Principles
What should unite us into the future
Before we can design what comes next, we have to decide what we believe. The founders began not with a constitution but with a declaration, a statement of the principles they held to be self-evident. This is a place to gather ours: the foundations a free people would carry into the next 250 years.
Add one, and affirm the ones you hold. The principles most widely shared rise to the top, not as a vote but as a quiet map of the common ground we already stand on.
- 01
We are born with rights that no government grants and none may rightfully take away.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not privileges dispensed by power. They precede government, and a legitimate one is bound to protect them.
by The Declaration of Independence, 1776 - 02
We hold the future in trust for generations who cannot yet speak.
The people of 1776 built for descendants they would never meet. We owe the same to the people of 2276: to leave institutions capable of adapting long after we are gone.
by Proposed, 2026 - 03
No party, government, corporation, or concentrated interest should dominate the rest of us.
Freedom erodes wherever power pools too deeply in any one place. A durable democracy keeps power distributed, accountable, and answerable.
by Proposed, 2026 - 04
Independence and interdependence are not opposites.
The signers pledged their lives to one another; separation itself required solidarity. A free people still shares institutions, consequences, and a future, and remaining bound across our differences is the work.
by Proposed, 2026 - 05
All people are created equal.
The oldest and most demanding of our commitments: that no one is born to rule and no one to be ruled. Each generation is charged with widening the circle of who is treated as fully equal in fact, not only in principle.
by The Declaration of Independence, 1776 - 06
Government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed.
Authority is lent, not owned. Those who govern do so on our behalf and at our discretion, and must remain answerable to the people they serve.
by The Declaration of Independence, 1776 - 07
Disagreement should never disqualify anyone from belonging to the political community.
We can argue fiercely and still owe one another a shared country. The moment difference becomes grounds for exile, the experiment begins to fail.
by Proposed, 2026 - 08
Everyone should have an opportunity to participate in the decisions that impact their lives.
Multiple perspectives support more sustainable and effective solutions, especially for complex problems. Plus we are no longer limited by scale of public participation.
by Duncan - 09
Government exists to secure the rights and wellbeing of the people.
Its measure is not its own strength or permanence, but whether it protects and serves the people who created it. When it fails at this, the people have the right to reform it.
by The Declaration of Independence, 1776