Citizenship

[The concept of citizenship by qualification solves the greatest and most persistent internal threat to liberty--an ignorant populace with the power to vote themselves benefitswithout any understanding of the law or the principles necessary to maintain liberty. The two most prevalent causes of citizen ignorance are a controlled media and a controlled system of public education. By requiring all potential voting citizens to pass a test on law and government, each person has an inducement to get whatever education is required to pass the test.

Without such a test, conservatives have to compete with Socialists for control of education in order to ensure a knowledgeable voting public. But with a test of understanding, citizenship itself serves to induce all people to seek out the necessary information on liberty in order to qualify. I believe strongly that linking knowledge of liberty to citizenship is a more viable solution than trying to control people’s education, which in and of itself, is a violation of liberty. Besides, the battle to control education has not been successful and shows little hope for improvement, given the high percentage of the public (including conservatives) that has become addicted to the tax monopoly funding of public education. This welfare benefit allows their children to receive education funding for lavish buildings and programs far in excess of the taxes they personally pay.

The citizenship test needs to be extensive and complete so that all citizens understand the full range of what constitutes bad law and illegal actions. But it need not be tricky, complex or difficult. The questions can even be known in advance so that people can openly prepare for the test. The test’s purpose is not to stop good people from becoming citizens, but to ensure no one becomes a citizen with the power to vote without having the requisite understanding of how to maintain liberty.

There are other essential things that can be done in the context of a citizenship compact that are equally useful in establishing a government that maintains fundamental rights and moral values without doing so through the dangers of majority rule. For example, the citizenship compact is the appropriate place for all citizens to sign on to the recognition to fundamental rights, to take a pledge not to violate those rights, and agree to some voluntary limitations of those rights, for example, taking part in jury duty, a citizen militia or a limited military wartime draft; accepting some very limited eminent domain takings of property for public purposes (with compensation); and agreeing to basic "community standards" of decency in public. Each of these functions I have listed are problem areas when implemented by the force of law without the consent of those whose lives and property are used involuntarily or taken by government.]

[The purpose of this form of citizenship by qualification is to offer citizens a higher level of protection and privilege in society in exchange for a higher level of knowledge and commitment to preserve liberty. Since this form of citizenship is not imposed upon unwilling participants, it must be structured to offer inducements for others to join so that the circle of supporters is ever-increasing. Citizenship privileges offer one of the major inducements for people to join and qualify. It is therefore appropriate to have lesser categories of resident or visitor for those who have not yet qualified or who do not wish to do so.

Residents and visitors would not have a free ride, however. They would pay different types of taxes and user fees than most citizens if they wanted to have access to any public services or public property. In like manner, not having joined the covenant as a citizen, they most likely would not have access to any public property governed by the new government unless they at least agreed to the "community standards" on public behavior and paid appropriate user fees. There must, of necessity, be some disadvantagesto remaining in a resident status so that people have the incentive to move up to citizenship, but the differences must not be so onerous as to make being a "resident" a non-viable choice. I think there is even room to allow residents to have some limiting voting rights on local issues (especially taxes) that directly affect them, as well.

One of the most important differences between the categories might be the restriction of ownership of titled property to citizens. Residents and visitors could own the full range of normal goods but would have to rent housing, cars, businesses or certain investments that are defended by legal title. This is not an onerous difference since all responsible people can easily become citizens should they want to own titled property. What the restriction does do is link increased privilege with increased responsibility for maintaining liberty.

This is simply an overview of the basic concept. The details of implementation would require much careful thought and discussion. Non-participants with the new government always have the full range of private fundamental rights that all men possess that pre-date any new government, including property rights, but they would not be able to have those property rights defended by the new government unless they agreed to come into the compact as a citizen. Those who chose to stay completely outside the system would be considered foreigners and have to rely on their own fundamental right of self-defense.

This form of citizenship also helps solve one of the major problems in a world of open markets and free trade, where an unequal balance of payments results between different trading countries. Currently foreign holders of dollars evade purchasing American products and choose instead to buy up portions of America itself: government debt, land, capital and business enterprises. Since all of these are titled property, under this new proposal they would be restricted to citizens only. Foreign buyers would not be able to buy up the capital assets of America unless they became citizens. In this way, either they become committed to our version of liberty through the citizenship qualification process, or they apply their excess dollars to American products. In both cases, liberty wins.]

C. Children of citizens fall under the protection of their parents’ citizenship until reaching an age or ability to become self-responsible, or they become disqualified by criminal or rebellious behavior. [Children of citizens (or residents, for that matter) automatically come under the respective category of protection that their parents possess. Thus, children are fully protected under the umbrella of their parents’ citizenship, but aren’t considered citizens themselves until they qualify. Once reaching the minimum age to apply for citizenship, they would become "residents" until they otherwise qualify for personal citizenship status.]