“Officially” Creating the Voluntary Society?

[FTL_Ian]

Should we add a line to the end like,

"We hereby declare our individual sovereignty and independence and join the Shire Society,"

?

[Sam A. Robrin]

Removing the last sentence and the sub-headers, as they seem extraneous for such a short document.  Also removed capitalization from the middle of the sentences.

Declaration of Independence

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED witnesses to the lesson of history -- that no form of political governance may be relied upon to secure the individual rights of life, liberty, or property -- now therefore establish and provide certain fundamental precepts measuring our conduct toward one another, and toward others:

FIRST, each individual is the exclusive proprietor of his or her own existence and of all products of that existence, holding no obligations except those to which he or she has given voluntary and explicit consent;

SECOND, no individual or association of individuals, however constituted, shall initiate force against any other individual;

THIRD, each individual has the inalienable right of self-defense against the initiation of force;

FOURTH, voluntary association is the only means by which binding obligations may be created between two or more individuals, and claims based on associations or relationships to which both parties did not specifically and explicitly consent are empty and invalid;

FIFTH, that rights are neither collective nor additive in character and no group can possess rights in excess of those belonging to its individual members;

SIGNATORY:            WITNESS:

Damn, this is elegant! 
 
     Two suggestions:  Under "SECOND," replace "shall" with "has the right" or perhaps "may."  I prefer the former, though it's longer.  But check the usage note under "shall," and you'll see it's not quite right.
     And under "FIFTH," "that" isn't necessary at the beginning, and its presence there kind of necessitates using it at the beginning of all the entries, which I don't think is necessary.

     (Just so you  know, when I recommend only two improvements, that means I really like it a lot!)

[David]

I would suggest a short list of grievances.  Examples of the inhumane treatment of Jose Padilla, an American citizen, and the precedent that his treatment at the hands of the gov't sets.  The airport searches.  Eminent Domain.  Blantant privacy violations via contracting with private business'.  SWAT home invasions.  The tragedy of the war on people who use some drugs. 

[Sam A. Robrin]

I would suggest a short list of grievances.  Examples of the inhumane treatment of Jose Padilla, an American citizen, and the precedent that his treatment at the hands of the gov't sets.  The airport searches.  Eminent Domain.  Blatant privacy violations via contracting with private business'.  SWAT home invasions.  The tragedy of the war on people who use some drugs. 

Nah, save those for somewhere else.  There's a reason they always quote Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg, and not William Henry Harrison's inaugural address.*





________________
*Harrison's inaugural was a record two hours in length.  Delivered in the rain, he caught cold, which developed into pneumonia, from which he died a month afterwards.

[Sam A. Robrin]

Should we add a line to the end like,

"We hereby declare our individual sovereignty and independence and join the Shire Society,"

?

I think it does need a bit of a bumper before the signatures.  I say yes.

[jamesfromlouisiana]

This is a long thread. Did anyone mention if the Shire Society was limited by geographical area? If it isn't count me in.

[jamesfromlouisiana]

Do the bird and leaves have symbolism?

If the State leaves us alone, we won't flip 'em the bird . . .

That's awesome!

[FTL_Ian]

Incorporating Sam R.'s suggestions:

Declaration of Independence

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED witnesses to the lesson of history -- that no form of political governance may be relied upon to secure the individual rights of life, liberty, or property -- now therefore establish and provide certain fundamental precepts measuring our conduct toward one another, and toward others:

FIRST, each individual is the exclusive proprietor of his or her own existence and of all products of that existence, holding no obligations except those to which he or she has given voluntary and explicit consent;

SECOND, no individual or association of individuals, however constituted, has the right to initiate force against any other individual;

THIRD, each individual has the inalienable right of self-defense against the initiation of force;

FOURTH, voluntary association is the only means by which binding obligations may be created between two or more individuals, and claims based on associations or relationships to which both parties did not specifically and explicitly consent are empty and invalid;

FIFTH, rights are neither collective nor additive in character and no group can possess rights in excess of those belonging to its individual members;

SIGNATORY:            WITNESS:

[FTL_Ian]

Should we add a line to the end like,

"We hereby declare our individual sovereignty and independence and join the Shire Society,"

?

I think it does need a bit of a bumper before the signatures.  I say yes.

I don't really think my sentence should be the final - it was a quick suggestion.  Any better way you can think of to wrap it up more eloquently?

[FTL_Ian]

This is a long thread. Did anyone mention if the Shire Society was limited by geographical area? If it isn't count me in.

The intent is that anyone can join.  Though, I think how that should work deserves another thread.

[SamIam]

"The undersigned -- working towards a more compassionate and peaceful existence -- hereby declare our individual sovereignty and independence and join the Shire Society,"

"Having read and understood the principles enumerated above, we hereby declare our individual sovereignty, desire for a harmonious world, and join the Shire Society,"

"In signing, each individual declares sovereignty, . . . something here about freedom playing a role,  peace, voluntary interaction, etc. . . .  and join the Shire Society,"

[Sam A. Robrin]

"The undersigned -- working towards a more compassionate and peaceful existence -- hereby declare our individual sovereignty and independence and join the Shire Society,"

"Having read and understood the principles enumerated above, we hereby declare our individual sovereignty, desire for a harmonious world, and join the Shire Society,"

"In signing, each individual declares sovereignty, . . . something here about freedom playing a role,  peace, voluntary interaction, etc. . . .  and join the Shire Society,"

The first part of your second suggestion, and the last part of your first are virtually identical to the one I was going to post.

In the first one, the comma after "sovereignty" needs to be replaced by the word "and," for reasons I'll gladly go into if you don't mind being bored to death. . . .

I'll think on this and get back.

[cyberdoo78]

Recent events have occurred that bring to my mind the suggestion that a sixth section might be added. While it has been glossed over previously, perhaps because of recent events we might discuss this.

Conflicts between individuals arise from time to time, its in the nature of human beings, I believe. How should we deal with conflicts? Should we include language on how to deal with them? I think without clear and concise language outlining what expectations are in resolving conflicts that eventually someone will initiate force against someone because of the lack of such language.

In the vein of solving conflicts I submit the following language and request it be added.

SIXTH, when conflicts between individuals arise resolution shall be sought, and when such resolution shall be impossible, third party binding arbitration shall be sought.

Constructive comments, constructive criticisms, constructive disagreements?

[Dalebert]

This thread is beginning to reek of bureaucracy and borderline statism.  The title alone sounds like an oxymoron.  I noticed the quotes, as if it realizes this, but then goes on to act sort of hypocritically.

I have to admit up front that I've only occasionally glanced into this thread because of that apparent oxymoron, and it's been just enough to remind me why I was disinterested in the first place.

You guys are falling into the trap of trying to explain how every problem will be addressed in a free society.  A cluster of a dozen people is not the free market.  It's just another bureaucracy pretending it can fix all the problems in the world.

I mean, I guess it's mostly a sort of parody of bureaucracies or at least started that way, but it's really starting to sound like people are really running with it and take it too seriously.

If there's 10 pages of debate about what should be in the declaration, it seems to me that it's already gotten too complex, at least for something that should be broadly appealing to any voluntaryist.  I say treat it a bit like the FSP, as just a declaration of individual sovereignty and what that means.  Keep all these reputation systems and outreach efforts as separate entities started by individuals so people can opt in or out without it being drama around the core idea of The Shire.  That's way more free market and less bureaucratic.

I apologize if I've overstepped my bounds as someone who has not followed this thread closely and maybe I'm misinterpreting.  That's very possible.  Just giving my honest impression as a fellow voluntaryist who's stomach is turning.  Voluntaryism is an individual philosophy about how we should interact; not just a new system to replace the old.

[Mr. Binary]

What he said.

I toyed around with the idea of a rating system a bit but then I realized it shouldn't be a part of the society itself.
IMO, there should be just a declaration like "I am now a part of the Shire society and will strive to always do ... and never do ..., so help me ${deity/universe}."

I really like the version of the declaration in Ian's last post. I'd sign that in a heartbeat.