Tuesday, February 18, 2014

An American reformation, or, The 35 Theses

Out of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it, i intend to defend the following statements and to dispute on them in this place. Therefore, i ask that those who cannot be present to dispute with me orally shall do so in their absence over the internet.
  1. The most basic of human rights are life & property.  All other rights stem from these underlying, foundational principles.
  2. These rights are not granted by any human institution, but are taken by the people as theirs, inherently, given by god or nature.
  3. Human institutions & tyrants may oppress the people & infringe upon their basic rights, but they do so only by oppressive power.  The people do not willingly relinquish their rights.
  4. Whenever executive power endeavors to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience.  (paraphrased from locke)
  5. Individual rights are mitigated by the rights of the collective, but they cannot be negated.
  6. The individual's rights to life & property are paramount, with only minor limitations by the collective where other's rights are affected.
  7. The historical struggle within humanity has been to rescue individual liberty from the control of executive power.
  8. History bears a record of this struggle.. from the magna carta to the declaration of independence.
  9. The american declaration of independence is a culmination of this struggle for personal freedom from statist authority.
  10. The american experiment was & is an attempt to limit govt & the demands of the state to maximize individual freedom & protect the individual's basic rights.
  11. The american experiment was predicated upon the right of the people to choose & organize a govt that best secures their basic rights to life & property. 
  12. The american experiment was a balance of powers, where the legislative, executive, & judicial branches were provided as separate and equal powers for securing the basic rights of the people.
  13. The american constitution was the culmination of the goal of securing the lives & property of the people.
  14. The consummate oath by all public servants in all branches of govt is to the constitution.  All other considerations are secondary or contrary.
  15. Each of the 3 branches of govt have specific duties to the constitution, & any dereliction of those duties is an affront to the people & american liberty.
  16. All wealth in the nation comes through production of real goods & services.
  17. The govt is responsible for providing a stable currency for the nation, for the purpose of trade & exchange.
  18. A stable currency should be based on something of value, such as hard assets or real production, as declared value has been shown to be historically unstable.
  19. A declared currency (fiat) is inflationary, dilutes the real wealth of the nation, plunders the producers, & promotes money shuffling as a standard for wealth accumulation, instead of actual production.
  20. A productive society with minimal dependency offers prosperity & opportunity to all.  A growing dependent society is a burden upon the producers that cannot be sustained.
  21. Justice is the primary duty of govt.  They are to protect the lives & property of the citizens from all thugs or enemies, foreign or domestic.
  22. If representatives of govt ignore their basic duty of justice, but instead become accomplices in stealing the wealth of the producers by legislation or edict, they have violated their basic duty to the people & have become enemies.
  23. If representatives of govt conspire against the producers of the nation by building a coalition of thieves to plunder the workers, & use law as an instrument of plunder, they violate their primary duty as citizen representatives & make themselves enemies of the people.
  24. Redistribution, or taking from some citizens to give it to others is a violation of the basic right to property & is an affront to human liberty & dignity.  It is a basic violation of individual sovereignty & is demeaning & builds dependency for those on the dole.
  25. Money and power are at the root of government corruption.
  26. Professional politicians breed corruption.  Citizen representatives are prone to less corruption & are the american ideal.
  27. Term limits & strict enforcement of corruption & conflict of interest laws should be employed to lessen govt corruption & revitalize the goal of citizen representation.
  28. Compensation for public service should be minimal and any graft or corruption punished severely.
  29. Deficit spending is crippling to the nation.  It robs future generations & promotes corrupt & irresponsible fiscal policy.
  30. A balanced budget should be mandated by the people to the representatives as the normal fiscal policy.
  31. Military aggression against other sovereign nations without a declaration of war is a violation of the constitution & the basic principles of america.
  32. Citizen representatives of america can make treaties, trade agreements, & settle international disputes of law.
  33. Citizen representatives of america violate the constitution by bribing other nation's officials, bombing or intimidating with violence, using the military might of america to promote business interests, or any meddling that is not a result of due process, with the congress having the final decision, not the executive branch.
  34. Foreign aid, in all its forms, robs the american worker, & violates his right to property.  It is unconstitutional & immoral.
  35. All govt grants, subsidies, or involvement in private business is a misuse of power, robs the worker of his labor, & breeds corruption.
There are more, but this should last for a while.  I challenge anyone to debate on the points in these 35 theses, one at a time, addressing the basic philosophy & underlying principles regarding human rights.  If you cannot defend the antithesis of these points, i understand your position.  But please refrain from deflecting with ad hominems in your frustration.
 At the very least, i hope for a diet of worms before these points are dismissed.  Thanks to Martin Luther for the inspiration.

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