resistance that still value individual rights may be able to hold out against the darkness. Maybe the survivors can rebuild after the societal collapse. They’ll need something better than the Constitutional failure as framework.

And those thoughts caused me to remember something I wrote a couple of decades ago. I’m going to dust it off and re-post it here. Maybe some free survivor will remember it when the time comes.

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This was thought experiment, inspired by L. Neil Smith’s Covenant of Unanimous Consent. It was meant to address the issues of “abandoned polity,” and the lack of a formally designated arbitration system raised in his novel Pallas.

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ARTICLES OF INDIVIDUALS

Whereas we wish to establish that individuals can only be ruled by themselves individually, and that the only acceptable role of government is advisory in nature, we ally in common interest as individuals and accept these articles, and establish ourselves as the Confederacy.

Article I. Statement of Principles

1. No individual, group of individuals, or other organization has the right to initiate force or coercion against another person for any reason.

2. All individuals have the right and responsibility of self defense, by any means they deem necessary, against initiated force or coercion.

3. All individuals are encouraged, but not obligated, to aid other individuals in their defense against initiated force or coercion.

4. All rights are individual rights, neither collective nor additive, and those rights are any and all necessary to allow individuals to live their lives as they see fit, regardless of age, gender, race, or any other distinguishing criteria.

5. All individuals have the sole responsibility for their actions in exercising their rights, and the responsibility to accept that all other individuals possess the same rights.

6. All individuals must strive to be independent, self-supporting, and responsible for their own actions.

7. While charity is encouraged, no individual, group of individuals, or other organization is entitled to support by any other; the sole exception being that any parent or guardian must accept the responsibility of caring for all children whom he or she has parented or voluntarily chosen to act as parent or guardian for, until such time as the child can be reasonably expected to assume for his or her own self the rights and responsibilities of an independent individual, or until he or she voluntarily chooses to accept those rights and responsibilities.

Article II. Limits of Authority

1. All authority resides within individuals, and extends only to the originating individual and any other individual voluntarily accepting that authority.

2. The Confederacy as a whole has no authority.

3. The Confederacy as a whole may take on only those functions specifically and explicitly delegated to it by these articles.

4.The Confederacy as a whole is forbidden to collect taxes, tarrifs, duties, or fees of any kind.

5. The Confederacy as a whole is forbidden to license or regulate any activity.

6. The Confederacy as a whole is forbidden to raise or maintain any military or police force.

7. The Confederacy as a whole has no executive, legislative, regulatory, or judicial authority except that specifically delegated to it by these articles.

Article III. Arbitration

1. Individuals, or groups of individuals, unable to otherwise settle any dispute are encouraged to employ a neutral party as an arbitrator.

2. An arbitrator is any individual who chooses to referee a dispute. He or she may choose to charge a fee for arbitration services.

3. Arbitration may be binding or nonbinding as agreed to by all parties to the dispute. In the event that any party to the dispute chooses not to participate in the arbitration process, the arbitration is nonbinding.

4. An arbitrator may conduct the arbitration proceedings in any manner he or she wishes, so long as it is consistent with these articles.

5. No decision by any arbitrator shall be used as a binding precedent for any other proceeding. But any arbitrator privy to the results of any arbitration may choose to take said results under advisement.

6. No individual is required to be a member of the Board of Arbitrators in order to act as an arbitrator.

7. In the event that any party to dispute is not satisfied with the arbitrator’s decision, a second arbitrator, whose fee if any shall be paid by the first arbitrator, shall be engaged to conduct new arbitration proceedings. Any binding decision rendered by the second arbitrator is final, with no further appeal.

Article IV. Board of Arbitrators

1. The Board of Arbitrators is the only entity allowed to represent the Confederacy as a whole. While so acting, the Board has no binding authority over the Confederacy as a whole or any individual. While representing the Confederacy as a whole, the Board has only an advisory role. This advisory role may be filled by any one member of the Board or by any number of members, up to and including their entire number.

2. The Board of Arbitrators shall consist of any individual wishing to act as an arbitrator in accordance within these articles, and who agrees to share in the financial support of the Board’s required activities. The Board is forbidden to obtain financial support from any entity not a member of the Board.

3. The required activities of the Board are:

To maintain a permanent record of all proceedings in which the Board represented the Confederacy as a whole. All individuals in the Confederacy will have unrestricted access to these records.

To main a permanent record of all arbitration proceedings conducted by members of the Board. Access to each of these records is limited to the records archivist selected by the Board, the arbitrator, all parties to the dispute, and anyone granted access by any party to the dispute.

To publish a public directory of all member arbitrators, to aid individual desiring arbitration in locating an arbitrator.

To maintain a permanent public register, by name only, of any individual signatory to these articles who wishes the Board to so record.

Article V. Inviolability of Articles

These Articles of Confederation may not be added to, subtracted from, modified, or otherwise amended without the unanimous consent of all living individuals signatory to these articles.

Statement of Consent

We accept all rights and responsibilities laid out in these Articles of Confederation.

/signed by each individual/
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[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited, and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]

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