To this and all governments we present

THE DECLARATION OF LIBERTY

Thousands of years of history are testament to one undeniable fact—to live and flourish individuals must be free to pursue their own values. However, the primary activity of governments throughout history has not been to secure liberty but to eliminate liberty, destroy prosperity and kill. So powerful and arrogant have governments become that they consider individuals merely the means to their ends.

Let this serve as notice that we are not the means to your ends. Each of our lives is an end in itself. You do not own us. You do not have the right to take our earnings by force for the benefit of others. You do not have the right to prohibit us from freely trading what we want, with whom we want, at the price we choose. You do not have the right to initiate force against us if we are not initiating force against others.

We do not belong to you. You belong to us and your only proper functions are to stop the initiation of force and to arbitrate disputes. Any action by government beyond these functions invalidates its moral license to govern for it necessarily involves an increase in the initiation of force against individuals.

While we may have no choice but to comply with your unjust laws, taxes and regulations we do so in body only, not in spirit. You have transgressed the moral boundary that defines your legitimacy. From this day forward we declare our liberty in the moral spectrum and we commit ourselves to achieving political liberty by reducing government until it no longer serves as the primary obstacle to human life and happiness.

Signed, December 2, 2001, San Jose, California, United States of America

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Logan Darrow, declaration author