A Declaration of Independence from the State

26 January, 2026

WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for every person to reclaim that sovereignty which nature vested in them from their first breath, and which no compact, no parchment, no vote of the many, nor decree of the few can justly alienate, a candid regard for truth and for mankind compels a solemn declaration of the grounds upon which such independence rests.

For it is an axiom anterior to all constitutions, more venerable than the oldest charter, and incapable of repeal by any legislature, that every human being is by nature the owner of themseves. No other may rightfully command his or her body, seize his or her property, direct his or her conscience, or dispose of the fruits of his or her labor; for to do so is to assert a title incompatible with reason, justice, and the plainest dictates of moral science.

Governments—whether called monarchy, republic, empire, parliament, or people’s democracy—are but associations of people who, without the consent of the individuals they presume to rule, set themselves up as masters and mistresses over those individuals’ persons and estates. If any private gang were to attempt this, we should call it robbery. That the gang numbers many rather than few, or holds formal elections among itself, cannot convert an act of plunder into a right.

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

1. That no person can delegate a right he or she does not themselves possess; and therefore a million men and women cannot confer upon a government the right to do that which each one of them would be a criminal for doing alone.
2. That taxation without individual consent is robbery; and that compulsory levies, however disguised by the forms of law, differ not in moral character from the highwayman’s extortion, save that the highwayman has the candor not to pretend he is doing it for the victim’s own good.
3. That enforced obedience to statutes never personally agreed to constitutes no binding contract; for a contract requires the explicit and voluntary assent of each party, and no vote, no representation, no alleged “social compact,” can conjure consent where none was ever given.
4. That the only legitimate law is that which inheres in natural justice: the protection of each person’s equal liberty, and their right to acquire, defend, and exchange property; and that any statute beyond this remit is usurpation.
5. That every individual, being by nature a sovereign, retains the moral authority to judge for themselves when his ore her person, property, or liberty is invaded, and to defend those rights accordingly.

Governments throughout history have shown a uniform tendency to enlarge their powers, multiply their exactions, and fortify themselves against the very people they claim to protect. Courts become accomplices, armies instruments, bureaucracies parasites, and the ballot box a mechanism by which the many impose their ignorance or malice upon the few. In each case the individual, who never consented to be bound, is told that “society” has spoken—even though “society” is but a convenient abstraction masking the will of those who wield force.

We therefore, as free and self-responsible persons, utterly repudiate all pretended authority claimed by any government on earth, present or future. We deny that we have made any compact with them, that we are under any obligation to support them, or that we owe them allegiance, homage, obedience, or tribute. Their charters are not our contracts; their constitutions not our agreements; their statutes not our commands.

We further affirm that all just cooperation among human beings must be voluntary, whether for mutual defense, commerce, charity, or the pursuit of knowledge. Associations founded upon consent may claim our loyalty; institutions funded by confiscation may not. Peaceful individuals constitute no threat requiring rulers; rulers constitute a perpetual threat requiring individuals to be ever vigilant.

In making this declaration, we seek not turmoil, but tranquillity; not disorder, but the natural order that arises when each person respects the equal rights of others. We neither desire nor intend to exercise dominion over any human being, nor to form any coercive power under a different name. Our independence is not a new authority, but the dissolution of all illegitimate authority.

Therefore, we do hereby solemnly publish and declare, in the presence of reason, conscience, and all mankind:

• That we are, and of right ought to be, free and independent individuals;
• That we owe no allegiance to any government;
• That all political power exercised without our individual consent is usurpation and void;
• That we claim the full right to govern ourselves, to contract on our own terms, to defend our own persons and property, to seek peaceful association, and to resist every invasion of our natural liberty;
• And that as free persons we stand absolved from all feigned political obligations whatsoever.

In support of this declaration, we rely not on votes, nor arms, nor the permissions of rulers, but on the imperishable authority of justice, the inviolability of conscience, and the immutable sovereignty of the individual human soul.

Thus we reclaim our birthright: not to govern, nor to be governed, but to live—free, equal, and uncoerced—under the eternal law of nature alone.

Signed by David M. Hart
on behalf of the Pittwater Committee of Correspondence.

"Libertas utrimque maris"
(Liberty on both sides of the sea)