A universal foundation of liberty, responsibility, stewardship, and coexistence
People everywhere feel the effects of unaccountable power: growing control, dependence, corruption, division, and destruction of the natural systems that sustain life. Most people disagree on politics, religion, and ideology, but free and peaceful coexistence requires a shared foundation. These Principles establish the minimum conditions necessary for human beings to live together without domination: consent instead of coercion, responsibility instead of exploitation, stewardship instead of destruction, and liberty protected from unchecked power.
Life is the foundation of all value. Without life, there can be no experience, choice, meaning, or responsibility. To recognize that anything matters is to recognize that life matters.
Human beings act by choice. Each person experiences consequences in their own body and time. No collective can choose, suffer, or repair harm in place of another. For this reason, freedom begins with the individual, and no person is born with rightful authority over another.
Because all people share this condition of life and agency, equal dignity belongs to every person. No life is inherently superior or expendable. Authority, where it exists, must arise from consent and remain accountable to those it affects.
At the same time, freedom does not remove responsibility. Human beings live in relationship with one another and with the Earth that sustains all life. When harm is caused, relationships are damaged. When harm is repaired, relationships can be restored.
Throughout history, power without limits has repeatedly led to domination, coercion, exploitation, secrecy, monopoly, and destruction. These Principles exist to establish the minimum conditions necessary for free and peaceful coexistence among diverse peoples.
These First Principles establish the minimum conditions under which diverse peoples may coexist without domination. They do not prescribe a way of life, belief, or purpose. They exist only to preserve the conditions of: Life, Liberty, Consent, Responsibility, Stewardship, & Peaceful Coexistence.
Every person possesses equal worth and may not be treated as property or sacrificed to the group.
No power is legitimate without free, informed, specific, and revocable consent.
Every person has the right to leave any group, contract, association, or system of authority.
No one may initiate violence, coercion, theft, or fraud.
Those who cause harm bear the duty to repair it as far as possible.
No worldview may be forced upon another.
Every person has the right to privacy of body, home, communications, and possessions.
Air, water, soil, and ecosystems are the shared inheritance of all and must not be destroyed or degraded beyond repair.
Decisions must be made at the most local level capable of resolving the matter.
No authority may become permanent, hereditary, unaccountable, or beyond recall.
It is a boundary beyond which authority loses legitimacy.
Freedom is the default.
What is not forbidden by these Principles is allowed.
Read the full Declaration — including all 20 Articles, Definitions, FAQ, and historical Grievances.
Feel free to share it widely.