imagine 50 states independent and free.

imagine world peace.

The OrganicRebirthOfAmericanCommunities Question

Shall We the People of the United States,
   in order to form a more perfect union,
     establish justice,
       insure domestic tranquility,
         provide for the common defense,
           promote the general welfare,
             and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,
Repeal the Constitution of the United States of America,
   effective one year from today?

Q: Would Repealing the Constitution mean the end of the United States of America?

A: No, not at all.  The United States of America predates the constitution by more than a decade.  And the first article of the Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union reaffirms this name for our beloved nation:

Article 1: The Stile of this Confederacy shall be "The United States of America".

Q: Would Repealing the Constitution mean that we have no government?

A: No, not at all.  Our Federal Government would be under the direction of the Congress specified by the Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union.  

Our State Governments and County Governments and Local Governments would remain unchanged.

Q: What sort of a Federal Government is specified by the Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union?

A. The Federal Government under the Articles consists largely of
    a Congress that lacks the power to compel individual states to do anything they don't want to do.

This Federal Government does *not* have a chief executive,
   nor any judiciary,
      nor any power to tax.

And the Articles explicitly state that each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence.

This Congress has a delegation (of between two and seven people) from each State;
    and when Congress votes, each State has one vote.

Each State can recall its delegation at any time.

And rotation in office is required: No delegate to Congress can serve more than three years out of any six.

Q. Why are you ignoring the method for amending the Constitution specified in Article 5 of the Constitution?

A. The method of amending the Constitution specified in Article 5 of the Constitution suffers from an inherent "conflict of interest": this Constitution, which gives great powers to the Congress, also gives Congress control over the amendment process.  This means that Congress can thwart any attempts to diminish its power.

Furthermore, the ratification of the U.S. Constitution (in 1787-1788) ignored the method for amending the Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union specified in Article XIII of the Articles.  The Articles of Confederation were never repealed.

Q. Wouldn't Repealing the Constitution also Repeal our beloved Bill of Rights?

A. Yes, it would, but the Bill of Rights has not been very effective at protecting our rights.
Here's an article in the voluntaryist, The Illusion is Liberty -- The Reality is Leviathan, that suggests that the Bill of Rights has even been instrumental in eroding our rights:  

The Bill of Rights -- the first ten amendments to the Constitution -- was adopted only reluctantly by the framers of the Constitution, in order to defuse calls for a second constitutional convention to rewrite the Constitution.

Q. What is your fantasy?

A. i live in California, which consists of some 58 Counties.

After the successful repeal of the Constitution,
    i envision some State, perhaps California, leading the way towards further decentralization:
       where the State becomes a voluntary association of Counties,
          just like the United States is a voluntary association of States.

And then one of those Counties leads the way toward further decentralizaion:
   where the County is a voluntary association of Communities,
      just like the State is a voluntary association of Counties.

And i and my beloved live in one of those Communities,
   and we own a small patch of land,
      and our Community respects our right to do whatever we want on our land
         as long as we are peaceful and do not harm others;
            and on our land, we are The Lorax, protecting the trees and the Brown Bar-ba-loots.

And i fantisize that somehow we on this planet can find our way to where
   each and every family has some patch of land to love and to own and to protect.

And so my fantasy is that our Country and perhaps eventually our entire world
   will become a patchwork quilt of Families and Communities
      and Counties, States, and Countries,
         and Provinces and Cantons and Burroughs and Shires,
            living together in peace and harmony.

Q: When would Repealing the Constitution take effect?

A. The OrganicRebirthOfAmericanCommunities Question (see above) specifies that the Repeal of the U.S. Constitution would be effective "one year from today", i.e., one year from when the vote is taken.

Thus if there is an affirmative vote by a sufficiently large Constitutional Convention on at noon on July 2nd, 2004, then the Repeal of the Constitution would take effect at noon on July 2nd, 2005.

If not, then we plan to sing again at noon on July 2nd, 2005,
    and again in 2006, 2007, 2008, and so on if necessary,
       until enough people join in, and we succeed in Repealing the Constitution.

But we sincerely hope that we Americans can successfully repeal our Constitution on July 2nd, 2004.
   Surely we have seen enough.

Q. How large of a Constitutional Convention would be needed to be successful in Repealing the Constitution?

A. I don't know.  However, we expect we'll all know it when and if we see it.

Q. Are you crazy?

A. No.  i am dedicated to trying to help reform our Federal Government.  peacefully, of course.

Q. What are your favorite libertarian institutions?

A. Well, i do love the Institute for Justice.  Their Merry Band of Litigators actually litigate (successfully!) for liberty.

And i do think the Cato Institute and the Reason Foundation do good work.

And i love Lysander Spooner.  And i find myself thinking more and more like a voluntaryist.

Q. Didn't you give a presentation called "Who is Yertle?" in Amsterdam?

A. On the 18th of September 2003, in Amsterdam,
    Richard Henry Lee of Virginia gave a talk entitled "Anti-Federalism: An Idea Whose Time Has Come.

Q. Haven't you given some speeches based upon Dr. Seuss books?

A. Yes.

On the 16th of September 2003, in Floreffe, Belgium,
    i gave a talk entitled Who is Yertle? to a class of students learning English as a second language.

Also, back in the early 1990's, in California and in Merida, Mexico,
    i gave an environmental talk entitled Who is the Lorax? to libertarian groups.

Back in the 90's, I also gave a speech entitled "Who are the Sneetches?" about discrimination;
    and also a speech entitled "Why I am a Pro-Government Libertarian".

And i spoke many times to High School classes about Liberty and Libertarianism.

Q. Do you sell t-shirts?

A. Yes.

You can find them by clicking on the Archived CSMNL.com Homepage (27October2003)
   and then clicking on the Spacepod,
      and then clicking on the Heart in the central CSMNL stopsign
         (i.e., the period in the sentence "Congress Shall Make No Law.").
            Good luck!

Q. Is it true that you donate half of the profits from your t-shirt sales to education?

A. Yes.

In 2003, Karen & i donated an electronic keyboard to a school in Colorado.

In 2004, we plan to donate another keyboard to another school.  Hopefully we'll be able to do more that too.

Q. When will the song and the t-shirt be ready?

A. April 1st, 2004.

Q. How can I ask a question?

A. Email me and Karen at:  charles@CSMNL.com, karen@CSMNL.com

Good morning, America.

i want our country and our world to be a better place. more peaceful, more
environmentally clean, with better happier lives for our children, our seniors,
and our adults too.

i celebrate the good things happening in our country, and around the world. in
my travels, which i share with my beloved, i have seen many people living happy,
productive, beautiful lives. for them, our land is a place of dreams come true,
where with hard work and integrity, they can earn a wonderful home to live in,
warm and well-stocked with all the food, clothing, and et cetera that a person
could wish for.

i grieve the bad things happening in our country, and around the world. i am
blessed to see those from more of a distance. i speak of many places... i
speak first and foremost of Iraq. i read about this; i do not visit there. i
would fear the cutting wrath of a blind hatred of Americans, seeking revenge for
the horror which we* have wrought.
[Footnote: i use "we" deliberately. i *do* take responsibility for what our
United States government is doing around the world.]

i read in the papers yesterday of a baby cut in half. THis is *so* sad. i read
in the papers yesterday of a man, dying, whose legs had just been blown off, and
he then witnessed the death of his sons -- "My sons! My sons!" he cried out.
This is *so* sad.

i also read in the papers yesterday that Congress is shifting toward
significantly increasing the size of our military, reversing a trend for the
past 15 years. is this good news? is this cause for hope? will our problems
and the problems of the world be solved or at least improved by a larger U. S.
Military -- more soldiers, more guns, more body armor? i don't think so.

i am writing this morning to try to help make our country and our world a better
place. i am also seeking to find my place in the world -- how i can be
productive and earn a living for myself, my beloved, and the family which we may
someday have. i am seeking my "right livelihood" -- my career.

i have often heard: "Follow Your Heart." i agree with this prescription. And
so, i write about our country and our world. My thought is that: perhaps i
could write, and perhaps there is an audience for my words, and that perhaps,
eventually at least, i could be payed for this writing.

My heart keeps wanting to help make our country and our world a better place.
And while i do things on a local and personal level, my thoughts and my heart
keep returning to what i am doing as a part of our federal government.

i accept that i am a part of this great entity, this federal government of ours.
i accept responsibility for what our federal government has done, is doing, and
will do in our world. indeed, i am helping to pay for it. and i want to change
it -- to *reform* it, in a significant way, that changes my personal
relationship with it, and simultaneously changes everyones personal relationship
with it.

Yes. i want to *reform* our federal government.

And, happily, the founders of our country, and history itself, have provided two
forms of federal government for our nation:
· Our current federal government created by the U.S. Constitution; and
· Our federal government created by the Articles of Confederation and
perpetual Union.

And i am rooting for the latter – The Articles of Confederation – a simple
confederation of States, which come together for common goals, and yet in which
no state or group of states can force its will upon any other state.

Yes, i want to *repeal* the U.S. Constitution. If We the People enacted it,
then We the People can repeal it.

Oh, there is so much to say, but i am tired and it is time to return to bed with
my beloved.

Good night, America. i love you.

Signed, with love & respect,
Charles Bernard Olson
West Chester, Pennsylvania

Letter #2: What hath our Constitution Wrought?                       Friday 26 Dec 2003

The Ring Must Be Destroyed

Good morning, America.

I enjoyed Christmas yesterday with my beloved and our family yesterday. It was a beautiful day, filled with joy & love, good conversation, the playful joy of an eighteen month old toddler (our nephew), and lots of giving & receiving too.

I got a lot of fine clothing, which I really appreciated, perhaps for the first time in my life. When I was a young boy growing up, some of my presents were clothing, and in my mind, they did not count - I wanted toys - games! - things to play with, and things to do!

Well, the vast oceans of time that have washed over me since then have changed me greatly, and I feel like I am now merely watching the circus/spectacle that I was once such a central part of. Like a sigh… Like a meditation… I want to find and feel a stillness, and from there move clearly slowly towards a better happier world.

I caught a glimpse of news yesterday, some fresh tragedy(s) from Iraq. I remember pictures of American soldiers - our soldiers - my soldiers - lined up, as if at a solemn funeral. I imagine some more Americans have died.

I awake this morning with this question on my lips:

"What hath our Constitution wrought?"

I confess [and you may have noticed this before]: I have an obsession: I sincerely believe that the people of our country, and of our world, would be better off if we repeal the U.S. Constitution.

I have brought this topic up - politics is a contentious and often unwelcome topic of conversation among friends and relatives - and I am usually greeted with… a desire to change the subject. My favorite response was: "Would you like some cheese?"

And in a way, that reply is an eloquent statement of the situation of that person with respect to the prospect of attempting to repeal the U.S. Constitution: That person has a good life, good work in a lovely community, with a lovely family, a fine home - marvelous hard-earned prosperity. The system is working here - why attempt to change something you cannot change?

I refuse to accept that we cannot repeal the U.S. Constitution. Au contraire, we can repeal it, and I believe we must:

The Ring of Power must be destroyed.

Our soldiers are invaders in a sacred foreign land, and we have wrought great death and destruction there. We say we are fighting a war against terror; I say we are creating a war which can be eternal. Let us declare unilateral peace, and leave. That is the best that can come of it now.

I am, as you may know, a libertarian, believing that our lives are best governed by liberty - maximizing the choice and control each of us has over our own lives. The institution through which individuals can work and interact in a system of liberty is: the market - which is nothing more than the collected voluntary interactions of many people.

I envision liberty in all areas of our lives:

•  I envision schools supported voluntarily, and attended voluntarily.
•  I envision companies and institutions offering medical accreditation -
   accreditation which maintains its power and its value by maintaining its quality.
•  I envision a profound and thorough respect for the right of individuals
   to choose their own medicines, and an absence of drug-related
   gang wars and police raids on peaceful citizens.
•  I envision a government limited to protecting the rights of people,
   and I envision this government respecting the principles
   that we all must respect - to not initiate force or fraud against others.

Many of those I meet believe that government must provide a wide array of services to people. To them, I point out that the repeal of the U.S. Constitution leaves intact all of our state governments, our county governments, our city governments, our communities, our families, and our private charitable institutions.

The repeal of the U.S. Constitution simply decentralizes the authority from our great circus in Washington, D.C., to our 50 state capitols. This puts the money and authority much closer to home. And I believe it limits the mischief that may be done.

The prospective repeal of the U.S. Constitution raises the question of what shall be done with the existing federal government. I propose that we simply divide it among the states:

• Each state acquires the federal land within its borders.
• Each state acquires the federal assets within its borders, e.g., all the federal taxpayers and revenues within its borders.
• Each state acquires the federal liabilities or responsibilities within its borders, e.g., all federal aid recipients within its borders.
• Our global military declares unilateral peace and withdraws, returning to the bases that lie within the 50 states. The authority for these soldiers and resources is likewise distributed to those states themselves. I envision a great demilitarization, and I also envision that no foreign country would attack the United States, for that would surely bring them together, united in defending whatever state was attacked.

I believe that a United States decentralized would be a United States more peaceful in the world.

Do we really make things better by sending our money so far away, hoping it will return to do some good? Wouldn't we expect better results if the money did not travel quite so far?

Time is up. Gotta go.

Love to all.
Charles
Joliet, Illinois