{"id":1730,"date":"2025-12-08T08:22:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T21:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/?p=1730"},"modified":"2025-12-08T08:22:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T21:22:55","slug":"a-declaration-of-independence-from-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/a-declaration-of-independence-from-the-state\/","title":{"rendered":"A Declaration of Independence from the State"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2026 is the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence from the British Monarchy and Empire. After a successful war of independence it was followed by the creation of the American Constitution which was a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to limit the power of the state and to keep it limited for an extended period of time. We are currently living with the sad consequences of the failure of both documents to secure individual liberty in all its dimensions (personal, economic, political, and legal).<\/p>\n

The American Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Federal Constitution was not the only attempt to do this. I have collected 30 or so other attempts into an anthology: On Limiting the Power of the State: A Collection of Petitions, Charters, Decrees, and Declarations of Rights and Liberties (1215-1848). Edited by David M. Hart<\/em> (The Pittwater Free Press, 2024) [Online<\/a>]. Since these documents chronicle a long history of failure to secure liberty for extended periods of time we seem doomed to repeat the exericise every generation of two, the need for which Thomas Jefferson himself seemed to recognise. In this sad realisation I have drawn up a new Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights as the foundation for the next stage of this endeavour, until someone in the future is forced to repeat the exercise yet again.<\/p>\n

This is not the first “Declaration of Independence” I have drawn up In a more light-hearted vein in July 2025 I “translated” (with the help of my friend and colleague ChatGPT) the American Declaration into Australian English in the hope this might help statist-minded Australians to see the light. However this, I would argue, is a forlorn hope as the Australian political culture has from its inception up until the present been very hostile to the natural rights theory which lies at the heart of the Ammerican Declaration and Bill of Rights. It has been much more receptive to Benthamite and utilitarian notions (whether “liberal” or “socialist”) of top-down coercive government and bureaucratic “improvement” of public welfare.<\/p>\n

This, my second effort, was designed to radicalise the declaration by basing it less on Thomas Jefferson and more on Lysander Spooner. This time I also drew up a corresponding Bill of Rights which drew upon both the theory of Spooner and Ayn Rand (at least as the latter was embodied in the Workers Party Platform of 1975 with its empahsis on “the fundamental principle” which was emblazoned on every page in order to drive the point home). See my edition of the selected works of Lysander Spooner [Online<\/a>] and the Workers Party Platform [Online<\/a>].<\/p>\n

Here is my “Declaration of Independence” and my “Bill of Rights” (the “Pocket Edition” and the complete version):<\/p>\n

I. A Declaration of Independence from the State<\/h1>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/em>. 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.<\/p>\n

Governments\u2014whether called monarchy, republic, empire, parliament, or people\u2019s democracy\u2014are 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\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

We hold these truths to be self-evident:<\/p>\n

    \n
  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.<\/li>\n
  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\u2019s extortion, save that the highwayman has the candor not to pretend he is doing it for the victim\u2019s own good.<\/li>\n
  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 \u201csocial compact,\u201d can conjure consent where none was ever given.<\/li>\n
  4. That the only legitimate law is that which inheres in natural justice: the protection of each person\u2019s equal liberty, and their right to acquire, defend, and exchange property; and that any statute beyond this remit is usurpation.<\/li>\n
  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.<\/li>\n <\/ol>\n

    \u2800Governments 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 \u201csociety\u201d has spoken\u2014even though \u201csociety\u201d is but a convenient abstraction masking the will of those who wield force.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    Therefore, we do hereby solemnly publish and declare, in the presence of reason, conscience, and all mankind:<\/p>\n