An invitation for neighbors, communities, and watersheds
to reconstitute ourselves in harmony with the living world
Background: We are living through a time of unraveling. Many of us feel that the systems governing our lives are harming life, community, and care. A People’s Resolution is a way to begin again, here and with each other. As things unravel, a People’s Resolution can guide us to reconstitute, to adopt new patterns of being together, to create safety, and to regenerate the thriving of life.
Any group of people can gather – around a kitchen table or as a larger assembly – and adopt a Resolution. A Resolution may seem like a small act, but when we name what we no longer consent to, affirm what we want to create together, and begin living by those commitments, we reconstitute our lives and world. As Resolutions emerge in many places and begin to resonate with one another, we make visible a new will of the people, tilting the broader field of governance. We need not wait for distant institutions to save us. We can listen to one another and to the Earth, ask what supports our shared thriving, and begin to live our resolutions into being.
The below Resolution offers you a starting place. Please make it your own, and share what you create. I would love to hear your thoughts, and welcome you to reach me at _____@____
We the People of [this location] withdraw our consent from the form of government that came from the Second U.S. Constitution. It is based on outdated premises and structures and thus has become corrupt. As a direct result, we risk the imminent collapse of multiple natural systems on which our species and many others depend for continued existence. In this emergency, we have no viable option but to act immediately.
We the People of [this location] will engage in a process for the next two years, inviting every neighbor to participate in reconstituting ourselves based on the self-governance processes evolved in Nature over millennia, as reinforced by spiritual wisdom traditions of humans.
We take these actions in service of the USA’s Declaration of Independence, modified only to respect the wisdom, guidance, and inherent rights of Indigenous peoples. It is our way of honoring the 250th anniversary of that Declaration with honesty, respect, and courage.
Simply put, our withdrawal of consent sends this message:
The Second Constitution’s structural defects account for more corruption than does the personal character of any public actors;
Earth is not property but our ancestor and self-governance mentor;
Speech emerges only from humans, not from wealth, and not from corporations;
All humans are created equal meaning that each has practical access to healthy food and clean water, shelter, healthcare, education (especially in ecoliteracy), equal participation in decisions affecting their lives, a liveable climate, and the means by which to pursue happiness and contribute to communal well-being;
Earth is intelligent and makes (and enforces) the rules;
Humans must reconstitute ourselves as educated and empowered to participate in self-governance that prioritizes self-regulation to obey Earth’s rules;
The essential lesson we have learned from our elder Earthlings is that cooperation networks facilitate survival; and
If a Constitution is needed, it must be A Constitution for the Living Earth.
Until that time, We the People of [this location] require that those currently in elected or appointed office interpret our Second Constitution to adhere to the above principles, which can be done through jurisprudence described in Joseph Fishkin and William E. Forbath’s THE ANTI-OLIGARCHY CONSTITUTION, as supplemented with THE UN DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, THE EARTH CHARTER, THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH and other notable international accords that define the USA’s responsibility to show up as a peer within the Living Earth Community.
We claim the inherent authority of a self-governing people to live by and improve upon those interpretative principles.
Explanatory notes and references:
We the People connotes recognition that humans are interconnected, as are all beings in the web of Life. The concept of the individual is only a concept. “I am because we are.” Ubuntu. Distinctive jewels in a beautifully patterned diadem. A diadem that spirals and is alive and connected with other patterning beings.
[This location] is the smallest locus of self-governance, ideally a contiguous sector of a watershed, where all life forms including human are already in localized communication. It comprises that number of humans who can self-organize with maximum universal participation to appreciate diversity, clarify mutual intent, gather information and ideas, settle into a common decision, cooperate from there, and adjust as needed.
withdraw our consent shows solidarity with those who did the same 250 years ago, when the King of England insulted their self-governance based on sacred conscience.
will engage in a process at a local level to meet local needs - and also to demonstrate that the Second Constitution's structural corruption extends to its amendment process, rendering it antithetical to self-governance.
Declaration of Independence like this People's Resolution rests on equality, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.
Structural defects have exposed citizens to tyranny by denying them meaningful participation in decisions that affect their lives (not only by installing minority rule).
not property - a reference to the enclosure of the commons, which led to the theory that an "owner" has basically unrestricted power to use or destroy any portion of Earth owned as "property." It was not forseen that widespread human destruction of "property" would leave humans bereft , not only of the web of life, but also of its lessons for living in community.
Speech refers to human participation in decisions that affect our lives.
Created equal - founding premise of the Declaration of Independence, an emergent understanding that keeps unfolding.
Earth can be viewed as the law-giver, if we humans can only learn in time to save ourselves through self-regulation to obey Earth's rules.
Closely observant farmers like John Kempf and Didi Pershouse know that, after reaching a minimum threshold of diversity, cooperation networks are what allow a natural system to thrive.
A Constitution for the Living Earth would govern human conduct within the system patterns, and on behalf of a thriving Earth.
Until that time - recognizing the lag time needed to reconstitute ourselves, we anticipate interfacing with a Second Constitution jurisprudence that adheres to the above principles by returning to a successful period, updated with recent instructions from a broader and wiser humanity. For "other notable accords," consider The Paris Climate Accord, International Criminal Court (ICC), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the General Assembly’s Resolution A/RES/64/292 (and follow-ups) of the Human Right to Clean Water and Sanitation.
Living Earth Community includes humans and more-than-human beings who together make up the interdependent matrix of living systems and natural (not constructed by humans) bio/geo/physics that must be honored in order for human life to continue. The beyond-human world is our elder and has developed self-governance systems we would do well to emulate.
Note: The Second US Constitution followed the Articles of Confederation.