Toward this end all persons applying to be citizens of an Ethical State must take an oath, and sign a contract of citizenship, after objectively demonstrating before a court that they understand well its Ethical Principles and Constitution. The "Ethical State" is the name that will be used for all persons and societies who govern themselves according to the Evolutionary Ethic. An Ethical State should accept as full citizens all persons who take this oath before one of its courts, understand its constitution, and adequately speak its official language or languages.

My best languages are English and Spanish. I think and feel in both languages. But I think best in English and feel best in Spanish. I always write my books first in English, and then translate them into Spanish. I teach and lecture in both languages, but I am a far more effective teacher in Spanish. I see fundamental value in both languages, but they are optimal for different purposes. No one language is uniformly superior to all other languages. But, by consensus of the citizens of an Ethical State, any written language(s) would do, although if we follow Spinoza's example there is probably an advantage to simultaneously speaking Spanish, Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and a Germanic language such as Dutch, English, or German itself.

English is unique in combining some of the best aspects of the Germanic languages, through Anglo- Saxon, with some of the best aspects of the Latin-based languages, through both Latin and French. Therefore, English may be the single best language to know, if we are to maximize creativity and use solely one language. English is also among the most widely spoken languages, and is also the most widely spoken language as a second language. It has twice the vocabulary of any other European language. For many reasons, a synthesis of English and Spanish, as is currently happening in the United States, might give us the single best language. I recommend that a newly formed Ethical State use both English and Spanish as its official languages. This means that anyone may use either one of the languages to interact with the Government. It does not mean that someone has to be fluent in both languages. This may be optimal, but it is not necessary; any single written language will do.

Some day there may be many independent Ethical States, speaking many different languages, but they shall all speak the same language at an ethical, spiritual level. There are no such nations today.

An Ethical State will exist when any number of both men and women, however small, take an oath to uphold its Ethical Principles and Constitution.

An autonomous, self-governing Octet shall exist when exactly four men and four women agree to work together by unanimous consensus for the mutual benefit of maximizing creativity. All citizens of an ethical republic must have sworn the same oath of citizenship, and share a single constitution, all by unanimous consensus.

What follows is an example of one such oath, and one such constitution. Other better oaths and constitutions are possible. They should be so developed by persons and Octets who feel they can do so. If you cannot give a better alternative in harmony with the Evolutionary Ethic, it is best that you study, and ask questions about these matters, until you can give a better alternative. Wisdom begins by avoiding aggressive ignorance.

The wisest statement I know of political ethics is in the Declaration of Independence, as originally written by Thomas Jefferson. I make this wisdom an integral part of the contract that I now make with the Ethical State.

PROPOSED OATH OF CITIZENSHIP

Upon my honor I promise to do my best to maximize the creativity of my children, my spouse, myself, my fellow citizens of the Ethical State, and the rest of humanity in this order of priority. Toward this end I shall never knowingly decrease the intelligence or the ethics of any sentient being. I pledge my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor to defend my family, myself, and all citizens of the Ethical State from all enemies, foreign and domestic, who threaten their creativity.

PROPOSED CONTRACT OF CITIZENSHIP TO BE SIGNED BEFORE THE COURT GRANTING CITIZENSHIP AFTER TESTING THE CANDIDATE FOR AN ADEQUATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE EVOLUTIONARY ETHIC, ITS APPLICATIONS, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ETHICAL STATE.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the Earth, the separate and sovereign station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of humanity requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that humanity is equal, but separate, before God, in being endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, property, privacy, and the maximization of creativity according to the dictates of one's own conscience. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among humanity, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such forms, that creativity shall be maximized.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown that persons are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under any form of despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future creativity.

We, the People of the Ethical State, choose life over death. We choose creation over destruction. In ethical self-defense, we declare ourselves a free and sovereign people, no longer bound by ties to any government other than our own. We welcome those who choose to join us in a creative, free society. The Ethical State begins. We shall create a Moral Society.

Before the world and the God who created all, we declare ourselves an Ethical State dedicated to the maximization of creativity and bound by no other law. We declare the inviolate liberty of every human being to do and say what he or she pleases, so long as he or she does not impose undeserved harm on others. We declare that harm to another is deserved solely when necessary in defense against an aggressor who intends to harm an innocent person.

A person's life, liberty, property, and privacy belong entirely to him or herself; no one has a right to any part of another person's fundamental, unalienable civil rights. Solely mutually voluntary transactions by one hundred percent consensus can ever be ethical or creative. The tyranny of any majority over any individual is hereby denounced. We, the People of the Ethical State, swear eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of any ethical being. We declare all persons ethical until proven otherwise.

Upon these principles we shall henceforth govern ourselves and interact with others. We shall do our best to maximize creativity, and never knowingly decrease the creativity of anyone. Toward this God-inspired end, we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

I fully understand and completely commit to these ethical principles and to the Constitution which upholds them. I pledge my full loyalty to the people of the Ethical State, its Constitution, and its principles. I promise to always do my best, according to the true dictates of my own conscience alone, to maximize my creativity, and that of those I love, in direct proportion to my love for them.

I further promise to do my best never to decrease the creativity of anyone by imposing undeserved harm upon them. If I should ever impose undeserved harm on anyone, I fully accept that the people and Government of the Ethical State are entitled to receive just compensation from me, and if necessary, exile me, according to law, or restrict my freedom, according to law, in self-defense against me and any future destructive acts I may commit.

I further promise not to tolerate destructive acts in others, including my dependents, and, as a minimum, to do my best to prevent such acts by identifying them, and their perpetrators, to the appropriate officials and citizens of the Ethical State; I will do this in good faith expecting help in defense against these destructive acts and in eliminating them in the future.

I accept full criminal and civil responsibility for all crimes, and other destructive acts, that my dependents may perpetrate, and shall seek help from the appropriate officials of the Ethical State if I cannot prevent the citizens of the Ethical State from having undeserved harm imposed upon them by my dependents.

I accept as dependents all of my biological children, and any biological children that any of my dependents shall have while they are still dependent upon me. I accept as dependents all persons I adopt. I assume full responsibility for all of my dependents, so long as they remain dependent on me, or until they become citizens, or are legally adopted by other parents, either with my consent, or as the publicly expressed wish of my dependent sworn before a magistrate.

It shall be the proper function of a court to determine who are the legal parents of a dependent. This shall always be done according to law, while fully preserving the rights of all parents. But I also recognize that my primary obligation, as a parent, to all my dependents, is to do my best to love, nurture, and educate them, so that they may themselves become free, independent, and maximally creative citizens of the Ethical State as soon as possible.

As further obligations, I will do my best to maximize my creativity and defend myself, my family, my neighbors, my fellow citizens, and the principles and people of the Ethical State. I will, when necessary, and according to the dictates of my conscience alone, arm myself and join any militia that my representatives may form for the defense of my fellow citizens. I will respect all the laws of the Ethical State so long as I choose to remain one of its citizens.

So long as I choose to be a citizen of the Ethical State, I shall obey all its laws, keep my contracts, pay all my legal taxes, do my best to participate in Government, and do my best to make sure that the Government and citizens of the Ethical State act in accordance with its ethical principles of truth, justice, freedom, and the maximization of creativity, according to law and the Constitution.

I recognize that I may secede from the Ethical State and renounce my citizenship whenever I wish, and that I have an ethical obligation to do so when I believe its laws to be unethical or its taxes unfair. I further recognize that upon seceding I may live wherever I wish, keep title to all my land and property within the territory of the Ethical State, and take all my personal property with me wherever I go.

If I ever believe that the Ethical State does not treat me, or anyone else, ethically, with honor, respect, and justice, I shall do my best to remedy the situation according to law. If I do not believe that I can succeed in this endeavor, I shall denounce the Ethical State publicly, and renounce my citizenship, as soon as possible, giving my full true reasons for this renunciation. Upon so doing, I shall promptly secede from the Ethical State, and go anywhere I wish outside of its territory, and take title to all my land and property with me, if I seek the protection of other nations or societies. I accept fully all the obligations of citizenship in the Ethical State solely upon condition that it shall keep good faith with me, treat me with justice, and always grant me the full rights of citizenship.

My rights of citizenship may not be suspended, or infringed upon, except upon my conviction of a crime by two independent courts, according to the laws and Constitution of the Ethical State. My rights of citizenship may not be temporarily suspended except on indictment, or arrest, for a crime. I may not ever be legally arrested except on probable cause for a crime, and the indictment process against me must be begun within twenty-four hours of arrest, according to law and the Constitution of the Ethical State.

Signed and Affirmed before a full Court of Justice according to the Constitution of the Ethical State.

Signatures, Date, Description of the Court Granting Citizenship, and Place of Signing.

Signatures with Dates for each of the Eight Members of the Court Granting Citizenship.

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION OF AN ETHICAL STATE

Citizenship

All persons who prove, according to law, before a court of the Ethical State, in its official language(s), that they understand the Ethical Principles, Laws, and Constitution of the Ethical State, take its Oath of Citizenship and sign the Contract of Citizenship shall be full citizens of the Ethical State and entitled to the full rights, privileges and protection of its Constitution, Government, and People.

There are no restrictions placed on citizenship due to age, national origin, place of birth, race, gender, ethnicity, beliefs, or religion. The criteria for the rights of citizenship shall depend entirely on intelligence and ethics. The criteria for accepting a new citizen within the Ethical State shall never exceed, nor be less, than an adequate understanding of its ethical principles and Constitution, together with taking the Oath of Citizenship, signing the Contract of Citizenship, and then obeying its laws, unless it is unanimously decided by the citizens of the Ethical State that they wish less, or more, stringent citizenship criteria.

Territory

All land and other resources owned or leased, according to law, by citizens of the Ethical State shall be regarded as being within the territory under the protection of the Ethical State. Such land and resources shall cease being within the territory under the protection of the Ethical State, when its owner publicly renounces citizenship and secedes, according to law. Should a lessor secede from the Ethical State, his or her person and personal property, and that of his or her dependents, shall cease to be under the protection of the Ethical State, but any leasehold property owned by a citizen of the Ethical State shall remain under its protection.

The Ethical State may not, in general, own land or natural resources, except land reserved for permanent national parks and exclusive Government functions. All land and natural resources which do not lend themselves to private ownership, such as the electro-magnetic spectrum, atmosphere, oceans, and ocean floor, shall be managed and held in trust by the Ethical State, for the equal and maximum benefit of all its citizens. All such land and resources shall be considered to be within the territory of the people of the Ethical State.

All land and resources held in trust may not be leased, sold, or traded by the Government of the Ethical State, without full approval of all the citizens of the Ethical State, or their elected representatives by general consensus, as determined by law.

When citizens secede from the Ethical State, they, together with all their legally-owned land and property shall cease being within the territory of the Ethical State, and shall no longer be under its protection. The Ethical State will, in general, evolve to govern territory that is contiguous to territory owned by its citizens.

Unalienable Rights of Citizenship
The Bill of Rights for All Citizens of the Ethical State

1. Right To Life, Liberty, Property, and Privacy

Each person has an absolute right to his or her own life, liberty, property, and privacy, and may dispose of them as he or she wishes, so long as he or she does not impose undeserved harm on another, by infringing on that person's absolute right to life, liberty, property, and privacy. Such undeserved harm, when it occurs, shall be determined and remedied by the courts of the Ethical State according to law.

A person's life is entirely and solely his or her own forever. No one ever has a right to any part of another person's life for any reason. People's needs or the needs of the Ethical State give them no right to any part of another person's life, ever, under any conditions.

Therefore, a fetus has no right to any part of its mother's life, and any woman has the absolute right to abort any fetus or embryo that is entirely dependent on her for life, since she is the sole owner of her life and body. Although this may be a destructive, evil act, it is a completely private and legal act, allowable under the Constitution of the Ethical State. The rights of the mother are always absolutely superior to the rights of the fetus, but this changes once a child is born.

Once a dependent is born, it acquires an absolute right to its own life, but it has no liberty, property, or privacy that is not given by its parents. These rights are acquired gradually as the dependent matures, until it qualifies for the absolute rights of a full citizen of the Ethical State.

Dependents have no right to any part of their parents' life, liberty, property, or privacy. However, parents who neglect their children, by denying them proper care and education, are violating their oath of citizenship. They may be found guilty of dependent abuse and subject to remedial counseling, at the discretion of a court and jury who find, by unanimous consensus, that the parents are guilty of dependent abuse.

Parents have an absolute right to care for their children as they see fit. The Ethical State may interfere in a parent's child raising solely after the parent has been found guilty of dependent abuse by two independent courts.

The courts may then recommend, but not force, parents into remedial counseling. If the parents refuse this counseling, or if they continue to systematically abuse their dependents, then the Ethical State may revoke their citizenship, and send the parents together with all their dependents into non-criminal exile to any nation or region that will accept them, upon the recommendation of a single court after the parents have been tried anew by this court.

A sentence of exile for dependent abuse shall be enforced solely after the parents have again been found guilty of dependent abuse by two new, independent courts, and at least one of these same courts recommends exile as a necessary remedy for the well-being of the other citizens of the Ethical State. The Ethical State should never tolerate citizens who abuse their dependents, but protecting the rights of both parents and dependents is the responsibility and obligation of the Ethical State.

The resolution of conflicts between the rights of parents and the rights of dependents is the ethical, moral, and legal issue to which the Ethical State shall give its most careful attention. But the rights of parents shall always come before the rights of dependents.

The Ethical State shall not tolerate parents who severely or systematically abuse their dependents, since the Ethical State is also obligated to protect the life, liberty, property, and privacy of dependents. But the Ethical State is also obligated to protect the rights of parents to care for their dependents, according to the dictates of their consciences alone. Therefore, if this conflict in obligations cannot be resolved by voluntary counseling, all such dependent abusers shall be subject to exile, but not as ordinary criminals.

All such parents may simply secede from the Ethical State, keeping title to their land and property and remaining where they are, or may be exiled to the territory of other nations. Whenever possible, exiled parents and their dependents shall be exiled to a nation or region of their choice.

The Ethical State and its agents may never forcibly remove a dependent from its parents custody, except by the lawful request of either the dependent or the parents.

Dependents shall increase their own rights to life, liberty, property, and privacy as they become less dependent. Any dependent may petition any magistrate for complete independence from its parents if, and only if, the dependent is able to make the petition, qualifies for citizenship, or has found another set of parents willing to adopt him or her.

A dependent may not be adopted by new parents without the explicit consent of either the dependent or the old parents. Such adoption must be approved by the unanimous consent of an independent court and jury, whose main focus must be in serving the best interests of the dependent. Otherwise the parental rights of the original parents shall control.

After adoption, the new parents shall assume full legal responsibility for the dependent, and the former parents shall no longer have any responsibility, obligations, or rights with respect to the adoptee.

A person's rights to liberty, privacy and property are absolute and may not be infringed upon except upon indictment for a crime or as part of a just and proper investigation of a crime or civil offense, as determined by law, and after sworn testimony that this infringement is necessary is given before a magistrate. Such infringements must be temporary, conditional, just, proper, appropriate and according to law as determined by a magistrate after the sworn testimony is given. The giving of false testimony before a magistrate or a court shall be treated as a serious crime by the Ethical State.

Private property may not be permanently taken or in any way permanently infringed upon, except for just compensation to remedy an undeserved harm that was done to another. Such permanent takings and infringements must be first unanimously approved by two independent courts and juries, according to law.

Any property, or any rights to said property, which is required for the public good may not be taken or used except after just compensation. Such compensation shall be deemed just if, and only if, it is acceptable to the property owner. Restrictions on property use shall be considered a taking, unless it can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, before two independent courts, that such restrictions are necessary to prevent the reckless endangerment of others.

The right of the people to privacy is absolute, except when absolutely necessary in the investigation or prevention of a crime. The peoples' right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Persons may inflict deadly force, on sight, upon anyone who breaks into their home. Trespassers on land may be subject to force solely if they do not leave upon being warned that they are trespassing. All force should always be avoided, if its absence does not put the property or home owner in peril, but the primary obligation of citizens is first to protect themselves, their families, their neighbors, and their property, and then concern themselves with the civil rights of the intruders, burglars, robbers, or attackers. No force used in self-defense shall be considered excessive except upon conviction by two independent courts and juries.

The laws of the Ethical State must reflect the absolute freedom of any individual to do as he or she wishes with his or her own life, liberty, property, and privacy, so long as this individual does not violate the absolute freedom of another to do the same. When there is a conflict it shall be resolved according to law by two independent courts and juries.

No one is ever entitled to inflict undeserved harm on another, by infringing on a person's life, liberty, property, or privacy. The first obligation of every citizen of the Ethical State, as well as its Government, is never to inflict undeserved harm on anyone. Harm to another is justified solely in necessary self-defense against an aggressor. Furthermore, this harm always has the potential of being unethical, and must so be regarded before the defender takes action. The Ethical State shall never put any prior constraint on the right to life, liberty, property, and privacy, but, after the fact, it may indict, try, and convict anyone who recklessly endangers any non-consenting citizen.

2. Right to Self Defense

The right to self-defense against any aggressor is absolute. Toward this end, the right of all citizens not previously convicted of a crime to arm themselves as they see fit, and organize themselves into independent, free militias for the purpose of self-defense, shall not be infringed by anyone within the Ethical State.

The sole restriction on the right of self-defense shall be limited to not harming or recklessly endangering innocent inhabitants of the Ethical State, by these acts of self-defense, e.g. by the use of biological or nuclear weapons. Reckless endangerment of others shall always be regarded as a crime by the Ethical State, to be judged by two independent courts after the fact. There shall be no prior constraint put on the right to self-defense, but reckless endangerment of others shall always be a crime, and never tolerated.

Harm to an aggressor or anyone who threatens aggression shall be tolerated by all citizens and agents of an Ethical State, so long as the harm inflicted was necessary and appropriate to defend any inhabitant or citizen of the Ethical State. What is appropriate and necessary in any given case shall be determined after the fact by independent courts, according to law, if charges are made and indictments issued.

3. Right to Fair, Speedy, and Equal Justice

No one shall be indicted for any crime, except by the unanimous consensus of a full independent court and jury. A jury and court shall be one and the same, and shall consist of exactly four male and four female jurists, unanimously elected as magistrates, according to law, by the duly elected representatives of the citizens of the Ethical State. Each court and jury shall elect a representative pair to speak for it, coordinate and organize its activities, and otherwise interact with all parties to the trial. These elected representatives of the courts shall form the higher level courts.

All trials, criminal or civil, must be public, and open to public scrutiny, but the public may be restricted to a fixed number of spectators, if the demand for access to the trial is excessive and would interfere with the defendant's right to a fair and just trial. The greatest possible public scrutiny should be uppermost in consideration, next to a fair and impartial trial for the defendant.

No one shall be arrested, except after indictment or when caught within forty-eight hours in the aftermath of a crime for which there is clear evidence against the suspect. Otherwise the arresting authorities must have obtained first a warrant for arrest from a magistrate. All arrested and/or indicted suspects shall be considered innocent until proved guilty to the unanimous satisfaction of two independent courts and juries, which shall sit in judgment of the accused simultaneously, but independently of each other.

An arrested suspect must be allowed counsel and a hearing before a magistrate within twenty-four hours of arrest. All suspects have the right to remain silent, or to provide no information beyond identifying themselves and, if they wish, declaring themselves innocent The magistrate shall determine either that the suspect's case be referred to a full court for indictment, with the suspect remaining under arrest or given the opportunity of bail, or that the suspect shall be set free because of insufficient evidence.

An indictment hearing shall be held before one independent court and jury, solely upon recommendation of a magistrate, who shall carefully consider the physical evidence and all sworn testimony and then determine whether there is enough evidence to warrant an indictment hearing.

All indicted suspects shall be regarded as innocent until proven guilty according to law. In criminal trials, or upon arrest, no one may be forced to testify against him or herself, and may remain silent.

The suspect must always be immediately informed of his or her right to remain silent and seek counsel at the time of arrest. A confession of guilt by the accused may not be used as evidence except after the accused has received counsel. The entire burden of proof is upon the prosecuting officers.

The courts themselves must independently seek the truth in the matter, ask questions, and order independent investigations when necessary. They must not rely solely on the effectiveness of the advocacy system to discover the truth. The objective is truth and justice, not showing which side has the most effective advocate.

After arrest, the preliminary case against the unindicted suspect must be quickly sent to a full court by the magistrate, if the police authorities have sufficient evidence to convince the magistrate that the suspect is probably guilty and will probably be indicted by a full court. The magistrate shall set or deny bail for the suspect, who shall be freed upon the payment of this bail, pending the indictment hearing before a full court and jury.

The indictment court may free the suspect, grant bail if the suspect had previously been denied bail, reduce the bail, revoke the bail, or take other appropriate action, depending on the case against the suspect. If the evidence against the suspect is reasonable and probable, a full trial must be ordered by the indictment court.

Bail must be offered, or reasonably denied, to a suspect within twenty-four hours of arrest. All suspects are entitled to counsel at the bail hearings before the magistrate and the full court. Bail must not be excessive, but must reflect the seriousness of the crime, the danger that the suspect poses to the citizens of the Ethical State, and the probability that the suspect will flee if bail is granted.

While under arrest, the suspect must be treated with respect and kept safe and reasonably comfortable. Unnecessary force may not be used in arresting or restraining the suspect No suspect may be put in the close company of other suspects, but must be restrained in a place of privacy, safety, dignity, and acceptable human health and comfort.

The Ethical State shall assure that there are sufficient magistrates, jurors, courts, and restraining facilities to give all arrested persons quick and prompt bail hearings and trials. The indictment hearing before a full court must begin within seventy-two hours of the magistrate's hearing, but the courts must always give the suspect all the time he or she needs to properly defend him or herself, so long as the suspect remains under arrest. When bail is granted, the trial may take up to thirty days to begin, but, at the request of the suspect, additional time to prepare a defense may be given, solely at the discretion of the court. Neither the prosecutor nor the complainant in a civil case may request more time to prepare.

All suspects are entitled to legal representation and counsel from the time of arrest or indictment, whichever comes first. However, the laws and legal procedures must be sufficiently clear and simple that any suspect or civil offender may defend him or herself. The magistrates and courts shall never favor either party in a hearing or a trial, but do their best to get at the truth. The advocacy system is never enough for a just trial.

No one shall be convicted of a crime except upon the unanimous, simultaneous determination of guilt by two independent courts of law consisting solely of wo impartial juries unanimously elected by the citizens of the Ethical State, as prescribed by law. It takes solely the unanimous decision of a single court to acquit a suspect, but conviction can occur solely upon the unanimous decision of guilt by two independent courts and juries, who shall simultaneously hear the case.

If neither court can reach a unanimous decision to convict or acquit a suspect, the suspect must be set free without bail, but at the unanimous request of one of the courts, two higher courts must try the suspect once again. If both courts again fail to reach a unanimous decision to convict, or none of the courts reaches a unanimous decision to acquit, the suspect must be set free, and not tried again, except on the presentation by either side of new evidence, which convinces a new, higher court that a new trial is warranted by a still higher court.

There shall be enough courts and jurists to guarantee that this system can assure each suspect a speedy and fair trial. There shall be no plea bargaining. Charges and trials must be based entirely on the true and proper evidence, never on suspicions or plea bargains. If the charges exceed the evidence, then the suspect must be acquitted, even if there is evidence for a lesser crime that was not charged.

All convicted criminals are entitled to appeal to at least two more higher courts. After this, there can be no further appeals of the conviction, but the convict may continue to appeal for probation and pardon. Probation or pardon can be given solely upon evidence that the convicted criminal has, with reasonable probability, been rehabilitated, or upon new evidence that the convict might be innocent.

No behavior shall be regarded as a crime unless it deliberately or knowingly imposes undeserved harm upon a victim. Harm is any decrease in a person's intelligence or ethics. Harm is undeserved if it is done against the will of the person harmed for purposes other than self-defense. Possibly harmful, but victimless, behavior, such as voluntary drug use, voluntary prostitution, and many forms of common, but harmful, educational and religious practices, shall not be considered criminal by the Ethical State, but may lead to charges of dependent abuse if there is a dependent involved.

However, inducing anyone to harm him or herself unknowingly may be considered a crime, if it is done contrary to law, even if all the parties involved are acting voluntarily. This may include false or misleading advertising, or inducing a dependent to self-harm without the consent of the dependent's parents, though parental consent shall not remove liability for otherwise criminal behavior. Parental consent to induce a dependent to self-harm may lead to charges of abuse against the parent.

Inflicting undeserved harm to another unknowingly shall be a civil offense, remedied solely by just and proper material compensation, as determined by law and two independent courts.

A civil suit against any party in the Ethical State may solely be brought before the courts upon the the full agreement of the Complementary Pair constituting a magistrate. Such consent shall not be unreasonably delayed or denied, but shall be carefully considered according to the law and the system of justice of the Ethical State.

A magistrate shall consist of exactly one male and one female citizen of the Ethical State, who have been elected by an appropriate Octet according to law. Any inhabitant may petition any magistrate anywhere in the Ethical State for a regress of grievances. All magistrates are required to consider carefully and justly anyone's petition to sue at least once. The suit may be against anyone within the Ethical State, except jurists and higher Government officials, who may be prosecuted for malfeasance upon indictment by a full court, but not sued until after they leave Government office.

When a magistrate denies a petition, the petitioner may continue to petition magistrates until one grants the right to sue, or may seek an indictment against anyone upon paying a proper fee. Such fees must be reasonable, just, and not excessive. These fees may increase, as determined by law, as repeated petitions are submitted to and denied by successive magistrates.

Systematic and reckless behavior by any inhabitant of the Ethical State, if it leads repeatedly to the imposition of undeserved harm upon any of the inhabitants of the Ethical State, may be determined by a court to be criminal behavior, even if such behavior is not deliberately or knowingly harmful. The reckless endangerment of any inhabitant of the Ethical State shall be considered a crime, if it is unanimously judged to be so by two independent courts and juries in open public session.

There shall be no punishment for crimes other than exile, fines, and confiscation of property to compensate the victims of the crimes and the citizens of the Ethical State for the true costs and harm of the crime.

At the discretion of the courts, convicted criminals may be put on probation or sent to temporary exile until they qualify for probation. Probation and exile shall be in accordance to law.

Cruel and unusual punishment is strictly forbidden to be inflicted on anyone by any citizen, dependent, or agent of the Ethical State. Fines, probation, and exile must not be used as a form of punishment, but solely to justly compensate and protect victims or potential victims of convicted criminals. Every form of execution, torture, involuntary servitude, maiming, or excessive restraint shall be regarded as cruel and unusual punishment.

The conditions of probation and exile must allow the convicted criminals a reasonable opportunity to rehabilitate themselves and qualify once again for full citizenship, without prejudice. But the Ethical State's primary obligation to protect the life, liberty, property, and privacy of its citizens must come first. Therefore, the conditions of exile must be adequate to protect its citizens, while giving reasonable opportunities to the criminal for full rehabilitation. This must all be done according to law.

Minor criminals, dependent abusers, and systematic civil offenders may be subject to exile to any nation or region that will accept them, as a form of probation, if, and only if, they are deemed not to pose a threat to the innocent inhabitants of those nations and regions. Otherwise, it remains the obligation of the Ethical State to protect humanity from these persons.

At the discretion of the courts, probation may be granted solely on condition that the convicted criminal becomes the dependent of two parents, one a male and the other a female citizen of the Ethical State, who agree to assume full responsibility for all the civil and criminal acts committed by their new dependent. However, the conditions of probation shall always be at the discretion of the court granting the probation, so long as they do not represent cruel and unusual punishment. The judicial process shall be readily available to all citizens of the Ethical State for the purpose of lodging criminal and civil complaints, and enforcing contracts. Contracts shall not be legally binding unless they are in writing and signed by all parties to the contract. Contracts shall always be binding if they are notarized by a magistrate at the time of signing. Otherwise they may be certified and declared valid or invalid by a magistrate, at the magistrate's discretion, and at the request of one of the parties to the contract. Solely valid contracts may be brought as evidence in civil trials.

4. Freedom of Communication

All citizens have an absolute right to voluntarily communicate, in private, any true information they wish among themselves. All inhabitants of the Ethical State have an absolute right to receive any communication from any source, from within or from outside the Ethical State.

Restrictions on communication shall exist solely in regard to the communication of false or undeservedly harmful information, however the voluntary exchange of false information in private may not be infringed. What is false or undeservedly harmful information can be determined solely by independent courts, according to law. There may be no prior constraint on the right to communicate.

Such undeservedly harmful communication shall include false or misleading advertising, threats to impose undeserved harm on anyone, extortion, blackmail, slander, libel, violation of copyright or patent or privacy laws, child or sadomasochistic pornography whose production imposed undeserved harm on another, advertising an unsafe product or service without clearly specifying all the known dangers from using that product or service, offensive noise or odors, and other undeservedly harmful communication, as determined by the laws and courts of the Ethical State after the fact.

The Ethical State shall have the power to enforce contracts if, and only if, these contracts are in writing. Oral contracts shall not be legally binding, but oral false advertising may be subject to legal sanctions. The violation of a contract is a backward form of fraud, and shall be treated as fraud, according to law. All contracts can relieve the other parties to the contract of all obligations to the party who first violated the contract, but solely at the discretion of the courts. Disputes concerning binding contracts should first be resolved, if possible, before a magistrate with no lawyers present. If they may not be resolved, the magistrate, at its discretion, may refer the dispute to two full courts.

5. Freedom of Assembly

The freedom of peaceful, voluntary assembly on private property is an absolute right which may not be infringed, unless the purpose of the assembly involves a criminal conspiracy or a reckless endangerment of non-consenting parties to this assembly. A criminal conspiracy and the reckless endangerment of non-consenting parties can be established solely by the unanimous consensus of two independent courts. Arresting officers in the case of criminal conspiracy or reckless endangerment must have clear evidence for these crimes, or they shall be guilty of a crime themselves.

Any form of sexual behavior between mutually consenting citizens which is voluntary and private shall not be infringed by the Ethical State. However, this does not apply to dependents, who may not marry or engage in any sexual activity without the consent of their parents. As a consequence, sexual relationships involving dependents are illegal, and may be prosecuted as a crime, e.g. statutory rape, at the request of the appropriate parent, even if the sexual activity was consensual. Dependents may not enter into binding contracts, no matter what their age.

Marriage implies an ethical, evolutionary contract, even when it is not in writing, and should not be entered into lightly. Marriage, or its absence, shall be a matter of private morality, and shall be of no concern to the Ethical State, but seen as a form of private assembly. However, any written contract of marriage, or of other partnerships, shall be enforced under the contractual laws of the Ethical State if a breach of this contract occurs, and this breach of contract is proved to the unanimous satisfaction of two independent courts and juries.

As part of their personal contractual obligations of citizenship, biological and legal adoptive parents of children and other dependents, married or not, must both assume the responsibilities and obligations of parenthood, and provide adequate care and education for their dependents, as determined by law, or they shall be guilty of dependent abuse or dependent abandonment. The latter shall be treated as a serious crime. The parents of a dependent may always give their children up for adoption, thereby avoiding all legal responsibility for their former dependents after they are legally adopted.

The formation of private clubs, societies, partnerships, and organizations is an absolute right. The Ethical State may not force any individual, club, society, partnership or other private organizations to accept persons they do not wish to accept. All such organizations may exclude from membership anyone they wish, on any basis they wish.

The Ethical State may demand appropriate restrictions and obligations, according to law, for any assembly that is to be done on public property managed by the Ethical State for the benefit of all its citizens. No permission for any such assemblies shall be given unless the rights of all citizens are respected by the assembly. Permission shall not be denied except on the basis of criminal behavior or other behavior deemed by law to be destructive or inadequate.

The use or lease of any natural resources may be similarly restricted according to law, and may be used or leased solely upon the determination, by a court, that such use or lease is not discriminating against any citizens of the Ethical State. Criteria for the use or lease of resources must be entirely behavioral, and not involve discrimination against people on the basis of age, national origin, race, gender, belief, religion, ethnicity, social status, and other non-behavioral traits. These resources must be available to all citizens on an equal basis, or otherwise used or leased with the permission of the authorities responsible for those resources, such permission not to be unreasonably or unjustly denied or delayed.

6. Freedom of Religion

The Ethical State shall neither support nor oppose any religion or ritual, so long as it is private and voluntary. However, the Ethical State and its citizens are obligated to prosecute as criminal activities all religious activities which impose undeserved harm on innocent, unconsenting parties. This shall be done in accordance with the laws governing the communication of undeservedly harmful information and the commission of other crimes.

All religious activities or rituals are unconditionally permitted until they are proven, to the unanimous and full satisfaction of two independent courts of law, to impose undeserved harm on innocent parties who are not participating voluntarily in these religious activities or rituals. Dependents do not have the right to consent to anything, except with the express permission of their parents, who must be citizens. Otherwise religionists are allowed to harm and destroy themselves voluntarily.

Forcing dependents to participate in religious activities harmful to themselves shall be regarded as a form of dependent abuse, once this is proved to the satisfaction of two independent courts and juries.

Public resources may not be used to promote any religious beliefs, but may be used to communicate the ethical practices of anyone. A religious belief is any assertion of cause and effect relationships for which there is absolutely no objective evidence for its truth or falsity. Personal opinions for which there is some evidence, but not scientific proof, may be communicated through the use of public resources as personal opinion, but not as fact. In general, the electro-magnetic spectrum may not be used to promote or oppose any religious belief.

Any belief of any kind, even if it is objectively false, may be communicated in private to voluntary listeners. False beliefs, of all kinds, may, under some circumstances, be communicated in public, if the information communicated is preceded by the statement, "I may be wrong, but it seems to me..."

7. Equal Rights and Obligations Under The Law

All citizens of the Ethical State shall have equal rights and obligations under its Constitution. There shall be no specially privileged classes or individuals. All inhabitants within the territory of the Ethical State shall be entitled to equal rights and protection under its laws, so long as they remain within the territory of the Ethical State, and, when feasible, for citizens and their dependents while living or traveling outside of the Ethical State.

Citizens, upon receiving a passport, shall be advised by the military of the Ethical State of locales where it is not feasible to protect them, with supporting reasons. The military of the Ethical State shall be responsible for a diplomatic corps under the command of the President. The main function of the Ethical State in regard to foreign relations shall be to protect the life, liberty, property, and privacy of its citizens from foreign invaders at home, and from criminals and foreign governments while traveling abroad. There shall be no foreign treaties nor entanglements, much less alliances, except with this sole end. There shall be no foreign aid, loans, or gifts given by the Government of the Ethical State at the expense of any of its citizens.

All citizens of the Ethical State are entitled to a passport to travel wherever they wish and to return at will to the Ethical State. Such passports shall be easily and speedily granted by a magistrate upon paying of an appropriate fee, submitting an appropriate photograph, and showing proof of citizenship. All such fees and requirements must be equal for all citizens. Convicted criminals and persons neither citizens nor dependents of citizens may be excluded from entry into territory of the Ethical State upon the sole and exclusive judgment of any officer of the Ethical State. Anyone with a valid passport, or other proof of citizenship from the Ethical State, shall be deemed to have sufficient proof for entry into the Ethical State.

Once inside the Ethical State, illegal aliens must be given the full protection of the laws regarding any crimes they are alleged to have committed, or before being deported for illegal entry. Illegal aliens shall be treated as foreign invaders, but according to the ethical and legal principles of the Ethical State.

No one shall be denied citizenship or equal protection of the law, nor have their obligations under law abridged, because of age, national origin, place of birth, race, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, or religion. The full rights of citizenship may be lost or suspended temporarily, solely for persons indicted for a crime, all such rights being restored upon acquittal. Persons convicted of a crime by the unanimous consensus of two independent juries, as determined by law, may lose their civil rights permanently, and be exiled outside of the Ethical State in accordance with law.

The Ethical State shall maintain appropriate places of exile, so that a sentence of exile never becomes a form of cruel and unusual punishment, nor a form of abuse to citizens of other nations.

8. Right to Limited and Fair Taxation

Taxation must be limited and fair. Solely citizens, and partnerships between citizens, may be taxed. No citizen or partnership may ever have yearly taxes imposed upon them which are greater than ten percent of their combined gross yearly income, ten percent of the value of all the goods and services they buy or receive during the year, or one percent of the fair market value of all their net assets during the year, whichever is greater.

At any given time, the Ethical State may levy taxes solely of one kind: on income, on purchases or receipts of goods or services, or on the net, fair-market value of all property owned in any fiscal year. The taxation criteria shall not be changed without unanimous approval by the three highest levels of Government, allowing at least two years of warning to the public.

All citizens shall pay the same percentage of their gross income, purchases and trades, or their net worth in taxes, which shall be collected from all citizens in a fair and uniform manner.

Any citizen may refuse to pay taxes, and shall no longer be entitled to citizenship in, the protection of, or any services from the Ethical State, but shall not be criminally liable for this refusal, nor owe any future taxes. The sole penalty for refusing to pay taxes shall be non-criminal exile and loss of citizenship. The paying of taxes is part of the contract of citizenship, which is voluntarily chosen.

All taxes, fines, and fees collected by the Ethical State shall be used entirely, and exclusively, for the defense of the civil rights, life, liberty, property, and privacy of the citizens, and for the public resources, unless there is a unanimous consensus by the three highest levels of Government that another activity, such as education or transportation, should be supported by taxes This shall be done entirely through the establishment and maintenance of police organizations, military organizations, a system and courts of justice, a system of public health and environmental protection, and a representative system of government, with adequate checks and balances as determined by law.

The taxes may never be used to give advantages, or any kind of benefits, to any group of citizens at the expense of another group of citizens. The activities of Government must be limited entirely to the equal protection of the civil rights of all its citizens, both inside and outside the territory of the Ethical State.

Corporations shall pay taxes as if they were partnerships. The officers and board of directors of the corporation shall be liable for these taxes and criminally liable for any crimes committed by the corporation. Stockholders in corporations who are neither officers nor board members shall not be liable for the debts or crimes of the corporation, but shall be taxed on the gross value of all benefits received from the corporation as part of their personal income.

9. Limitations On Corporate Power

A corporation shall be treated as a dependent of its board of directors and its officers, who shall be personally responsible for any crimes or civil offenses that the corporation commits, if the corporation cannot otherwise satisfy all fines and compensations legally resulting from these corporate offenses. Corporations may not own any natural resources or land, but must lease these resources from individual citizens of the Ethical State. Private citizens are the sole persons or entities entitled to own land and resources, or lease them directly from the Ethical State.

The owners of these resources shall remain personally, criminally, and civilly liable for offenses committed through the use of these resources by a corporation, if the assets of the corporation, its directors, and officers are not sufficient to cover the costs of the offenses committed by the corporation. Their criminal liability shall be less than that of the direct controllers of the corporation.

No organizations of any kind may legally exist for the purpose of avoiding taxes. Not-for-profit organizations will have to pay taxes on the basis of their income, their purchases, or their net-worth, even if they never pay dividends.

No entity of the Ethical State shall ever have property confiscated for tax evasion except upon conviction by two independent courts. But they may have liens placed on their property upon indictment. There may be no punishment inflicted upon convicted tax evaders other than non-criminal exile, and fair and just confiscation of property to compensate for fraud and back taxes. Those who do not wish to pay taxes should secede from the Ethical State.

10. Right of Secession

Any citizen may, for any reason, secede from the Ethical State upon declaring publicly before a magistrate his or her true reasons for renouncing his or her citizenship.

Upon secession, the citizen shall have no more obligations or owe any more taxes, but shall keep title to all his or her land and property, as well as retaining all parental rights, if the citizen has no pending legal debts or liens as determined by a magistrate. If a citizen has such debts, or liens, the courts may confiscate some of his or her property to legally and fairly pay these debts, solely upon indictment followed by conviction for tax evasion. After this, the ex-citizen and his or her property are no longer part of the Ethical State, and may be disposed of as the ex-citizen wishes, including making them a part of another nation. The ex-citizen and his or her assets shall no longer be under the protection of the Ethical State, and shall no longer be part of the Ethical State.

11. Right to Limited Government

The Government of the Ethical State is strictly limited to protecting the civil rights of its citizens, and may assume no other powers without their unanimous consensus as determined by law. This is the sole power granted to the Government. The Government of the Ethical State is specifically prohibited from ever using the lives, assets, or taxes of some of its citizens for doing good for other citizens.

12. Right to all Rights Not Granted to the Government

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people. All rights not specifically given to the Government, belong exclusively and solely to each citizen of the Ethical State.

PROPOSED STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT

The Formation of an Ethical Republic By Consensus Hierarchy

The Government shall be structured as a representative republic by consensus hierarchy. All major parts of Government shall consist of men and women, all of whom are citizens of the Ethical State, in groups or committees that work together and make decisions solely by consensus. These groups and committees shall be called "Octets," and shall consist of exactly four men and four women. No part of Government may make a temporary decision unless it has been unanimously approved by an appropriate pair of Representatives at an appropriate level and then quickly confirmed by the entire Octet of which the pair of Representatives are members.

Minor parts of Government shall consist of at least one man and one woman, called "Complementary Pairs." All magistrates and minor functionaries of Octets must consist of at least one Complementary Pair.

No decision of Government may be made unless it is by agreement of at least one Complementary Pair. Temporary decisions shall continue to be made by 100% consensus of all the Octets, for increasing periods of time, until there are at least sixteen highest level Octets, at which time decisions shall be permanent unless the law is changed by the sixteen Octets constituting the full Congress of the Ethical State.

Once there are sixteen higher level Octets, they shall form a Congress of 128 persons who may make permanent decisions on behalf of the entire Ethical State solely by unanimous consensus.

No permanent decision of Government may be made unless it is agreed to by mutual consensus of either all the Octets in the Ethical State or at least the sixteen highest Octets composing the Government. Each Octet must always consist of exactly four Complementary Pairs. If such consensus is not forthcoming, it is best that Government do nothing.

The First Level of Government

The first level of Government shall exist whenever four Complementary Pairs can reach consensus on working together for their mutual benefit entirely on the basis of one hundred percent consensus. This shall be known as a First Level Octet.

Individual members of Complementary Pairs and Octets may choose one another on any basis they wish, and may have special agreements and contracts between them, so long as they do not violate the Constitution and laws of the Ethical State. They need not involve married couples, but must always include equal numbers of men and women.

Citizens may choose their Complementary Pairs and Octets as they wish, and change Complementary Pairs and Octets whenever they wish, but once elected to represent an Octet they must keep the same Complementary Pair or cease being a representative at all the levels to which they have been elected. This shall also occur if one member of the pair resigns, becomes incapacitated, is convicted of a crime, or dies.

Every Octet at every level shall elect one, and only one, Complementary Pair to represent it at the next level of Government, until there is a single Complementary Pair representing all the levels of Government. This last Complementary Pair shall always be designated the President of the Ethical State, no matter how few Octets there are in the Ethical State.

The President of The Ethical State shall be the Commander-In-Chief of all its armed forces and all other executive functionaries, but shall have no control over any jurists, or any representatives chosen by jurists, except in time of national emergency, when not more than half the jurists may be temporarily called up to active military duty, at the discretion of the President. The President then is their Commander-In-Chief, but solely in regard to their military duties, not their judicial duties, which shall cease upon call to active military service.

This structure of Government shall hold however small or large the Ethical State may be, but no government shall exist until there is at least one Octet working together by one hundred percent consensus. One full Octet is the minimum number of persons who can form an Ethical State.

All members and affiliated citizens of Level One Octets shall be members of the inactive military reserve, and subject to call to active duty under the direct command of their elected representatives in time of national or local energency emergency, solely at the discretion of their representatives. All Level One Octet members and affiliated citizens must be armed and ready to defend their families and neighbors at all times from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

At each level above the First Level, the Complementary Pair representing the Octet at the lower level shall organize itself with three other Complementary Pairs at the same level of representation, and form a new, higher level of Octet representation. If there are two or more Complementary Pairs, but not yet a full Octet, at a given level of representation, then the existing Complementary Pairs shall elect a single Complementary Pair to represent them. Until that time they shall work entirely by unanimous consensus, or do nothing.

If there is solely one Octet in the Ethical State, then the entire Government shall consist solely of the single Executive Pair, and the Octet that elected the President, and all powers of the Government shall be vested in the President and the one Octet. Consequently, the President may only make temporary decisions; permanent decisions for the full Octet may only be made by reaching full consensus within the entire Octet. No executive decision may be extended unless the Octet who elected that representative agrees to it by one hundred percent consensus. No judicial decision is binding unless it is made by two full courts or it is unanimously approved by all the citizens of the Ethical State, if there are not enough citizens for four full courts, the last two higher courts to handle appeals.

Each Level One Octet is autonomous and sovereign. The Level One Octets are the units of sovereignty within the Ethical State. The rest of the Government is granted solely the powers granted within this Constitution. A Level One Octet may bring onto its own territory in the Ethical State any immigrants it wishes, so long as they either qualify for citizenship or are adopted and made dependents, collectively, of the entire Octet; it may not bring any other person into the territory of the Ethical State. An Octet may produce, sell, or export any goods and/or services it wishes, so long as this does not cause reckless endangerment to other Octets and their affiliated citizens. It may import any goods, but not persons, that do not cause a reckless endangerment of other Octets and citizens of the Ethical State.

Any Octet may recall any of its representatives at any time, but solely if they have not been elected by a higher level Octet to a higher level of Government. Once any representatives are elected to a higher level of Government, they may be recalled and removed from office solely by consensus among the remaining three Complementary Pairs at the immediately lower level of Government that elected them, or by the unanimous consensus of the remaining six members of the Level One Octet that originally elected this complementary pair to represent them. Otherwise, they shall remain in office for a period not to exceed eight years, or until they are elected to a higher level office, in which case they may remain in that office for a period not to exceed eight years, or until they are elected to a still higher office. This shall hold for all representatives at all levels of office until they are removed from office by recall, death, incapacitation, retirement, or resignation.

The President of the Ethical State, who cannot be elected to a higher office, cannot remain in office for longer than eight years, or until the pair is removed by recall, death, incapacitation, or resignation. Once a President has served for eight years, both members of the pair must retire, and never again serve in elected office, although they may return to be members of their original Level One Octet, or join any other Level One Octet of their choice which will accept them.

The President may declare a state of national emergency for a period not to exceed seven days. At that time the state of national emergency shall cease to exist unless it is unanimously approved by the Octet that elected the President.

Once there are at least two Level One Octets who can agree by consensus to work together as part of the Government of the Ethical State, they may jointly begin electing two sets of Complementary Pairs to represent them, and begin adding to the second level of Government.

The Second Level of Government

The second level of Government shall always consist of at least one Complementary Pair, but is not limited in the number of Complementary Pairs, all elected by their respective Level One Octets. Once there are at least four sets of elected Complementary Pairs at the second level of Government, they shall, by consensus, form new Octets that agree to work together to elect Third Level representatives.

If there are at least two Complementary Pairs, but not yet a full Octet, of representatives at the Second Level, then any pair they elect by consensus shall be a temporary president until approved by the unanimous consensus of four Complementary Pairs, who shall form the Executive Octet that elects, and includes, the President. Once a Presidential Pair is elected, it can be removed solely by consensus among the six remaining Complementary Pairs of the existing Executive Octet, or by the six remaining Complementary Pairs in each of the four Level One Octets that originally elected the Executive Octet.

The Executive Octet can extend a state of national emergency by unanimous consensus for a period not to exceed thirty days. Otherwise it shall work and coordinate with the President or remove the President by consensus of six pairs of the pair that elected it, if the President will not, otherwise, end the state of national emergency.

The primary responsibility of the Second Level Octets is to, (1) assure that they do not inflict undeserved harm on anyone, and always work within the framework of the Constitution, (2) jointly defend and protect the civil rights of the Level One Octets who elected them, (3) elect new representatives to form the Third Level of Government, and (4) closely supervise the performance of their representatives to make sure that they are properly protecting the civil rights of the Octets they represent within the constraints of the Constitution.

Second Level Complementary Pairs who cannot form Octets or reach consensus on who shall represent them, shall have no representation at the Third Level. They are still obligated to continue doing their best to form such Octets and otherwise to fulfill their obligations to the Octets that elected them.

The lower level Octets shall focus on their public safety functions, but they shall also be part of the military active reserve and the public health service of the Ethical State. They shall maintain military readiness, and all equipment necessary to perform their obligations. The taxes paid by the citizens of the Ethical State shall be used entirely to maintain the readiness of the Octets at all levels of Government, through a hierarchal system of tax distribution to be determined by law.

All Complementary Pairs of representatives at the second level of Government shall elect one, and only one, of their peer pairs to represent them until they reach a full Octet. If not more than one Octet is elected to the third level, then all the representatives at the Third Level are Executive Pairs of the Ethical State. They shall either elect a Presidential Pair or work entirely by consensus.

The Third Level of Government

The duties and obligations of all the Third Level Octets are similar to those of the lower level Octets, but they shall also do their best to coordinate the activities of the lower level Octets, with their mutual consent. In times of national emergency they may, at the direction of the President, assume temporary military command of the lower level Octets that they represent, until the emergency is over. During the national state of emergency, the military shall operate as a command hierarchy, according to military law, under the overall command of the President, who shall always be the Commander-in Chief.

All Complementary Pairs of representatives at the Third Level of Government shall elect one, and only one, of their peer pairs to represent them until they reach a full Octet. If not more than one Octet is elected to the third level, then all the representatives at the Fourth Level are Executive Pairs of the Ethical State. They shall either elect a Presidential Pair or work entirely by consensus.

Once there are four Level Three Octets, they shall jointly form a Senate, assume their corresponding duties, and serve to protect and defend all the people of all the Octets that elected them, in conformity with the Constitution, and the Third Level representatives. This shall always require consensus among at least one Octet at the level of Government that they represent. All elected representative pairs of the Senate shall jointly form the Executive Octet, which may elect a president or work entirely by consensus.

The Fourth Level of Government

All Complementary Pairs of representatives at the Fourth Level of Government shall elect one, and only one of their peer pairs to represent them until they reach a full Octet. If there are not more than one Octet elected to the Fourth Level, then all the representatives at the Fourth Level are thr Executive Octet of the Ethical State. They shall either elect a Presidential Pair or work entirely by consensus.

Once there are four Level Three Level Octets, they shall form a Senate and assume their corresponding duties and serve to protect and defend all the people of all the Octets that elected them, in conformity with the Constitution, and elected the Fourth Level representatives. All their elected representative pairs shall jointly form the Executive Octet, which may elect a president or work entirely by consensus.

The Fifth Level of Government

The Fifth Level of Government shall consist of all Octets elected to the Fifth Level until there are sixteen Octets at the Fifth Level. All these Octets at the Fifth Level shall constitute the Congress of the Ethical State, which, of course, shall also include the entire Senate, the Executive Octet and the President. Solely the full Congress shall be empowered to make permanent decisions, by 100% consensus, for the entire Ethical State in passing or revoking laws, or amending the Constitution other than the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights may be amended solely by consensus of the entire Ethical State or by consensus of the 512 highest level representatives, when there are that many representatives. All states of national emergency shall end within a year unless they are unanimously approved by the entire Congress.

Once a state of national emergency has been unanimously approved by the entire Congress, it shall remain in effect until it is revoked by either the entire existing Executive Octet, the entire existing Senate, or the President.

The Sixth Level of Government

The Sixth Level of Government shall consist of all Octets who have been elected to the Sixth Level, until there are at least sixteen Octets at the Sixth Level. The first sixteen Octets at the Sixth Level shall form the Congress of the Ethical State. Up to 64 Octets elected to the sixth level, but not elected to the Congress, shall form the Judiciary of the Ethical State.

The Judiciary shall consist of at least one Octet, but may include 64 or more Octets at the discretion of the Executive Octet. The Executive Octet shall balance the defensive needs of the Ethical State against the judicial needs of all persons, including all members of the military, to a fair, speedy, and just trial, and assure that both needs are in proper balance.

The size of the judiciary may be temporarily changed, for a period of one year, by the unanimous consent of the Senate. The size of the judiciary may be permanently changed solely with the consent of the entire full Congress or by consensus of all the citizens of the Ethical State.

Until determined otherwise according to law, the judiciary may not exceed a total of 256 pairs of magistrates, i.e. 512 individuals. All members of the judiciary form magistrates jointly with the Complementary Pair that was elected to the Judiciary with them.

The Magistrates form courts by mutual consensus of four magistrates. Any court that wishes may elect its own representatives to a higher court, which shall exist when there are at least four such elected complementary pairs. Therefore, there shall be no more than sixty-four Octets in the Judiciary unless it is so determined by higher levels of Government. Therefore, the magistrates elect judges, the judges elect justices, and the justices elect supreme justices, forming a hierarchy of courts.

The 512 representatives on the 64 highest courts shall elect the Congress by mutual consent of each judicial Octet at that level. The Congress at all levels has no power over the judiciary other than to draft some of them and their resources for military service for a limited time, so long as the national emergency remains in effect. If the Congress confirms the state of emergency, it may, solely by unanimous consensus, extend the military draft, at random, to not more than 75% of the Judiciary at the lower levels. Even in a state of prolonged national emergency, the highest ranking Octets of the Judiciary shall not be drafted, although their resources may be made available, at their discretion, for use by the military Octets of the Judiciary that have been called to active duty.

Once a Judicial Complementary Pair has been elected to a higher court, that pair cannot be removed from office except by the court that elected it or by the six remaining members of the Level One Octet that originally elected it. All the Magistrates at the lower judicial levels may be removed by the non-judicial Octets that elected them, but solely for incompetence or malfeasance, or by their remaining Level One Octet. Judicial Decisions shall remain in effect even if all the jurists making them are removed from office, unless a higher court reverses the decision on appeal.

The Higher Levels of Government

This process continues until the five highest levels of Government are reached. The fifth highest level of Government must always consist entirely of jurists. The immediately lower levels may also consist entirely of jurists, so as to assure that there are a sufficient number of jurists to assure all citizens of the Ethical State fair, just, and speedy trials. Otherwise, the highest four levels of Government shall be elected by the consensus of the sixteen or fewer Octets of jurists who have reached the fifth highest level of Government.

In general, when there are not sufficient Octets of jurists at the fifth highest level of Government, the higher levels of Government shall adjust to the situation in order to elect a Presidential Pair. The lower levels of Government will decide whether their elected representatives should assume executive functions or judicial functions. Representatives must do one or the other. They cannot do both executive functions and judicial functions.

The Judiciary

The Judiciary shall also be organized in a consensus hierarchy of Octets, with the lower levels assuming the function of Magistrates of the Ethical State, and the higher levels of the Judiciary forming a hierarchy of courts to consider appeals of the decisions of the lower courts. The highest courts reached in the hierarchy shall administer the lower courts, in such a way that the civil rights of all citizens of the Ethical State are maximally protected, within the framework of the Constitution.

Courts shall consist entirely of Jurists who agree by consensus to work together as independent courts and hear the complaints and appeals that come from the lower level Octets. Magistrates will always hear a case before it is referred to a full court. A trial cannot be held until two full courts agree to simultaneously hear the case together to its completion, and each court has reached its decision, or agreed that it cannot reach consensus. If the appropriate lower courts cannot agree on which trials will be heard at the same time, then any higher court may order the lower courts under its jurisdiction to hear the case, and the lower courts must obey.

Jurists have no executive functions, but they are all reserve military officers of the Ethical State; they must participate in military training and maneuvers to retain their military readiness. This shall be done under the direction and guidance of the highest Judicial Octet in the hierarchy to which the reserve officers belong. This direction and guidance shall be given in such a way so as to maximally protect the civil rights of all citizens, while maintaining adequate military readiness. The priority is the judicial process, not military readiness, but neither can military readiness be ignored.

The jurists at the highest judicial level shall form appropriate Octets and administer all the jurists in their ascendency. Their ascendency is the set of all Octets who elected them to their current Judicial Octet.

All Octets at the highest 64 judicial levels shall elect their representatives. These representatives shall form the Congress of up to 32 Octets. The Congress in turn shall elect the Senate consisting of four Octets. The Senate shall elect the Executive Octet. The Executive Octet shall elect the Presidential Pair.

The Congress

The Congress shall consist of all representatives elected to the fourth highest level of Government, by mutual consensus, not by majority election. The Congress shall organize itself into four committees of Octets by mutual consensus, to a maximum of four Octets per committee.

These shall be a Committee of the Interior, a Committee of the Exterior, a Committee of Health and Human Services, and a Judiciary Committee. If there are at least sixty-four judicial Octets at the highest judicial level of Government, then each committee shall consist of exactly four Octets. Otherwise, each committee shall consist of at least one Octet, or that committee shall not exist, and no higher representatives can be elected to that particular function of Government.

The Committees shall be formed by mutual Consensus. Once any set of four Congressional Octets agrees on which Committee they will all serve, they shall form the permanent Committee for that Governmental function, on a first-come-first-serve basis. Each committee shall be Governed by the Senatorial Octet that it elects, otherwise it shall be Governed by mutual Consensus.

Each committee shall supervise and investigate the lower functions of Government in its ascendency. It shall lodge complaints with the Judicial Octets that elected the representatives, if such action is required, or lodge complaints with the next highest level of Government which shall be called "the Senate."

The Senate

Each Octet in each Congressional committee shall elect a Complementary Pair which shall be a Senator of a Corresponding Committee in the Senate. Each Senator shall form an Octet with other Senators elected to the same Congressional Committee, to make laws in the same field of Government as was the responsibility of the Congressional Octet that elected the Senator Pair. Therefore, there shall be at least one Senatorial Pair in each area of responsibility which is a legitimate function of Government, but there shall never be more than one full Octet in each area of responsibility. Each senatorial committee shall elect one Complementary Pair which, with all the other senatorial representatives, shall form the Executive Octet.

If no one is ever elected to the Executive Octet, then the Senate shall have the powers of the Presidency solely by consensus of the entire Senate.

The major responsibility of the Senate is to elect the Executive Octet, supervise it, and approve or disapprove the actions taken by the Executive Octet, which can only be temporary, then communicate their decisions and reasons to the Congressional Octets that elected them.

The Executive Octet

The Executive Octet shall organize itself, by mutual consensus, into four secretariats each one having exclusive executive responsibility in the areas of Interior, Exterior, Health and Human Services, and the Presidency. The Octets above the highest Judicial level have no judicial power or authority, but delegated Congressional and Senatorial Octets may supervise, investigate, impeach, and, upon conviction by 100% consensus of the entire Senate, remove any jurist from office, after the jurist has been indicted by the entire Executive Octet.

The Executive Octet shall elect the Presidential Pair by unanimous consensus. It shall supervise and approve or disapprove all the policy decisions and official acts of the President, and generally be guided by the President. But no action of the President may persist for more than seven days unless it is unanimously approved by the entire Executive Octet. It is the responsibility of the Presidential Pair to convince the Executive Octet to support its policies and acts. Otherwise, the President must cease and desist in those policies and acts.

The Complementary Pairs who are not part of the Presidency may remove the President by consensus. But the other Executive Pairs who head the other three Executive Secretariats, may not be removed except by unanimous consensus of the remaining six Complementary Pairs in the Octets that elected them or by their Level One Octet.

The Presidency

The President is the head of state for the entire Ethical State, as well as Commander-In-Chief of all executive functionaries below the judiciary level. The President may order action from any appropriate functionary of the Ethical State, but that action must stop if it is not unanimously approved by the Executive Octet within one week.

The Presidential Pair may declare a state of national emergency for a period not to exceed seven days, unless it is approved by the entire Executive Octet. At this time it can call up to half of the lower echelons of the Judiciary to active duty, together with all their resources and the resources of the other Jurists. Such drafts of personnel and resources shall be at the discretion of the President.

Delegation of Powers

Each level of Government shall have its own budget for implementing its duties to protect and defend the citizens of the Ethical State. The lower levels will distribute their budget among their three areas of responsibility: the fields of interior (police), exterior (military), and health and human services (both interior and exterior). This distribution shall be done to maximize its benefit to the represented citizens.

The Judiciary will distribute its budget primarily to serve its judiciary functions, but spending the minimum necessary, as required by the President, to maintain their military readiness.

The President may declare a state of national emergency, but must suspend the state of national emergency if it is not unanimously approved by the entire Executive Octet within seven days. During the national emergency, the President may draft any representatives in the lower levels of the Judiciary to perform their exclusive military duties under the military command of the President. But the President may not draft any members of the Congress, which, of course, includes all members of the Senate and the Executive Octet.

Every official of the Ethical State, except for members of the Congress, is also an officer in the military, whose rank is commensurate with his or her level of representation in the Government. Except for service in the Congress, no one shall serve in Government who is not, at least, simultaneously part of the military reserve.

Lower ranking officers do not have to follow the commands of their higher ranking officers unless there is a state of national emergency in effect, or a local officer has declared a local state of emergency, in which case, all officers of all Octets that elected these higher ranking officers shall come under their direct military command for a period not to exceed twenty-four hours, unless this period is further extended in twenty-four hour increments by successively higher ranked officers. But they must listen to the guidance of their representatives, and follow it, if it does not conflict with their conscience about how to serve the citizens that elected them. During any state of emergency, all lower ranking officers must obey the commands of all the higher ranking officers, and may not remove them from office until the state of emergency has ended. But the Level One Octets may remove their representatives, no matter how high they are in the hierarchy, at any time.

If the entire Executive Octet approves the state of emergency order, then the emergency shall last for another thirty days until it is approved or disapproved by the mutual consensus of the entire Senate. If this consensus is not reached then the state of emergency shall end.

Once the Senate approves the state of national emergency, it shall last for no more than one year, at the discretion of the President and the Executive Octet, until it is unanimously approved by the entire Congress. If the entire Congress does not unanimously approve the state of national emergency, it shall end within one year.

Once the state of national emergency is approved by the Congress, it shall remain in effect until either the remaining members of the Senate, the Executive Octet, or the President unanimously declare it over.

Similar processes of consensus shall apply to passing new laws or amending the Constitution. New laws and Constitutional amendments may be introduced by the President, but they shall not become effective unless they are unanimously approved by the entire Executive Octet, the Senate, and the Congress within two years of introduction. Similarly any representative in Congress may introduce a law or Constitutional amendment. Such laws shall become effective solely after they are approved by the entire Congress within two years. Amendments to the Bill of Rights must be unanimously approved by the 64 Judiciary Octets that elected the Congress before they become law.

Feedback

In order that this system of Government function properly, there shall be mandatory reports by each Representative Complementary Pair given once per week to the Octet that elected them, once every two weeks to the Level One Octet from which they come, and once every four weeks to the Octet that elected them to their previous level of representation. Therefore, the President shall report once per week to the full Executive Octet, once every two weeks to their Level One Octet, and once every four weeks to the Senatorial Octet to which they belonged before being elected to the Executive Octet. Level One representatives shall simply report once per week to their full Level One Octet.

Fourth Level Octet representatives shall report once per week to the Level Three Octet that elected them, once every two weeks to their Level One Octet, and Once every four weeks to their Level Two Octet.

Source of Revenues

The income of the Government of the Ethical State shall come solely from four sources: limited and fair taxes, fines and judgments in favor of the Ethical State as determined by two independent courts, gifts from any source, and through control of the money supply. In general the Ethical State shall not participate in the economy, but as part of its responsibility to protect and defend its citizens, it shall defend their wealth by providing them with a reliable monetary system that shall be protected against both inflation and deflation.

The Central Bank

In order to protect the wealth of its citizens, the Ethical State, through the Secretary of the Interior, shall operate a central bank which will control the money supply and lend money to other banks of the Ethical State, at its discretion, at interest rates that shall be set by the Secretary of the Interior. The Ethical State may, through its central bank, print paper money or otherwise give credits and control the money supply, by controlling the interest rates that it charges for the loans that it makes exclusively to the banks and citizens of the Ethical State. It shall not otherwise engage in banking activities or issue bonds. The rate of inflation shall be controlled by the money supply and the interest rates, never to rise above five percent. Deflation shall not be allowed to occur; enough money shall be printed and/or credit given to the banks and citizens, at suitably low interest rates, so that there shall never be any deflation or depression for the citizens of the Ethical State.

All taxes levied and judgments demanded by the courts of Ethical State must be paid by its citizens with money or credits issued by the central bank. However, citizens may trade among themselves on any basis they wish, including purely barter trades. All trades made are subject to taxation on the basis of their value in credits or money of the Ethical State. The accounting on these trades will be used to keep track of the economy in order to control the money supply and to levy limited and fair taxes.

The sole penalty for not paying taxes shall be loss of citizenship and expulsion from the Ethical State; no criminal charges or confiscation of property shall be imposed on the tax evader other than just and proper expenses incurred for the expulsion of the citizen. Citizens who do not wish to pay taxes, may simply renounce their citizenship and secede from the Ethical State.

Other Possible Services

Other aspects of the economy shall be controlled by the Ethical State solely by the unanimous consent of all the citizens of the Ethical State, or by unanimous consent of the full Congress. Such control must be limited to protecting the life, liberty, property, and privacy of each citizen, without ever imposing undeserved harm on any citizen.

Additional fees for any additional protective services shall be imposed on the citizens for these extra services solely with the unanimous consent of all the citizens, or the unanimous consent of a full Congress of 128 citizen representatives elected by unanimous consensus of their peers. Otherwise, the Ethical State shall not assume responsibility for these services and shall allow them to be performed entirely by free enterprise or voluntary associations of citizens working by 100% consensus. Any service performed by the Ethical State shall also be allowed to be performed by private citizens, at their discretion and at their risk, but subject to the protection of the Constitution.

Examples of services which shall be delegated entirely to the private sector, unless these services are demanded by unanimous consensus of all the citizens or their representatives, are road construction, maintenance, and policing; air traffic control; mail service; space exploration; oceanography; scientific research and development; education; and other such services.

Responsibilities of the President and the Executive Octet

The President, through the Secretary of the Exterior, shall maintain a diplomatic corps, and maintain and command the military, and all other executive representatives. The President, and the various Secretariats, may distribute their budgets, in money, services, or resources, among the lower branches of Government as they see fit, so long as they uphold their basic responsibilities as Executives of the Ethical State.

These responsibilities are to protect and defend the citizens of the Ethical State from criminal activity within the Ethical State, and from criminal activity from unethical Governments, terrorists, and pirates while traveling abroad. The objective is to facilitate the citizens' ability to travel in safety anywhere they wish, at anytime they wish, for any reasons they wish, and to bring back with them any goods they wish, and any persons they wish to adopt, or who qualify for citizenship in the Ethical State.

The President and the Executive Octet shall also supervise, and, when necessary, finance a public health service that shall protect the public from infectious diseases, pollution from all sources, and from the vagaries of natural disasters. The Ethical State shall not render any medical care, except when demanded unanimously by all its citizens, or by a full Congress of sixteen Octets.

It is the intent of the Ethical State that any services that its citizens require at the beginning of the Ethical State shall eventually be provided entirely by free enterprise and the market or by voluntary associations of citizens. These services shall continue until the citizens or the Congress vote by unanimous consensus to end them, but they shall not start without a unanimous demand from the citizenry. Citizens who do not want such services, or who continue to demand them after they are suspended, may secede from the Ethical State, at their discretion.

Distribution of Revenues

Each level of Government shall have its own budget to spend on fulfilling its responsibilities as determined by the entire Executive Octet, under the guidance of the President. The revenues from the individual citizens shall be collected by their unanimously elected representatives, from the individual members or affiliated citizens of the Level One Octets, or by the judiciary.

Individual citizens who are not members of an Octet may remain unaffiliated or affiliate with an Octet, but they must still pay the mutual defense tax to the Government of the Ethical State. Unaffiliated Citizens shall be assigned to nearby Octets at the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, solely for the purpose of collecting their fair taxes. If they do not wish to pay taxes, they should not be citizens of the Ethical State. But all citizens are required to pay taxes in exchange for the police, military, public health, judicial, and executive protection that they receive.

Each Level One Octet shall collect the mutual defense tax from all its members, affiliates, and tax assignees. If any citizen does not pay his or her fair share of taxes as determined by uniform law for all citizens of the Ethical State, then charges may be brought against that citizen before a magistrate. If the magistrate agrees with the charges, the citizen's case will be brought before a full court for indictment. If the citizen is indicted, then the citizen will be tried for tax evasion before two independent courts, and may be expelled under non-criminal exile upon conviction.

Each Complementary Pair representing a Level One Octet shall keep exactly one half of the taxes that it receives from the Octet. It will use these proceeds to fulfill its police, military, and public health responsibilities. The other half of the revenues shall be given to their Level Two Representative to make the budget of the Level Three Octet to which this representative belongs. The Level Three Octet shall keep for its own budget one half of all the revenues that it receives from the four pairs of Level Two Representatives that are its members, and then send the other half of this revenue to the Level Four Octet that its elected representative shall join. This process continues all the way to the Presidency.

Therefore, each Octet at each level of Government has a budget equal to half the revenues that the four representatives from the four lower level Octets brought with them. Each Octet at each level of Government has exactly twice the budget of the four budgets of the Octets that elected these representatives. Therefore, the Presidency shall have a budget equal to the nth power of two multiplied by the average budget of all the Octets in the First Level, where n is the number of the levels of Government that are fully staffed with completed Octets, plus the Presidency.

At each level the Octet shall spend its budget implementing the policies of the Executive Octet, and protecting and defending all the citizens in its Ascendency as best it can. If it has difficulty, it shall petition the Complementary Pairs that it has elected to higher Octets wherever they may be in the hierarchy to convince the Executive Octet, the Senate, the rest of the Congress, the Judiciary, and all higher Octets in the Ascendency to redistribute their revenues among the lower level Octets as needed, but each Octet must do the best it can with the budget it has been given. The redistribution of revenues of higher Octets to lower Octets is always at the discretion of the higher Octet.

At each level the Octets must purchase and maintain the necessary resources to accomplish their responsibilities in response to the guidance they receive from their electors and their representatives.

These resources may include contract staff to help them with the work. All such staff serve solely at the discretion of the appropriate Octet, but according to contract. There shall be no permanent Civil Service. There shall be no bureaucracy.

When there is a conflict, the Octets must first meet the needs of their electors before following the guidance of their representatives. Higher Octets have no power, other than redistributing revenues, over the lower Octets, unless a state of emergency is in effect. In that case, the entire relevant parts of Government become a military hierarchy, with the highest ranking representative as Commander- In-Chief over all non-judicial activities, all according to law, all the way up to the President. This is how a national state of emergency is declared from the bottom-up.

All laws or changes in procedure for better protecting the people of the Ethical State will be implemented for one year through unanimous approval by the Senate and the Executive Octet. If the entire Congress makes any changes in procedure or law then these changes become a part of the long-term laws of the Ethical State, except for amendments to the Bill of Rights which require consensus among the highest 512 representatives of the Ethical State constituting the Judiciary, which elected the Congress.

The Bill of Rights may be amended solely after any such amendment is unanimously approved by the full Congress, plus all the remaining members of the Octets that elected the Congress, or the entire citizenry of the Ethical State, if there are not at least 384 elected representatives immediately below the Congress in the consensus hierarchy. Otherwise, the Bill of Rights remains in effect, and may not be changed.

The preceding is the entire Constitution of the Ethical State except for laws and clarifications that shall be made by consensus of all Octets joining and constituting the ever-evolving Government of the Ethical State.

Examples of How to Structure An Ethical Republic Within The Ethical State

Three examples follow of how this system of Government will function for an Ethical State, two with nine levels each and one with twelve levels. For smaller Ethical States the system herein described adapts by combining and redistributing all the powers between the Level One Octets and the Executive Octets among whatever Octets exist between the President and the Level One Octet that elected the President.

In the first Example we consider an Ethical State that is not completely sovereign, but is subject to the laws and customs of a host nation, such as the United States of America in the year 2000. For the foreseeable future all Ethical States shall begin in this way.

In the last two examples we consider an Ethical State that is completely free and sovereign, and is subject to the tyranny of no nation.

In all three examples we make the following ASSUMPTIONS:

1. THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES OF THE ETHICAL STATE ARE ENGLISH AND SPANISH.

2. THERE ARE AT LEAST 131,072 PERSONS IN THE WORLD WHO UNDERSTAND, TAKE THE OATH, AND BECOME FULL CITIZENS OF THE ETHICAL STATE.

3. ALL CITIZENS WISH THE BEST POSSIBLE EDUCATION FOR THEMSELVES, THEIR DEPENDENTS, AND THEIR NEIGHBORS WITHIN THE ETHICAL STATE.

4. ALL CITIZENS OF THE ETHICAL STATE WILL CHOOSE TO LIVE IN A NEIGHBORHOOD ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD IF THEY CAN HAVE THE BEST POSSIBLE ECONOMY, COMBINED WITH THE BEST POSSIBLE LIVING CONDITIONS, PERSONAL SAFETY, FREEDOM, AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES.

5. SEE AND ITS ASSOCIATES MAY EVENTUALLY PROVIDE THESE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE STATE OF OREGON, BUT THEY MAY EXIST IN OTHER STATES AND NATIONS.

6. IF THESE OPPORTUNITIES EXIST, PEOPLE WILL EVENTUALLY COME TO OREGON TO BECOME SELF-EMPLOYED AND WORK WITH SEE; SOME OF THESE WILL BE ESPRITALS OR BECOME ESPRITALS.

7. AFTER MANY YEARS, PERHAPS CENTURIES, SEE WILL HAVE CONCENTRATED AT LEAST 131,072 CITIZENS OF THE ETHICAL STATE WITHIN OREGON AS PART OF THE UNITED STATES, AND AT LEAST ONE OCTET OF ESPRITALS.

8. SOMEDAY, SOMEWHERE, SOMEHOW IT WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR THE ETHICAL STATE TO BECOME A COMPLETELY SOVEREIGN STATE FREE OF ALL TYRANNY. THE OCTET OF ESPRITALS SHALL AMPLIFY THEIR CREATIVITY ENOUGH TO ACCOMPLISH THIS CURRENTLY IMPOSSIBLE TASK.

9. UNTIL THE ETHICAL STATE IS FREE, ITS CITIZENS ARE WILLING TO INVEST AT LEAST TWENTY PERCENT OF THEIR DISPOSABLE INCOME EDUCATING THEIR DEPENDENTS, THEMSELVES, AND THEIR BEST FRIENDS AS BEST THEY CAN.

10. WITH THE HELP OF SEE, ANY CITIZEN OF THE ETHICAL STATE CAN HAVE AT LEAST $25,000 PER YEAR OF DISPOSABLE INCOME WITHIN OREGON.

11. WITHIN THE UNITED STATES, DISPOSABLE INCOME IS EQUAL TO NET INCOME RECEIVED AFTER PAYING ALL TAXES.

12. UNTIL THEY ARE COMPLETELY FREE, ALL CITIZENS OF THE ETHICAL STATE WHO WORK WITH SEE WILL OBEY ALL THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.

13. ONCE THE CITIZENS OF THE ETHICAL STATE ARE FREE, THEIR DISPOSABLE INCOME WILL BE TWICE THEIR NET INCOME IN THE UNITED STATES.

14. ONCE THEY ARE FREE, THE CITIZENS OF THE ETHICAL STATE WILL CONTINUE TO SPEND THE SAME AMOUNT TO EDUCATE THEIR DEPENDENTS AND THEMSELVES, WHILE STILL PAYING 10% OF THEIR INCOME IN TAXES THAT WILL BE SPENT ENTIRELY IN DEFENDING THEIR LIFE, LIBERTY, PROPERTY, AND PRIVACY.

15. UNTIL THEY ARE FREE, ALL THE CITIZENS OF THE ETHICAL STATE AGREE THAT TWENTY PERCENT OF THEIR DISPOSABLE INCOME SHALL GO TO EDUCATE THEIR DEPENDENTS AND THEMSELVES, AS OUTLINED IN THE APPENDIX AND BELOW.

Proposed Educational Strategy For Creation of An Ethical State

The purpose of the Ethical State is to maximize creativity. There are many things we must do to be maximally creative such as maintaining our health, protecting our life and property, and educating ourselves. Although education is intended to be a private undertaking within the Ethical State, an Educational Strategy is the best way to begin an Ethical State, until it becomes sovereign and the Educational Responsibilities of the citizens are taken over by private parties in conformity with the citizens they serve. Until that time arrives, some of the Ethical State shall concentrate on an Educational Strategy and allow most of the defensive functions of the Ethical State to be taken up by the Federal, State, and Local Governments of the United States.

The most creative thing we do is to educate ourselves, and our children, so that we can all express our maximum creative potential. Every school in the world is destructive to the creativity of its students. Until the Ethical State is completely sovereign, one branch shall concentrate its activities on education, and not on protecting the civil rights of its citizens, although the latter shall not be ignored. Toward this end it will begin by creating and operating schools for nurturing the Evolutionary Ethic in young children, while helping these children and their parents become maximally creative during the rest of their lives. The concept for creating this school, first as a nursery school, and then expanding it to optimally educate all the children and citizens of the Ethical State is outlined in the Appendix at the end of this book.

Note: Each Octet is a voluntary self-help organization, focused on education, which also protects its members from crime and Governmental abuses by its host country, solely through legal means. The SEE organizations in Oregon shall, at first, coordinate all the educational opportunities, and facilitate all citizens becoming self-employed in partnership or alone with the Ethical State.

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An example of an Ethical Government with nine levels
for an Ethical State with 131,072 Citizens, all subject to
the Laws of the United States

Level "n" of Government	Maximum Number of Octets	Total Number of Citizens at Level	Major Functions; Examples for Representatives (Number of Octetes Represented at Level)	Budget for each Octet Representative at Level	Resources Provided by Representative at Level
1	16,384	131,072	Teach or provide teachers for the one octet that elected them (1)	$20,000	Two part-time teachers
2	4,096	32,768	Same for the four octets that elected them (4)	$40,000	One full-time teacher
3	1,024	8,192	Same for the 16 octets that elected them (16)	$80,000	Two full-time teachers
4	256	2,048	Same for the 64 octets that elected them (64)	$160,000	Four full-time teachers
5	64	512	Magistrates; Same for 256 octets that elected them, plus settles disputes between Citizens of the Ethical State, through binding arbitration. Helps defend Citizens against illegal actions by the Governmane of the Host Country (256)	$320,000	Provide teachers and facilities
6	16	128	Congress; Supervises schools and protects civil rights of all Citizens in education, health, property, and law. Supervises Senate. Helps manage the system of education for the Ethical State, recruit students for its schools, and make the schools self-sustaining and commercially successful, if this can be done without harming the citizens or dependents of the Ethical State, or imposing undeserved harm on anyone (1024)	$640,000	Provide teachers and facilities
7	4	32	Senate; supervises executive branch (4,096)	$1,280,000	Provide teachers and facilities
8	1	8	Executive Octet; manages credit union, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Exterior (Legal and Diplomacy), Secretary of Education (Schools, Citizens, Public) (16,384)	$2,560,000	Provide teachers and facilities
9	0	2	President, Commander-in-Chief, all executive functions, Superintendent of entire educational system, University president; sponsors projects in self-sufficient living, president of credit union (16,384)	$5,120,000	Provide teachers and facilities

As an Ethical State becomes increasingly sovereign it may gradually focus its attention on defending the civil rights of its citizens, first through legal protection under the laws of its host nation, and then more directly by focusing on its main function of protecting and defending the rights of all its citizens to their unalienable right to life, liberty, property, and privacy.

Once there are at least 131,072 citizens of the Ethical State working together by consensus in at least 16,384 autonomous Octets, the Ethical State shall have the potential to become a completely sovereign nation and create a Moral Society, because of its ethical, and consequently, creative superiority to all other forms of government. It will have achieved critical mass for evolving into a full fledged Moral Society.

The following two examples assume that the Ethical State has become completely sovereign, and that each sovereign Octet chooses how best to educate its members, affiliates, and their dependents. Individual citizens who do not wish to affiliate with any Octet, are free to educate themselves and their dependents any way they wish, so long as they do not engage in dependent abuse.

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An example of an Ethical Government with nine levels
for a completely sovereign Ethical State with 131,072 citizens

Level "n" of Government	Maximum Number of Octets	Total Number of Citizens at Level	Civilian functions, examples for level	Military rank (Number of octets served)	Budget for each Octet Representative	Equipment examples for level
1	16,384	131,072	Police, fire, health, police officer, firefighter	Second Lt (1)	$20,000	Light weapons, 4x4 jeep, first aid equipment
2	4,096	32,768	Same as above, detective	First Lt (4)	$40,000	Same as above
3	1,024	8,192	Precinct Captain	Captain (16)	$80,000	Same as above, truck
4	256	2,048	Chief of Police, Fire Chief	Major (64)	$160,000	As above, plus fire engines, more trucks, ambulances
5	64	512	Magistrates; form courts as needed, forms entire judiciary	Lt. Colonel (256)	$320,000	From here on, octets combine resources to buy and maintain equipment, hire staff; examples: armored cars, helicopters
6	16	128	Congress; Supervises judiciary and Senate	None (1024)	$640,000	Congressional facilities and staff
7	4	32	Senate; supervises executive branch	None (4096)	$1,280,000	As above
8	1	8	Executive Octet; Interior (police) Exterior (military), diplomacy, Health (infectious diseases, pollution, disasters	None (16,384)	$2,560,000	As above
9	0	2	President	Commmander in Chief (16,384)	$5,120,000	As above

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An example of an Ethical Government with twelve levels
for a completely soveriegn Ethical State with 8,388,608 citizens

Level "n" of Government	Maximum Number of Octets	Total Number of Citizens at Level	Civilian functions; examples	Military rank (number of octets served)	Budget for each Octet Representative at Level	Equipment; examples
1	1,048,576	8,388,608	police, Fire, Health; Police officer, Fire fighter	Second Lt. (1)	$20,000	Light weapons, 4x4 jeep, first aid equipment
2	262,144	2,097,152	Same, Detective	First Lt. (4)	$40,000	Same
3	65,536	524,288	Same, Precinct Captain	Captain (16)	$80,000	Same, Truck
4	16,384	131,072	Chief of Police	Major (64)	$160,000	Same, plus armored car
5	4,096	32,768	County Manager - Integrate and manage the public safety concerns of the octets that elected them, formulate county policy	Lt. Colonel (256)	$320,000	From here on octets combine resources
6	1,024	8,192	Governor, coordinate and guide county managers, formulate regional policy	Reserve Colonel (1,024)	$640,000	Fighter-bombers, patrol craft, air and water
7	256	2,048	Magistrates, form lower courts as needed	Reserve brig. general (4,096)	$1,260,000	Bombers, Frigates
8	64	512	Superior courts	Reserve Major Generals (16,384)	$2,520,000	Strategic missile systems, submarines, destroyers
9	16	128	Congress committees, each: four octets, Interior, Exterior, Public Health, Judiciary	None (65,536)	$5,040,000	As above
10	4	32	Senate committees; each: Interior, Exterior, Public Health, Judiciary	None (262,144)	$10,080,000	As above
11	1	8	Executive octet; Secretariats, each a complementary pair - Interior (National Crime Lab), Exterior (Defense and Diplomatic Corps), Public Health (Infectious diseases, pollution control, and disaster relief); Each secretariat assumes responsibility for all executive functions in its domain	None (1,048,576)	$20,160,000	As above, plus strategic defense
12	0	2	President, a complementary pair, coordinates and guides each secretariat, formulates national policy. Head of State	Commander in Chief (1,048,576)	$40,320,000	As above

In all the preceding examples there are assumptions of much higher creativity and efficiency by the citizens of the Ethical State, due to their ethics and the advantages of not having to nurture a parasitical Government that squanders the resources of its citizens and destroys their creativity by aggravating, instead of solving, the problems it claims to be addressing.