The PEOPLE’S CONSTITUTION of 2024

A Declaration of the Rights of Individuals and the Obligations of Government. It was composed for political purposes: to promote a set of ideas for Libertarians to consider in creating platforms.

Preamble

Libertarians generally believe the following:

Every person is inherently entitled to his or her birthrights. These include age-appropriate levels of individual freedom to undertake personal responsibility under conditions of fair, respectful and unbiased public rules.

Governments exist to protect these rights. All public employees must defend these basic human rights and never override or ignore them. Public officials who fail to uphold them must face suitable consequences and victims compensated directly by the perpetrator.

Safeguarding each citizen’s rights is crucial for maintaining orderly, peaceful, cooperative and thriving societies. These are inalienable rights. They are best understood and appreciated in the context of the following principles. 

The PRINCIPLES

1. EVERY PERSON has a body, mind and will of their own.

To survive and thrive, every individual needs protection from unwarranted attacks on their person or property by any other person, institution, group, company or government.

Accordingly, these rights and freedoms are essential for individuals to:

• LIVE FREE from intimidation, coercion, threat or attack from any person regardless of their position in society;

• HOLD BELIEFS, and to express them in a peaceful and non-threatening way,

• PURSUE GOALS, to work alone or with others to achieve them, and to provide for themselves and their family,

• OWN PROPERTY that they legally create, build or acquire,

• DEFEND THEMSELVES, their family and their property,

• EQUAL TREATMENT as separate and respected persons under truly just laws.

2. GOVERNMENTS *** SERVE *** BEST when they are transparent, accountable and DO NOT IMPOSE authoritarian measures.

Canada’s economy, national security, culture and heritage must never be taken for granted. In a truly civil society, concerned stakeholders must be able to participate in open and vigorous debates concerning significant public policy decisions. All views must be heard, respected and considered in order to weigh the risks and benefits of their intended and unintended consequences.

Government officials are designated, empowered and compensate to be the guardians of citizen interests. As such, they are obligated to:

• Ensure the protection of every person from any form of harm or threat, whether from individuals, groups, foreign entities, or government agencies.

• Reliably and responsibly steward public assets, managing them to meet the needs of current and future generations.

• Establish or facilitate the provision of vital infrastructure and services which could not otherwise be supplied without government input or financial support.

• Offer assistance to those in need to ultimately enable their independence and responsible self-reliance.

3. GOVERNMENTS *** PROTECT*** BEST when they ensure that:

• Laws, policies, and government actions do not infringe upon the rights, freedoms, or rightfully obtained property of citizens and businesses.

• Every citizen enjoys the right to self-provision through trade and commerce.

• No individual, group, or entity receives undeserved privileges.

• Neither domestic nor foreign powers can compromise our cultural values or assert control over our lands and resources.

COMMENTARY

The above Peoples Constitution of 2024 is intentionally brief and succinct. Attention spans in the age of the Internet and social media are not what they were a few decades ago. For this reason, and to answer some questions that I anticipate, the following offers some nuance for those who want it.

A SHARED COMMITMENT to a COMMON VISION.

Citizens across this nation envision and affirm Canada to be a single, sovereign nation in which they share a unity of purpose, dignity and pride. This vision requires that every citizen act in a humane, cooperative and constructive manner while recognizing and respecting our individual differences. Some considerations for the realization of these ideas include:

• Discrimination is unacceptable. Every person is valued regardless of employment or social status, race, enthnicity, age, wealth or any other demographic metric.

• Government officials must respect informed consent and never assume authority over any person or their property without it. Whenever personal responsibility and individual choices are possible, every person must be able to make responsible decisions according to their personal circumstances and preferences without harming or aggressing against others.

• Public office holders possess special and privileged obligations. Each must acknowledge this fact. Upon employment, they accepted a fiduciary duty to protect the legitimate rights of each person ahead of their own interests and/or the interests of any person, partisan entity, corporation, institution, group or cause.

• Citizens must be able to protect and defend themselves without undue costs, inconveniences and/or constraints imposed by public bureaucracies, courts and self-serving legal professions. In addition, it must be possible and efficacious for individuals to justly hold public officeholders individually accountable for harms they may cause.

• Citizen vigilance is needed to ensure that public officeholders do not abuse the powers of their office.  To achieve this, those powers must be clearly defined and readily accessible for members of the public to easily recognize when and where potential misuse of those powers may occur.

• A balance of powers will strengthen accountability. Government institutions have increasing micromanaged individual choices by increasing regulations and employing tax-funded advances in monitoring technologies and information systems. Citizens must likewise possess the resources and powers to hold public servants accountable to their fiduciary duties.

• To protect their rights and freedoms, citizens must be able to act alone or within associations to identify and address any abuses of public authority. Unnecessary constraints and impediments to this right must be removed.

PRACTICAL  CONSIDERATIONS

Willing compliance to these ideas depends on each person’s understanding of them and their significance. Just as religious organizations have successfully built and maintained loyal communities based on ideas and beliefs, secular organizations can achieve comparable outcomes based on their ideas and beliefs such as those expressed in the People’s Constitution of 2024. There is no need for government funding, endorsement or involvement.

Governments have failed. The creation and enforcement of Canada’s federal constitutional documents such as the Charter of Rights and Freedom have not met public expectations. For this reason, the People’s Constitution of 2024 was composed by Canadians for Canadians without government inputs. When these ideas are embraced within the hearts and minds of men and women, the need of force or coercision by public instutions can be avoided or, at least, minimized.

Voluntary endorsement of the People’s Constitution of 2024 signifies a patriotic celebration of the legitimate sovereignty of one’s self and personal communities.  Every citizen can participate with pride in the co-creation of a truly civil society in which we can all prosper in cooperation and share the pride of participation.

My goals.

I have been a Libertarian since 2007. I was Chairman of the Ontario Libertarian Party (OLP) for the 2018 election, have represented Libertarian principles in ten elections as a candidate, and I have an interest in the Libertarian Party of American (LP).

Recently, I approached Angela McCardle, Chair of the Libertarian National Committee, to request that I be a guest speaker at the LP convention in August. I hope to present the ideas of the People’s Constitution of 2024 as the LP attendees prepare and debate a new election platform.

I requested the endorsement of this presentation from Mark Snow, Leader of the OLP, and Jacques Boudreau, Leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada (LPoC). It will empower me to promote the OLP and LPoC to our American counterparts - a good networking opportunity for Canadian Libertarians.

While I am also active with some freedom groups, the leaders of these organizations are careful to avoid association with any political party. To respect their wishes, I will not mention them here.