The Consent Principle

Now superseded by the HarmConsent rule

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No tax or vax or sex or laws without consent.


To live freely and in peace, individuals who gather together by mutual consent should accept the following principle, which all agree to respect.


No one should act against an innocent person or their property without their consent.


Although these are all short words of 3 syllables or less,  some explanation is required.

no one 

no individual, or group, or community, or government, or corporation.

should

Ought to, in order to be consistent with this proposition

act

To “act” is to cause a real-world, observable, physical event, as opposed to a non-physical event such as the use of words or gestures. “Preventing an action” is synonymous with “taking an action” .

For example, striking someone, taking their property, confining them, are examples of real-world events.  Being rude, shouting, threatening, are not actions with real, physical consequences.

innocent

an innocent person is someone who has not acted against anyone without their consent. Acting without consent  is called a consent violation. A person guilty of a consent violation is not protected by this principle.

person

any individual (without qualification, of race, gender, creed,etc) capable of giving informed consent. This excludes those who cannot give informed consent, such as young children, the unconscious, the mentally disabled. In this case, consent devolves to their guardian. 

their property

goods belonging to a person, lawfully acquired through effort, exchange, inheritance, restitution or gift.

consent

giving permission, allowing. The decision to give or deny consent will be based on the best information available to the person involved. However, the future is unpredictable, so it must be accepted that the consequences of consent may be unexpected. 

Nevertheless, consent should be explicit, freely given, preferably before witnesses, without fraud or falsehood.

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This is a principle, a way of thinking,  a recommendation for a better way of life. It does not specify an enforcement mechanism,  it does not guarantee compliance. It simply states  how people who wish to live a peaceful, principled life might be expected to behave.