A Constitution for a Future Worldwide Federation

Or my version of the legal foundation for land-based capitalism

By MARTIN REZNY

Let’s just say it’s been a bit of a busy year for me. Yes, I did indeed happen to write a serious constitution for a futuristic form of government too. This is it. It’s based on Jeff Graubart’s version of Georgism that he developed into a fully workable transition plan. The plan is called AFFEERCE (Alternative Families + Free Enterprise + Universal Entitlement + balance of the RC + Enlightenment), or, more succinctly, land-based capitalism.

In Jeff’s own brief summary, what he created is a profitable business plan that purchases land into a commons’ trust and, as the plan progresses, distributes the rents equally to everyone on Earth. Importantly, the land is available through perpetual auction and awarded to the party willing to pay the most to hold it. There are many technical details to how this would work, and they’re worked out. It’s a rare UBI designed to pay for itself.

Feel free to learn all the details at the project’s website:

Land-Based Capitalism

But the whole vision of the project is about much more than just economics. The hope is that by taking what works from both capitalism and socialism and fusing it together, and by making sure the money in the system is backed by something of actual value (land in this case), a sustainable efficient society with all the right systemic incentives can be created. A society that’s still democratic, in the form of cellular democracy.

A cellular democracy, which is a type of what can be more generally called a tiered democratic system, is when people throughout a political system only vote for people to whom they’re close enough that they can directly know them. People within their local cell, or on their level of governance. The elected representatives on each level of the government then elect representatives for the next level of government from their own ranks.

Since the economic side of the plan is focused on absorbing neighborhoods continuously until a worldwide federation is formed, the cellular nature of the democratic system helps make it work mechanically, allowing for the polity to function throughout such growth process, but there are other potential benefits. If everyone only votes for people they know, at a level of organization in which they’re directly involved, the voting is maximally informed and representative, as well as not disconnected from outcomes.

The legal system in this version of land-based capitalism also has some unique features, in order to solve some problems of existing legal systems. For example, the ultimate right in this type of regime is the exit right. What that means, in combination with the cellular nature of the political system, is that barring the most extreme cases, no one will be forced to be tried under a legal standard they don’t consent to. Different districts will be allowed to have different laws, and will therefore compete at having reasonable laws to attract and retain citizens, along with their rents.

As a political scientist with a master’s degree from a reputable university, I can honestly say I’ve never heard of any of this before I happened to encounter Jeff. But now that I have had some time to absorb and process it, I do believe it may actually work. I can’t fully judge the economic side of the plan, but the core democratic and legal elements of it are, while untested, rather inspired and promising. The cellular democracy idea in particular, if implemented correctly, is almost organic and evolutionary.

All of the political systems that we have tried so far are comparatively rigid, fragile, and dumb (in a technological or organic sense). What we need, even if it isn’t land-based capitalism specifically, is a political system that’s adaptive, anti-fragile, and smart, or responding intelligently to stimuli. A system that is designed to thrive, not to benefit a small group or the mob before inevitably collapsing due to senescence or mismanagement.

If nothing else, Jeff’s vision is bold and innovative. Which is why I decided to help him, or anyone who wants to go for it, to give it the best possible shot. In that spirit, I invite you to read the constitution, as well as the entirety of the plan, and try to find any flaws in any of their particulars. As well as potential solutions to those flaws or any general improvements. The goal isn’t to prove that bad is the best we can do. The goal is to do better.

Preamble

We, the members of the human family,

who share both the equal ownership of the commons

and the right to the full product of our labor

and who seek to liberate land and content

in order to enable ourselves to live in freedom and democracy

and to grant nutritious meals, safe shelter, quality healthcare, and free education

to every human being,

hereby establish and enshrine this constitution

of the future Worldwide Federation.

Title I. Basic Provisions

Article 1

The ultimate expression of this constitution is a state of federation. The term “federation” refers both to the process through which a nation transitions from its original, legacy government to a cellular democracy, as well as to the end result of that process, as in “the Federation”. “Worldwide Federation” is the name of a single federation that encompasses the entire world. Worldwide Federation can be achieved through a series of mergers of legacy countries as they federate with the first legacy country that transitioned into a federation, or through mergers of multiple different federations, or through a combination of both.

Article 2

The government of Worldwide Federation and its precursors which achieve federation shall be the cellular democracy, which is a scalable voluntary polity with universal adult suffrage that consists of cells and districts that represent communities living on a shared land. Adults are all persons who have reached the age of majority. The age of majority is 14 years of age.

Article 3

All land areas of cells and districts shall be divided into dominions, which are organizational units that are hierarchically nested within each other from level 0 to level 9, where level 0 represents an individual and level 9 represents the Worldwide Federation. Settling of new frontiers, both within and beyond the planet Earth, might extend levels beyond 9.

Article 4

The boundary of a dominion shall be dynamic. Territory splits or separates in a mitosis or fragmentation operation, or joins together in a fusion operation. Full encirclement of unclaimed commons land can add the unclaimed commons land to the dominion. Additional dynamics and detailed specifications of this process shall be regulated by a dedicated amendment and appropriate lower-level legislation.

Article 5

Every dominion shall be governed by direct democracy and a district council.

Article 6

The constitution can only be changed by a constitutional amendment. Only the direct democracy of a federation as a whole can alter its constitution by 2/3 majority of all eligible voters (absolute majority).

Article 7

Two or more separate federations with different constitutions can move to merge into a single federation through a unanimous consensus between the highest-level federation council members of all of the involved federations, or through a citizen initiative elevated to the highest level of one of the involved federations, following its standard rules specified in a dedicated article in a given federation’s constitution. Should either of these situations arise, a constitutional convention then shall be held, where all of the highest-level federation council members of all of the involved federations will deliberate and propose a new unified version of the constitution. At this stage, the merging process will be stopped if the council members fail to achieve consensus at the convention and come up with no actionable proposal within a year, or if the council members veto the citizen initiative by unanimous consensus. The new unified version of the constitution, and by extension the merger of the involved federations under its terms, then needs to be approved by 2/3 absolute majority, separately in each of the merging federations. A failed merging process can be restarted any number of times if the initial conditions are met again, but no more than once per year.

Article 8

Should a legacy country decide through its own political process to move to merge with a federation, in order for the motion to come into effect, its population then must approve the merger, and by extension the Federation’s constitution, by 2/3 absolute majority in the legacy country, as determined by the voter eligibility rules specified in the Federation’s constitution.

Title II. Cellular Democracy

Article 9

Direct democracy, or the 2/3 plurality of the people with a quorum of over 50% of eligible voters, is the highest authority in the dominion for matters including the creation of rights; overriding an objective right; allowing a consumption or other constitutional tax; and passing into law injunctions and contracts over a negative externality. What constitutes subjective or objective rights or a negative externality shall be determined by the judiciary. Any adult citizen has the right to propose such legislation via the institute of citizen initiative.

Article 10

By a 5/6 plurality, with the treble option, direct democracy can violate specific objective rights or become sovereign. Treble option is the right of each dissenting member of a dominion holding such a vote to receive 133% compensation on depreciated replacement cost of structures, assumedly to flee due to a perceived undesirable rights violation. A quorum of over 2/3 of eligible voters is required for this type of vote.

Article 11

In addition to direct democracy, cellular councils shall exist at each level of dominion. Each member of any council is elected by a council one level of dominion lower by absolute majority. Only local adult residents are eligible to vote or be elected in this type of election. At level 2, the cellular representative is elected directly by the people at level 1.

Article 12

A district council representative need not be a member of the cellular council that elected them, unless the district is also a cell.

Article 13

Representatives that do not meet Voluntary Standards Group (VSG) certification must say so on their violations of standards (VOS) articles, which are requirements regulated by the Bureau of Standards.

Article 14

A council of any level, also by absolute majority, can recall any of its representatives by a vote of no confidence, which has to be initiated through a motion proposed by a member of the council and signed by 30% of the representative body. A council of a particular level can only recall the representative they elected back to the level of that council. Any elected representative at any level of the Federation also has the right to resign at any time. Representatives who were recalled, have resigned, or in other way permanently lost their ability to perform their function shall be replaced as soon as practically possible through new elections that will be held in the appropriate dominions.

Article 15

Councils are tasked with protecting objective rights via Class I legislation (as determined by the Judiciary), including both criminal and tort laws protecting objective rights. Each council is tasked with creating a VIP Budget for Earth Dividend distributions at the council’s level of dominion. Low-level budgeting can be delegated by cellular councils to district councils to use on public services like police and fire departments, sanitation, schools, etc.

Article 16

An independent Judiciary shall be created through a parallel tree of cellular democracy starting at level 2. The limitations on the usage of parallel trees of cellular democracy shall be specified in a dedicated amendment. By simple majority, the people at level 1 elect level-2 selectors, who in turn elect a VSG-certified lawyer from a pool of running candidates to the position of judge. Judges elected by the people from all level-2 dominions form a rotating circuit at level 3, and potentially beyond, depending on the internal self-governing rules determined by the Judiciary. New judge elections shall be called to replace any judge who for any reason leaves their function, in the closest approximate geographic dominion to the dominion where the given judge was most recently elected, as determined by the Judiciary. Apart from normal judicial proceedings, the Judiciary is also tasked with public defense and independent investigations of cellular government, police, and prosecutors.

Article 17

Judges can be voted out of their post if a motion for a recall vote is brought forward through the institute of citizen initiative and rises to the level of the judge’s posting within the geographic dominion where the judge is posted. Any judge can also be removed from their post or disbarred if a motion for their recall or disbarment is proposed by any member of the Judiciary and signed by 30% or more of the members of the Judiciary, followed by an affirmative absolute majority vote. A judge recalled by the people may run again to be elected for the position of a judge, assuming the Judiciary didn’t disbar them. A judge who is removed from their post or disbarred by the Judiciary has the right to appeal those decisions to the appropriate office within the Judiciary. Any rules regarding the definition of judicial misconduct, requirements for disbarment, or the judicial appeal process will be decided internally by the Judiciary.

Article 18

There shall be 3 classes of legislation. Class assignment or a determination of the legislation being unconstitutional shall be done by the Judiciary. This process is called judicial preview and is required prior to holding a vote for any piece of legislation, as the class of a law determines the type of majority and quorum required for the passing of that law, in addition to its constitutionality status.

Article 19

Class I legislation must protect and only protect an objective right, a constitutionally granted right, or a right created by the direct democracy at the same or higher level of dominion. This is the only class of legislation that can be proposed and passed by district councils. Every piece of Class I legislation has three parts — the prohibition, the extent, and the punishment. Class I action must be ratified by simple majority of the council while a qualified majority of the council participates in the vote.

Article 20

Class II legislation is when an exercise of an objective right creates what a reasonable person would believe to be a negative externality, as determined by the Judiciary, and the people of the dominion decide to override this objective right. Class II actions are classified as rights, laws, covenants, taxes, contracts, and injunctions. Class II actions must be ratified by a 2/3 plurality of the associated dominion, where the quorum is over 50% of the adult population of the dominion.

Article 21

Class III legislation is when a right, law, covenant, contract, tax, or injunction, is found to violate one or more objective rights without a relationship to a negative externality. Class III action must be ratified by 5/6 of the associated dominion, where the quorum is over 2/3 of the adult population of the dominion. Additionally, the “no” voters have the treble option. Specific types of legislative actions that are declared Class III include:

1. A vote of sovereignty.
2. An action that distinguishes people by something other than their actions.
3. An action requiring certain behavior, rather than forbidding certain behavior.
4. Any tax not explicitly allowed in the Federation Constitution.
5. Explicit exile of a person or class of persons from a non-sovereign dominion.

Article 22

The allowed taxes are a maximum 2-year, sunsetted, and fully VIP-budgeted consumption tax, a baby tax, a discretionary consumption tax, and a budgeted local assessment tax. These exceptions are all class II taxes. Direct democracy at the highest level of dominion has the right to impose a baby tax by a 2/3 absolute majority vote, if a reasonable person would agree that the number of newborn infants is creating a negative externality, as determined by the Judiciary.

Article 23

The judiciary shall put in place its own procedure for how to determine that a law is unconstitutional through its judicial preview procedure. A law that is determined to be unconstitutional cannot be passed or is thus repealed.

Article 24

Any adult citizen of the Federation can propose a motion for any type of law or election for which citizen initiative is allowed in the constitution, targeted at any level of the Federation. To initiate the motion, the proposing citizen must gather a number of signatures equal to or exceeding 30% of all adult citizens in the proposing citizen’s cell at level 1. If the signatures are gathered, and the motion targets only that level-1 cell, the vote for the motion will be initiated, following the voting regulations and requirements applicable to the vote. If the target level of the motion is higher, the motion then must be successfully elevated to that target level. To elevate the motion to the target level, a series of consecutive votes will be held, from the next contiguous level of the cellular democracy to the target level, at each higher level, one level at a time, among all adult citizens at the given level. If one of these votes fails to reach at least 30% absolute plurality, no further votes on the motion will be held and the motion fails. If all of these votes are successful, the vote pursued in the motion is held at the target level among all adult citizens at the given level, following all voting regulations and requirements applicable to the vote.

Article 25

The only form of punishment that is allowed to be put into law is a finite period of incarceration. A judge can substitute a fine for all or part of the sentence, classified as both punitive and actual damages, provided that both the accused and the victim agree. Punitive damages must not go directly to police and prosecutors, but rather to a federation-wide fund for police and prosecutors.

Article 26

If a convicted perpetrator refuses to face justice in the dominion where they were convicted, as long as there is another dominion which is willing to accept them, they can exercise their exit right, which will result in them being exiled from the dominion where they were convicted. Such exile shall be enforced locally by the VIP system, which shall deny any transactions initiated from a region from which the convicted is exiled. This form of exile is lifted in a given dominion once a locally convicted perpetrator decides to serve the sentence that was assigned to them.

Article 27

The district council of any dominion has the right to award an aristocratic title, ceremonial duties, noblesse oblige responsibilities, and hosting of government affairs to the highest payers of ground rent in the dominion.

Article 28

The district council can, by simple majority, revoke any aristocratic functions. By 2/3 absolute majority, they can declare a person an embarrassment and therefore unable to continue holding the title. A dedicated amendment shall describe the aristocratic protocol, which can be updated at a later date by a VSG without the need for passing a further constitutional amendment.

Article 29

After the event of federation, the Federation Council shall have the authority to create Federation Military and appoint its highest-level commanders. Federation Military shall be funded from the Federation Commons Trust at a distribution rate determined by quadratic voting.

Article 30

The Federation Military is charged with protecting the following rights:

1. Right to life of all children who live in the Federation. Prior to Worldwide Federation, an absolute majority vote of the highest-level cellular council is required before the military can protect this right in nations outside the Federation.
2. Exit rights of all adults who live in the Federation. Prior to Worldwide Federation, an absolute majority vote of the highest-level cellular council is required before the military can protect this right in nations outside the Federation.
3. Right of the highest bidder to exclusive use of commons trust land. Prior to Worldwide Federation, an absolute majority vote of the highest-level cellular council is required before the military can protect this right in nations outside the Federation.

Article 31

If the criminal offender is a level-1 sovereignty or smaller, the right to life of children, exit rights of adults, and the right of the highest bidder are protected instead by the police.

Title III. Bill of Rights

Article 32

Every child, or person under the age of majority, shall have the right to life. The definition and full scope of right to life is subject to judicial interpretation in light of culture and changing times.

Article 33

Adult citizens are sovereign. The most fundamental unit of sovereignty shall be the individual. Every adult citizen shall have the right to surrender or reclaim sovereignty at will.

Article 34

Every adult person has the right to leave any dominion at any time. Exceptions occur during the arrest process and while executing a military or police action. This right is voided if no non-sovereign dominion or sovereignty will accept the adult person. This is referred to as “exit rights”. Within any sovereignty or non-sovereign dominion, exit rights shall be protected by the judiciary, police, and military of a higher-level dominion.

Article 35

Every citizen shall have the right to clean air, clean water, and conservation of natural resources.

Article 36

Every sovereign shall have the right to equal per capita distribution of the ground rent in the form of a food distribution, a housing distribution, basic healthcare, and unlimited free education and a distribution for local government, police protection, and other forms of distribution as established first by an addendum to this constitution and then by quadratic voting and moving averages. The precise rules of quadratic voting shall be specified in a dedicated amendment. Individual distributions are transferable within a sovereignty for the same or a more stringent use.

Article 37

Every sovereign shall have the right to treble land, and the affected property owner shall have the right to match that treble. The constitution shall include a description of the lease, including trebling parameters, and a procedure for changing the lease or parameters. A dedicated amendment shall describe lease enforcement procedures and agents, and a procedure for changing enforcement procedures.

Article 38

Animals shall be free from unnecessary cruelty. The specific definition of unnecessary cruelty will be subject to judicial interpretation in light of culture and changing times.

Article 39

People who live in a non-sovereign dominion shall have the rights:

1. To a non-sovereign cellular government that enforces constitutional and objective rights as well as subjective rights of a higher dominion.
2. Of a 2/3 plurality of a dominion’s direct democracy to create new subjective rights and to enjoin and negotiate with third parties. These are subject to judicial concurrence that exercise of an objective right creates what a reasonable person would view as a negative externality.
3. Of a 2/3 plurality of a dominion’s direct democracy to create and profit from parallel cells.
4. Of a 5/6 plurality of a dominion’s direct democracy to create and enforce any discretionary right or law that does not violate universal constitutional rights listed above. Voters have the right to vote “no” with the treble option. These voters assert the right to be trebled before the right or law is implemented.
5. Of a 5/6 plurality of a dominion’s direct democracy to ratify a constitution of sovereignty, provided that constitution does not violate universal constitutional rights listed above. Voters have the right to vote “no” with the treble option. These voters assert the right to be trebled before the right or law is implemented.
6. Of any sovereign with property on the border between level-2 (or greater) dominions to switch allegiance of their property. A fee can be charged for more than one switch per year. No fee can be charged for a dominion treble of a property to a bordering dominion.

Article 40

Access rights to roads and utilities, once granted, cannot be removed without the property owner’s permission. This is a constitutional covenant on roads and utility grids and therefore cannot be broken by a dominion treble. Should there be unpaid fees for these services, a lien will be created against property structures.

Article 41

Other covenants restricting the use of land can be passed by a 2/3 plurality of a dominion, but can be broken by a dominion treble or the switching of allegiance. A reasonable person must agree that failure to enact the covenant would create a negative externality.

Title IV. Economic and Regulatory Institutions

Article 42

Bureau of Standards and Voluntary Standards Groups

There shall be a self-funded Bureau of Standards managed by paid consumer senators appointed by the level-5 cellular council. These consumer senators will manage Voluntary Standards Groups (VSGs), both at the material request of interested parties and in particular those VSGs required by this constitution. VSGs are standards bodies that establish industry standards and rules on how to disclose violations of those standards via VOS documents. By a 2/3 plurality, a dominion can turn a standard into a regulation. Standards should be treated as regulations by default when children could be negatively impacted due to a failure to meet the given standards. The Bureau of Standards shall have a staff of consumer advocates, appointed by the senators and supported by VSG membership fees paid by interested parties. For each interested party on a VSG, there will be one consumer advocate paid by that interested party. The operating procedures will be set by the consumer senators. Additional functions of VSGs include:

1. Promotion of the trade through academic curriculum and elsewhere.
2. Determining how the members of the trade should be rewarded for producing intellectual property.
3. Trade certifications.

Article 43

Violation of Standards

There shall be a single regulation called violation of standards (VOS). It is a document, label or other signage that must not only be publicly displayed, but in certain cases it also must be explicitly given and explained to another party, often requiring sign-off, in some cases with witnesses, and in special cases by a judge, as determined by the Judiciary. VOS requirements and interfacing standards are set by the appropriate VSG.

Article 44

VIP Treasury

The VIP Treasury shall be formed initially as a non-profit prior to the first phase of transition and it will be governed by the highest-level cellular council. It will have a mandate to fight deflation by releasing currency for intellectual property royalties and to reimburse dominions for infrastructure spending beyond the spending from distributions.The total currency in the bank and in circulation should always equal 20x ground rent, unless there is insufficient currency to pay the Earth dividend, which is a right and takes precedence over all other monetary policy. Even if the distribution is inflationary, a minimum intellectual property distribution will be established by the Treasury. Intellectual property funds will be released through 10-year moving average quadratic voting categories and via account trees developed by the associated VSGs. Infrastructure reimbursement will be done via the account trees established by VIP Land Management through objective formulas.

Article 45

VIP Land Management

The VIP Land Management shall be formed initially as a non-profit prior to the first phase of transition and, for as long as it will remain necessary as determined by the highest-level cellular council, it will have a mandate to:

1. Perform total property market appraisals and depreciated structure replacement cost appraisals.
2. Assign land taxes for private land.
3. Set property boundaries.
4. Maintain deeds and titles.

Article 46

Intellectual Property and Federation Library

The authors of intellectual property (IP) will be compensated based on distribution, free or otherwise, of the product, content, or process. The VIP Treasury will measure through the VIP environment the distribution of all products, including those with a price of $0.0 VIP. There shall also be a Federation Library which will handle the patent process and assignment of product IDs and maintain ownership percentages of all product IDs. The VSGs will break down quadratically voted assigned budget distributions into royalty percentages for specific categories of IP. The ownership percentages within each category of IP will be determined by the Federation Library.

Title V. Final Provisions and Amendments