Local self-government and individual rights

Selected direction.

Protect a common constitutional floor of individual rights

Local self-government can bring decisions closer to people, but proximity alone does not protect a minority from coercion.

The proposal. Every government must respect a common constitutional floor of individual rights. Marriage, including same-sex marriage, is a protected individual freedom rather than a discretionary local prohibition.

How it would work. Federal protection of a right does not require exclusively federal administration of every related activity. Nearby alternatives may make lawful choices more accessible, but the ability to move supplements rather than replaces rights protection.

The proposal. Individuals have the right to vote and elect their representatives at local, state and federal levels. Electoral eligibility, procedures, representation and remedies require detailed design; tax contributions do not purchase extra votes.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Selected direction.

Give every resident accountable local self-government

Delegating power is incomplete if some residents lack a responsible local government or if local autonomy requires accepting an unnecessary new layer of government.

The proposal. Give cities, villages, suitable towns and townships, rural municipalities or districts, and voluntarily consolidated governments the same baseline right to local self-government. Every resident must belong to a jurisdiction responsible for the defined local powers. A district is not a mandatory layer above cities.

How it would work. Local responsibilities include education and curriculum; housing, land use, and development; local transportation; policing and local criminal policy; local taxation and spending; social services; utilities; parks and recreation; election administration; and local courts. Constitutional rights and explicitly shared or national responsibilities bound those powers. Local spending authority must preserve individual tax direction. Rural communities may share administration or facilities without surrendering policymaking.

Implementation. Map existing institutions before creating new ones. Resolve overlapping city, township, county, school, and service boundaries; a county is a possible starting point, not an automatic answer. Identify who sets policy, funds, delivers, reviews, and answers for each service. Establish charters, electoral procedures, fiscal records, and access to independent adjudication. No small community must automatically build a full court or specialized agency of its own. Healthcare administration and business/labor regulation still need explicit assignment.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Selected direction.

Delegate lifestyle policy locally wherever possible

Communities should decide everyday policy within a common floor of individual rights.

The proposal. Delegate lifestyle policy locally wherever possible. Federal officials cannot override a valid local policy merely because they disagree.

Implementation. Preserve national functions without inventing an automatic exception to local autonomy. Recreational-substance and abortion policies remain subjects for local design within the rights framework; no particular rule is selected.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Selected direction.

Protect lawful travel and territorial choice

Home residence alone should not punish conduct lawful and wholly carried out elsewhere.

How it would work. People should be free to travel for conduct lawful and carried out entirely in another jurisdiction. A home jurisdiction cannot punish that conduct merely because the person lives there.

Implementation. Define remedies, jurisdiction, and review where conduct or harm crosses boundaries or overlaps with a separately assigned national responsibility. Demonstrated pollution or other external harm must be distinguished from disliking another community’s policies, commuting, or differences in wealth.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Selected direction.

Enable voluntary shared services across boundaries

Shared services can solve common problems without transferring unrelated local power.

The proposal. Keep local autonomy, regional cooperation, and voluntary governmental merger distinct. Communities may share services or choose one government for agreed responsibilities.

How it would work. Cooperation agreements could specify authority, representation, costs, records, review, disputes, and withdrawal. Cross-state service cooperation does not by itself establish a common government.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Selected direction.

Permit voluntary governmental mergers

Communities should be able to choose a common government without forced consolidation.

The proposal. A community may decline a merger without blocking willing neighbors, provided all residents retain accountable representation.

How it would work. A merger agreement would settle powers, offices, assets, employees, debts, pensions, and retained neighborhood decisions before residents vote.

Implementation. Set lawful formation, charter, merger, separation, and turnout procedures; no final numerical approval thresholds or transfer timetable are established. Do not assume mergers save money, incumbents keep their offices, or an old institution must survive solely because it exists.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Selected direction.

Assign the federal government defined national responsibilities

National responsibilities need capable institutions with explicit limits.

The proposal. Federal responsibilities include defense; citizenship, immigration and borders; interstate and international commerce with close state coordination; federal courts; interstate infrastructure and environmental matters linked to research and technology; federal-court resolution of state-boundary disputes; and emergencies beyond regional capacity. Research, technological advancement, constitutional-rights protection, and investigative capability are primary national functions.

How it would work. Foreign affairs remains a working federal responsibility inventory; currency and monetary policy are probable federal assignments still under consideration.

Implementation. No final emergency agency or automatic federal takeover for cross-border crime is selected.

Implementation. Turn each subject into precise authority, funding, delivery, accountability, and limits. Healthcare, business/labor regulation, and remaining national assignments stay open.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Selected direction.

Assign states defined shared-system responsibilities

Some systems span communities and need clearly bounded shared authority.

The proposal. States retain defined shared responsibilities and useful scientific and technical capacity while surrendering general control over subjects reserved to local communities.

How it would work. The working state inventory includes watersheds, energy grids, cross-community transport and commerce, shared resources, regional disasters, intercommunity agreements, state courts, and shared assets. States could supply laboratories, engineering, procurement, cybersecurity, training, and other optional services.

Implementation. State-police specialization around shared systems remains a proposal.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Working proposal. This is a working proposal, not an adopted policy.

Test federal programs against authority, necessity and proportionality

Calling a problem national should not substitute for explaining authority and necessity.

The principle. Government authority should be bounded and justified. A difference in independent influence is not, by itself, sufficient grounds for intervention.

Working mechanism. Require every federal program and bill to identify its specific constitutional authority, national responsibility, evidence of cross-state effects or rights violations, and why lower levels cannot adequately perform the assigned function. Require proportional scope, public costs and outcomes, and periodic review. Rights enforcement does not depend on permission from the local government accused of violating rights. Reallocation requires a successor, funding, and continuity plan under Section 4; functions should not simply disappear during transition.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Working proposal. This is a working proposal, not an adopted policy.

Maintain continuing resident control over local government

Residents need continuing influence after a government or charter is first established.

Working proposal: Establish accessible procedures for charter changes, resident initiatives, government removal, and later mergers or separation, with predictable treatment of obligations. A vote to form a government establishes initial consent; continuing resident influence requires its own rules.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Open question. This is an open question. No substantive policy has been selected.

Infrastructure, energy, water, transport and communications

Shared responsibility does not establish how infrastructure reliability and access will improve.

The question. Substantive reliability/access policy beyond assignment of shared responsibilities.

How to develop it. Identify what currently works, establish any concrete problem and examine evidence, affected people, rights, costs and alternatives before selecting reform. No complete policy for this subject has been adopted.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Open question. This is an open question. No substantive policy has been selected.

Substantive trade policy

Authority over commerce does not decide the substance of trade policy.

The question. Commerce responsibility is assigned; actual international/interstate policy requires development.

How to develop it. Identify what currently works, establish any concrete problem and examine evidence, affected people, rights, costs and alternatives before selecting reform. No complete policy for this subject has been adopted.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Open question. This is an open question. No substantive policy has been selected.

Foreign affairs and international cooperation

International commitments need defined purposes, powers and public accountability.

The question. Diplomacy, treaties, civilian aid, sanctions and institutions.

How to develop it. Identify what currently works, establish any concrete problem and examine evidence, affected people, rights, costs and alternatives before selecting reform. No complete policy for this subject has been adopted.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Open question. This is an open question. No substantive policy has been selected.

Citizenship, immigration and borders policy

A federal border assignment does not settle entry, citizenship, asylum or enforcement policy.

The question. Entry, citizenship, asylum, enforcement and due process beyond federal assignment.

How to develop it. Identify what currently works, establish any concrete problem and examine evidence, affected people, rights, costs and alternatives before selecting reform. No complete policy for this subject has been adopted.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Open question. This is an open question. No substantive policy has been selected.

Tribal sovereignty and territorial relationships

Distinct sovereign relationships and obligations must be understood before proposing changes.

The question. Distinct authorities, obligations and affected communities; no automatic redrawing.

How to develop it. Identify what currently works, establish any concrete problem and examine evidence, affected people, rights, costs and alternatives before selecting reform. No complete policy for this subject has been adopted.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.

Open question. This is an open question. No substantive policy has been selected.

Disasters, public-health emergencies and emergency powers

Emergency capability needs boundaries, reliable funding and independent review.

The question. Capability, financing, thresholds, duration and review; no chosen FEMA replacement.

Related reserve proposal. The agency emergency-reserve proposal draws its emergency definition from 2 U.S.C. § 900(c)(20)–(21). That choice does not settle broader emergency powers, temporary exceptions to advance funding or obligation approval, duration, review or institutional assignments. It creates no immunity from accounting or accountability.

How to develop it. Identify what currently works, establish any concrete problem and examine evidence, affected people, rights, costs and alternatives before selecting reform. No complete policy for this subject has been adopted.

Read this alongside The Framework and the Working Guide.