We the individuals of all nations, races and creeds, do hereby recognize and hold sacred the fact that the inherent and inalienable rights of the individual are the most important foundations of our existence. We furthermore recognize that all the governments of the physical nations are significant impediments to the fulfillment of these rights. We henceforth, voluntarily declare our liberation from the control of the governments of the physical nations and announce the formation of a new nation, The CyberNation of Freedom, which represents the individual and the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as set forth by Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1776.

Nations are created by people. More importantly, they are conceived in the minds and spirits of individuals who join together for the pursuit of common goals and purposes. The physical lands and arbitrary borders of today's nations are rapidly becoming irrelevant as new technologies and economic globalization serve to lessen the distance between peoples. As we expeditiously move into the future, we are faced with the emergence of a new and revolutionary concept of a nation, one which lacks physical borders. The framework of this new nation lies in cyberspace. History demands that this new nation acts on behalf of the individual and does not allow the individual to be plundered by a monarchy, a ruling class, or the 'tyranny of the majority' that democracy has come to represent.

The democratic governments of the physical nations were created to defend the inalienable rights of the individual, yet these governments have used this mandate to expand their control over the individual by infringing upon the very rights they were empowered to protect. These governments are now fighting their way into cyberspace in efforts not only to conquer it, but also to regulate and tax it. They fear cyberspace precisely because it represents absolute individual freedom of speech, thought, movement and commerce. Cyberspace though, is not meant to be owned, controlled, regulated or taxed by any entity. Like the very air we breathe, cyberspace defines our freedom. Just as the discovery of the Americas brought forth democracy, so too cyberspace is unleashing a dramatic new ideology based upon individual sovereignty. Cyberspace is the new frontier, the new world; it is what the Americas were to Europe in the 16th century multiplied by the expanse of our imaginations.

The CyberNation of Freedom is taking shape within this new medium of cyberspace. It is the Internet-based nation of the new millennium, and individual liberty is the coin of its realm. This nation welcomes everyone, whether an individual is online or offline. The very purpose of its creation is to change the world for the better by liberating individuals everywhere from the illegal government intrusions upon their inalienable rights and their lives. The CyberNation of Freedom represents the first genuine opportunity for humankind to return to its origin and realize its dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The human species is the most unique and unusual species on the face of the Earth. Not only do humans operate with instinctive drive, but more importantly they operate with the rare ability to think, analyze and make decisions for themselves. As humans grow to maturity and break away from the supervision of their parents, they in effect become independent entities responsible for their own actions. The antithesis of this independent nature of the human species is the anthill society, whereby every ant is directly connected and committed to the anthill (the state) and its queen. In the ant species the state is the sovereign unit of existence and all actions are carried out on its behalf. Free will and thought are non-existent. Unfortunately, the proponents of communism, socialism and our current versions of democracy erroneously portray the human species as an anthill whereby the state is predominant, and the individual is secondary. This could not be further from the truth. A hard look at the nature of the human species quickly reveals that the individual, not the state, is the sovereign unit of existence.

Our creator, whether it is believed to be God, gods or evolution, created each person as an individual, equally endowed with certain inalienable rights. These are the rights that every individual is created with and that cannot legitimately be taken away. The English philosopher John Locke defined these rights as life, liberty and property. "The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it,... no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions." (John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government, 1690) Thomas Jefferson, in the United States Declaration of Independence, reiterated these rights as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (The right to property being but one segment in the broader right to the pursuit of happiness.) Individuals join together to form nations for the protection of these inalienable rights, not to relinquish them, and certainly not to relinquish their sovereignty. As the sovereign unit of existence in nature, the individual is empowered to make his or her own decisions, and cannot legitimately be forced to submit to any authority, including prior generations, that attempt to infringe upon his or her inalienable rights.

While nations, monarchies and dictatorships are all temporary artificial creations, only the spirit of the individual endures. We, as individuals, are the spawns of our parents and the products of our creator. We are not the progeny of any physical nation, no matter how mighty. Governments of the physical nations do not have the right to make a claim upon an individual or infringe upon an individual's inalienable rights merely because he or she was born within the current arbitrary borders of that nation. Our maker has not placed us on Earth as Americans, Spaniards, Chinese or any other human creation of national identity, for a nation does not create the individual, it is the individual who creates the nation. Patriotic slogans such as 'my country right or wrong,' and 'love it or leave it,' are the catch phrases of those who wish to deny us our individual rights and liberties by forcing us to acquiesce to the policies of that nation. We each maintain the right to live in the nation in which we were born or any other nation for that matter, and so long as we do not infringe upon the inalienable rights of others, we have the right to continue to do so.

Many people believe that the expansive government of today is a necessity because life is far more complicated than ever before. We refute this line of thinking. Every new generation is convinced that it is at the pinnacle of existence, and though life has been enriched through technological and scientific advances, only in our minds has it really changed. People are born, people live and people still die. The basic cycle has not been altered at all.

The history of humankind is the tragic story of the loss of the individual's inalienable rights and the desperate efforts of the individual to regain those rights. There have been four distinct ages in this history of humankind and a fifth which is dawning before us today:

The Age of the Individual: The first people on earth were hunter-gatherer nomads who enjoyed their unimpaired inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There was no legitimate or supposedly legitimate authority that exercised any control over the sovereign individual. The individual was free and was meant to stay free.

The Age of the Conqueror: Aggressors soon emerged, forcing the sovereign individuals to either surrender their inalienable rights or perish. The conquerors' powerbases expanded from the subjugation of mates, to families, to clans, to tribes, to communities, to city-states, to empires, to kingdoms, and eventually to nations. The individual became a dispensable pawn in a very large game of conquest that carries on to this day in some parts of the world.

The Age of the Ruling Class: New empires, kingdoms and nations evolved from these conquests, and a ruling class of supposed 'elite' surfaced to oversee them. All efforts were directed toward activities that would benefit the monarchy and the ruling class. The rights of the common person were of no importance.

The Age of the Majority: The oppressive and arrogant policies of the monarchies and ruling classes resulted in two majority-driven movements born in the 18th century.

The first, the 'high road', was set in motion by the United States Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution of 1776. The American response was a positive democratic movement meant to free people from burdensome governments and allow them the ability to better their existence through freedom, equality and self-determination within the basic framework outlined in the Declaration. The subsequent democratic revolutions over the next centuries were all based upon these goals and eventually led not only to the liberation of most nations, but also to the emancipation of the many classes of people that had previously been mistreated and considered second class citizens: women, slaves, racial and religious minorities, etc.

The second, the 'low road', was set in motion by the French Revolution of 1789 and its aftermath. Unlike the American Revolution, the French uprising did not seek to better the existence of its people, but instead ignited the masses in an effort to destroy the monarchy and the ruling class. The French Revolution was the precursor to communism and the revolutions which followed over a century later in Russia and China. Although the communist revolutions claimed to be fighting for the masses, they were, in reality, nothing but vengeful uprisings against the upper classes. Socialism and welfare state democracy, the ideological cousins of communism, were heavily influenced by these vengeful communist beliefs and proceeded to cast themselves as the deliverers of the greater good for society through their expansion of government and coercive policies of income redistribution.

The fatal flaw which emerged from these two majority-driven movements was the replacement of the monarchies and ruling classes with yet another oppressor, the majority. Unfortunately for the individual, the majority systems of democracy and socialism had slowly merged into the hybrid political systems we have today, which are socialist pseudo-democracies that disregard the inalienable rights of the individual for the supposed greater good. These systems have embraced the ethically bankrupt position that 'the ends justify the means', even if that entails the widespread abuse of the individual's inalienable rights.

The Age of Return (The Cyber Age): The history of humankind has come nearly full circle and is now on the verge of returning to its roots. The rapid globalization of the world economy, the collapse of the communist Soviet Empire with its bankrupt ideology of oppression toward the individual, and the recent dawning of cyberspace and the Internet, have created a dramatic new environment that is unleashing the individual's desire for freedom. The Cyber-Pioneers of today, very similar to the pioneers of the original thirteen American colonies, are on the leading edge of a visionary new world. Cyberspace is awakening the individual to the fact that one does not need to accept or obey any authority that attempts to violate one's inalienable rights. The ideology of 'Individualism', the belief in the inherent sovereignty of each and every person, has finally returned.

"The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual....There will never be a really free and enlightened State, until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats [the individual] accordingly." (Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience, 1849)

No where has the premise for individual liberties been so eloquently expressed as in the words of Thomas Jefferson in 1776:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [people] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men [and women], deriving their just power from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
(United States Declaration of Independence, 1776)

The very idea that an individual is endowed with certain rights that could not be taken away was a dramatic departure from the practices of a world long dominated by monarchies and ruling classes. The American Revolution provided the opportunity for these concepts to be realized, and although the masses cheered at the prospect of their new found freedom, they were in reality quite ill prepared for its responsibilities and consequences.

The democratic system of government was established by the people and for the people to guarantee that they would be the defenders of their own inalienable rights. This new form of government, in theory, was one in which the majority would never allow their inalienable rights to be plundered by anyone again. This was an idealistic assumption that would slowly prove itself to be quite wrong. Following generations of Americans did not have first hand experience with the hard-won victory of the American Revolution, and thus lacked a genuine understanding of the principles that were fought for and why these principles were never meant to be abandoned. Because of this, the founding tenets of democracy were gradually sacrificed.

Democratic majority rule evolved into a force that encroached upon every facet of daily life. With each new crisis or perceived crisis, the majority voluntarily invited government into new areas of the individual's life, and the individual was forced to abide. No longer was it limited to the defense of the individual's inalienable rights. Since 1776, democracy, not religion, ruled as the true 'opium of the masses'. Individuals the world over came to believe that democracy and the right to vote would free them from their bondage. This would have in fact been the reality if the Jeffersonian democracy of 1776 had been allowed to flourish. However, in the socialist pseudo-democracies that stand today, the majority simply replaced the dictators, monarchies and ruling classes of the past. Coercion returned as the guiding principle of government, and the people failed to recognize this because of the misguided common belief that democracy, in any form, was synonymous with freedom. The United States, in its very essence, came to represent both 'freedom' and 'tyranny', and tragically all of the world's democratic governments followed its lead. The newest illegitimate ruler of humankind, the 'tyranny of the majority', had arrived.

The 'tyranny of the majority' is not as blatant as the tyranny of King George III or Nazi Germany, but it is just as insidious and threatening to the inalienable rights of the individual. "The cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf; and we ought to guard equally against both." (Thomas Paine, The Crisis, 1776). The majority driven government acts on the assumption that it has the legitimate right to impose its will anywhere it so chooses without limitation. Majority rule is no different than organized mob rule. It casts decisions, and those that disagree are forced to acquiesce. Within this system, the individual is coerced into accepting two outrageous presumptions: first, because the individual enjoys the right to vote, he or she is actually directing his or her own life, and second, majority makes right. These concepts are completely at odds with reality and stand against the very principle of inalienable rights. A wrong individual can do limited harm, but a wrong majority can devastate millions (e.g. the democratic election of Adolf Hitler by the majority, the majority support for slavery, and later, segregation, etc.). The majority consistently operates on a very low level of intelligence, experience, and understanding, and does not act, but reacts to what the most vocal special interests and media choose to present to it. Yet it is this 'tyranny of the majority' in which individuals entrust their lives and futures.

"... the civilization of our age has perfected despotism itself ... Monarchs had, so to speak, materialized oppression; the democratic republics of the present day have rendered it as entirely an affair of the mind as the will which it is intended to coerce. Under the absolute sway of [a monarch] the body was attacked in order to subdue the soul; but the soul escaped the blows which were directed against it and rose proudly superior. Such is not the course adopted by tyranny in democratic republics; there the body is left free, and the soul is enslaved."
(Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1838)

The Framers of the U.S. Constitution, which most conspicuously and tragically did not include Thomas Jefferson, the defender of the individual himself, created a fatal flaw in the foundation upon which the U.S. government was built. The most important component of the Constitution, the separation of powers between the states and the federal government, and between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal government, had a series of checks and balances to prevent any one branch of government from overreaching or infringing upon the jurisdiction of another branch. The Constitution fell short in that it did not adequately limit the jurisdiction of government itself, nor did it provide for a fourth branch of government that would be specifically responsible for defending the individual from government encroachment. These oversights guaranteed a never ending siege upon the inalienable rights of the individual by the 'tyranny of the majority'. The U.S. Constitution inadvertently and unintentionally failed the individual by unleashing the phenomenon of 'governmental creep', by which the slow and steady expansion of government has eradicated the autonomy of the individual.

The 'governmental creep' was so gradual that very few would have perceived it on a daily or yearly basis. However, if one were to compare the U.S. government in 1787, 1850, or 1900 with that of today, one would quickly realize how colossal the expansion of government has been. The thirteen colonies of 1776 declared independence from Great Britain, the greatest world power at the time, primarily because of its coercive tax policies toward them. They took this daring action for individual freedom and not in an effort to become a global superpower. This is in fact what eventually happened, and because the powers of the United States government were improperly checked, the people were subjected to coercive policies by the majority. For over 200 years, the state governments and the three branches of the U.S. federal government expanded their powers at the expense of the individual. The true spirit of Jeffersonian democracy was fettered away with each new sign of significant change or instability (e.g. War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Civil War, Reconstruction, Industrial Revolution, Depression of 1893, Spanish-American War, World War I, Prohibition, Great Depression of the 1930's, World War II, Korean War, McCarthyism, Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War, Watergate, etc.). With each new crisis, the 'tyranny of the majority' guided the government into new spheres of the individual's life and away from the very principles the government was designed to represent. The exponential acceleration of the 'governmental creep' over the past century can be directly correlated to the rise of communism and socialism. The Progressivism of the 1890's, the New Deal of the 1930's, and the Great Society of the 1960's defined the greatest assaults upon the sovereignty of the individual and completely defeated the Jeffersonian ideal of the minimalist government.

"Major wars aside, government spending from 1800 to 1929 did not exceed about 12 percent of the national income. Two-thirds of that was spent by state and local governments, mostly for schools and roads. As late as 1928, federal government spending amounted to about 3 percent of the national income." ( Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to Choose, 1980) By 1950, total U.S. government spending (federal, state and local) had reached 25 percent of the national income, by 1993 45 percent (Milton Friedman, Introduction to The Road to Serfdom, F.A. Hayek, 1994 ed.), and today is nearly 50 percent. The 'governmental creep' has been most apparent in its desire and ability to accumulate money to finance its expansion. Neglecting the meaning of the patriotic slogan, 'no taxation without representation', the U.S. government callously disregarded its most sacred anti-tax origins and proceeded to tax its citizens at every turn. On February 25, 1913 Amendment XVI to the U.S. Constitution was enacted authorizing Congress, for the first time, to levy income taxes on individuals to pay for the operations of the government. Income taxes in 1913 ranged from 1% on incomes of $20,000 to 6% on incomes above $500,000, and the highest total tax was 7%. Today, a mere 87 years later, the average individual pays nearly 50% of his or her income in taxes of one form or another. The federal income tax is only half the picture, for one must also consider the following: state income taxes, state disability taxes, social security taxes, medicare taxes, medicaid taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, local taxes, property taxes, capital gains taxes, estate and inheritance taxes, gift taxes, sales taxes, electricity taxes, water taxes, sewage taxes, telephone taxes, cable taxes, corporate taxes, import taxes, export taxes, luxury taxes, gasoline taxes, alcohol taxes, tobacco taxes, vehicle registration taxes, hotel accommodation taxes, airplane ticket taxes, building permit taxes, regulation taxes, licensing taxes, parking taxes, etc. Governments have even stooped to the level of organizing and operating gambling lotteries to raise revenues.

The socialist tax and spend ideology of the governments of the physical nations has merely been a 'ruse' to rationalize their existence and subsidize their own salaries. Government itself, has become the ultimate subsidy program. These governments have thrown trillions of taxpayer dollars at programs for the supposed good of society and yet have very few concrete results to show for it. Any private enterprise, profit or non-profit, operating in this fashion would have been forced to declare bankruptcy decades ago, yet the governments of the physical nations have expanded their operations. Although they are attempting to do good, they do not have the legitimate right to be involved in anything outside the defense of the individual's inalienable rights if it entails the coercion of its citizens. The physical nations have created multi-layered systems of government with separate federal, state and local jurisdictions all of which operate in a non-streamlined approach that defies efficiency and promotes duplication and waste. The central concept of capitalism, that is payment in return for something of value such as a product or service rendered, has been turned on its head by government. Our dollars, confiscated through taxation, are being used to pay the salaries of a vast majority of well intentioned government employees who are, in reality, producing close to nothing of marketable value. This action is subverting the capitalist system by injecting money into the economy without anything of substance being produced in return.

Each year that the 'governmental creep' has been at work, new mountains of government paperwork have been generated. The index alone for the Code of U.S. Federal Regulations now extends to over 1000 pages in length, and the listings of the regulations themselves span 50 separate volumes, each containing multiple books. The rulings, regulations, bulletins, etc. that medical professionals must adhere to for medicare, started in 1965, now number over 110,000 pages (Mayo Clinic). The United States Budget Bill passed into law on October 21, 1998 is 4,000 pages in length, weighs over 40 pounds, and is comprised of funding for every special interest ever imagined. The most glaring example is the United States tax code, which is over 7.5 million words, runs over 38,000 pages, and is repeatedly changed so as to remain confusing and unintelligible to the average citizen. Compare these to the fact that the entire United States Constitution (1787) and Bill of Rights (1791) are less than 5 pages combined.

Politicians, fueled by public opinion polls, have trespassed upon every sphere of the individual's life. Long gone are the statespersons of yesteryear who sacrificed all and risked everything in the name of the inalienable rights of the individual (e.g. Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Lincoln). Today, we are saddled with politicians empowered by the majority, but indebted to the monied interests who can keep them in power or remove them. Their goal is to make the individual dependent on government, and thus on the politicians who run it. Like an addiction, we have come to yearn for our daily government fix to satisfy our growing needs and desires. We have even allowed government to legislate morality to us. The prosperity of the United States and the other socialist pseudo-democratic nations of the world is not proper justification for allowing this government betrayal of the individual's inalienable rights. Unfortunately, all of the democratic governments of the world have followed the example of the United States and fallen into the same quagmire of questionable politicians, empowered by the majority, continuing this daily assault.

"The history of the present [governments of the physical nations] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over [the individual]. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world."
(U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1776)

• They have not respected or honored our sovereignty as individuals.
• They have broken their sacred trust and duty to defend our inalienable rights.
• They have violated our most sacred constitutional principle of equal and fair treatment under the law by arbitrarily implementing laws and policies that are unequal, unfair and overbearing.
• They have forced us to abide by the opinions and decisions of the majority, whether or not we agree, and whether or not they infringe upon our inalienable rights.
• They have forced us to abide by the decisions and policies of previous generations, whether or not we agree, and whether or not they infringe upon our inalienable rights.
• They have trespassed on nearly ever facet of our daily lives by way of legislation, taxation, regulation, etc.
• They have taxed us in every way imaginable and to an extent that is definable as slavery.
• They have encroached upon our inalienable right to own property by dictating what we can and cannot do with it, and relentlessly taxing us for owning it.
• They have betrayed us with financially irresponsible policies based upon questionable accounting practices, reckless spending programs, deficit spending and the accumulation of overbearing national debts.
• They have forced us into systems of social security, medicare and medicaid presumably for our own good, but without our consent. (Note the 'governmental creep': When social security was first enacted in 1935 it was funded by a 2% payroll tax, today it is funded by a 12.4% payroll tax. In 1935 only the first $3,000 of taxpayer income was subject to social security taxes, by 1971 it was the first $7,800, and today it is the first $72,600. Medicare/medicaid, started in 1965, was initially funded by a 2.9% payroll tax, with only the first $4,800 of taxpayer income subject to it. Today the rate is the same, however the income cap has been removed. Even with these dramatic expansions of taxation, both programs are still on the verge of bankruptcy.)
• They have redistributed our wealth through taxation because they believe it is their right to decide which charities and causes are most worthy.
• They have returned to a style of governing based upon 'Pomp and Pageantry', more befitting the European monarchies of the 18th century.
• They have misleadingly convinced the individual that democracy, in any form and however coercive, is synonymous with freedom.
• They have caused widespread apathy and indifference among individuals toward government, as evidenced by the continuous decline in percentage of the public that exercises its right to vote. This condition directly stems from the individuals' recognition of their impotence in fighting the desires of the 'tyranny of the majority'.
• They have created an atmosphere of 'political correctness' whereby the majority has effectively silenced the freedom of speech of those individuals in the minority who hold differing opinions.
• They have created an environment whereby government politicians unjustly claim responsibility for society's economic successes that rightfully belong to individuals and their entrepreneurial efforts.
• They have created a system whereby our elected leaders formulate their policy decisions primarily on public opinion polling results, instead of leading based upon their education, experience and understanding of their constituents' inalienable rights.
• They have used public opinion polls as a means to tell us what is best for us, what is morally acceptable, what is morally unacceptable, and what activities, although legal, are punishable with sin taxes.
• They have manipulated and misused antitrust law as a pretext for infringing upon private enterprise in an effort to manage all aspects of the economy. Nearly all sizeable business mergers and acquisitions in the United States now come under the scrutiny of the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and a myriad of other federal agencies. The government is now empowered to approve or block private enterprise combinations of legitimate, law abiding corporations as they see fit.
• They have exploited our legal system by attacking industries that are unpopular with the 'tyranny of the majority' in an opportunistic effort to milk these industries for additional tax dollars and financial settlements (e.g. oil, tobacco, firearms, lead paint, etc.).
• They have become pawns to the powerful monied interests and their lobbyists.
• They have supported the use of taxpayer money to subsidize private enterprises for frivolous, but popular activities, such as building football and baseball stadiums.
• They have distributed over $100 billion a year in corporate welfare to the powerful business interests in the United States alone.
• They have forced the employers of private enterprise to be their tax collectors by holding them responsible for the collection of sales taxes from their customers and payroll taxes from their employees.
• They have forced the employers of private enterprise to be their informants by requiring them to report personal and confidential financial information pertaining to their customers and employees, without cause or warrant.
• They have implemented military draft calls which unfairly lay the burden of fighting war upon those without financial means. (e.g. deferments if in college during the Vietnam War, the $300 payment during the Civil War exempting one from service, etc.)
• They have subsidized and/or supported foreign nations in an inconsistent and hypocritical fashion.
• They have handed off large chunks of our tax money and sovereignty to international government bodies such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.
• They have violated our right to privacy by monitoring us through our social security, financial account, drivers license and passport numbers.
• They have restricted encryption technology (right to privacy) because it would lock them out of our lives.
• They have searched us without cause or warrant when we re-enter our own country.
• They have restricted immigration with an arrogant and feudal attitude of entitlement.
• They have categorized us, not as equal individuals, but by every method of grouping and differentiation possible, which has led society to become preoccupied with the differences between its citizens instead of recognizing the enormous common ground and fundamental sameness of all people.

Democracy, as it has been practiced, has failed its citizens by allowing the individual to be completely overrun by the 'tyranny of the majority' and the 'governmental creep'. Democracy is a concept of necessity, but only in a role subordinate to the sovereignty of the individual. In the new system of Cyber-Democracy, the jurisdiction of government will be redrawn to encompass only those areas specifically necessary to uphold and protect the inalienable rights of the individual. There are only eight areas in which the CyberNation supports government operations and legislation, and these shall be known as the 'Eight Legitimate Roles of Government':

1. Military Forces for the common defense and for the protection of vital national interests.
2. Law and Order (laws, regulations, police, fire and emergency services) for the protection and well being of the individual, the individual's property, and the environment.
3. Administration of Justice against those who violate the law and thus deny others of their rights and property, enforce contracts and antitrust laws, and settle disputes between individuals and between businesses.
4. Education for all children from the age of 5 to the attainment of adulthood and sovereignty, age 18. This is one of the most important components in maintaining a civil and enlightened society where the inalienable rights of the individual are honored and respected. (We support the policy of providing an equal education for all children enrolled in the public school system, regardless of the socio-economic status of their neighborhood. Public funding should be equally distributed to all public schools based upon the number of students enrolled and maintaining a sufficient attendance record. In addition, there should be a special emphasis placed on computer and Internet training so that every child has the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to compete in what has become an Internet-based economy. Please note that parents always maintain the option of sending their children to private schools if they so choose.)
5. Public Infrastructure that would not otherwise be provided by competitive private enterprise, but is nonetheless essential: roads and highways, water and sewer, electricity and heating gas, public schools, etc. All development, maintenance and operation of these necessary public works are to be contracted to private enterprise by competitive bidding. Roads, highways and public schools are to be funded by the public tax base, whereas all other infrastructure concerns are to be funded by consumers based on their usage. (The modes of communication (telephone, television, cable, radio, satellite, Internet, mail, etc.) are not a part of this public infrastructure.)
6. Treasury for coining and issuing a common currency backed by an asset of value (e.g. full faith and credit, gold, platinum, real estate) to facilitate commerce based on common understanding and trust, borrowing and lending money as necessary, and the collection of income taxes. (The setting of interest rates on government loan operations (federal funds and discount rates) should be a mechanically driven function that automatically moves up and down in tandem with the current level of inflation. Authority over interest rates must not rest in the hands of any one person or group of persons, for this invites market manipulation, interference and second guessing. A Federal Reserve Board of Governors is necessary, but should only be allowed to adjust interest rates in emergency situations.)
7. Owning Land to provide for the public infrastructure, for the preservation of nature and open spaces, and as collateral for the nation's currency. This includes the authority to condemn private property for public use when necessary in exchange for just compensation, under the right of eminent domain.
8. Assistance to the Destitute. Civil societies that honor the inalienable rights of the individual must be willing to furnish a limited safety net of food, clothing, shelter and healthcare for those who genuinely cannot provide for themselves.

Each physical nation will have its own unique set of problems and priorities and therefore must retain the right to address those issues in their own way, so long as they remain within the boundaries of their eight legitimate roles. (e.g. Will they have a constitutional or parliamentary form of government? How will the tax revenues be divided between the federal, state and local government jurisdictions? What will be the size and focus of the military defense? What will be the length of prison sentences for felonious crimes? What, if any, antitrust laws will be needed to maintain honest competition and safeguard the individual from predatory monopolies? What kind of environmental protection laws will be necessary? How many police officers and fire stations will be necessary? etc.) It is the democratic choice of each nation to deliberate and decide which laws and policies are most appropriate and necessary for their particular needs in order to adequately serve and protect their citizens.

There are two separate and distinct sets of issues that pertain to the individual's life that are very important to clarify. The first, the 'Issues of State', are those concerning the protection of the individual's inalienable rights and thus the law and order of society, and these lie within the jurisdiction of government's eight legitimate roles. The second, the 'Issues of Morality', are those which are outside the bounds of the protection of the individual's inalienable rights and the law and order of society, and therefore are the responsibility of each individual to decide according to his or her personal and religious beliefs. Neither government nor the majority has the authority or jurisdiction to legislate these 'Issues of Morality'. Special interest groups, religious organizations and their respective politician proxies continuously attempt to replace and confuse 'Issues of State' with 'Issues of Morality' in order to promote or oppose legislation. However, there need not be any confusion here, for there is an unerring litmus test to differentiate: Does the issue in question threaten the individual's inalienable rights and/or the law and order of society? If it does, it is an 'Issue of State' under government jurisdiction, if it does not, it is an 'Issue of Morality', which is the responsibility of the individual. Morality is subjective, and those that wish to promote their version of morality have but one legitimate and lasting tool to do so, and that is by setting examples for others to follow.

All government operations beyond their legitimate roles should be privatized, but are not required to be. The governments of the physical nations are free to operate programs outside of their eight legitimate roles so long as they are voluntary to all citizens, operate within a balanced budget, are financially self-sufficient and do not have access to tax revenues, do not carry any government guarantees or pledges of full faith and credit, and do not restrict competition from private enterprise. Furthermore, government is not to operate any of these outside activities for profit in order to fund other programs, for this would invite the return of the 'governmental creep'. Social security, medicare, medicaid, unemployment insurance, public parks, subsidy programs, postal service, non-military space programs, etc., will be funded by those who voluntarily choose to use the system, participate in the program or make a donation. By adhering to these standards, individual liberty and freedom of choice will be defended for all.

The governments of the physical nations, with the army of the majority to enforce their tyranny, have declared that they have the right not only to tax but to bind us in all cases whatsoever, and if being bound in that manner is not slavery, then there is not such a thing as slavery upon earth (words taken from Thomas Paine, The Crisis, 1776).

Government has violated our most sacred constitutional principle of equal and fair treatment under the law by arbitrarily implementing policies of taxation that are unequal, unfair and overbearing. They impose heavy penalties on those who are productive by claiming immense portions of their income. Nearly one half of the individual's work day is literally being seized by government. Although a mandatory tax is justifiable to fund the operations of government, the existing governing bodies believe that 40%, 50% or even 75% taxation of the individual's labors is fair. The CyberNation, on the other hand, believes that these levels of taxation constitute state sponsored slavery, and must not be allowed to exist in systems that claim to be free.

The individual's labors and the property attained in exchange for those labors must be honored as the legitimate property of the individual. This is the true meaning of freedom, but this is not what the modern day governments have practiced. Government does have a legitimate right to enforce a reasonable and fair tax on its citizens to fund its eight roles, for if it does not, anarchy will ensue, and the inalienable rights of the individual will surely perish. In order to fund the 'Eight Legitimate Roles of Government', the CyberNation advocates a single universal and mandatory income tax not to exceed 15% on each citizen and business, with all other taxation ceasing to exist. All net income and net realized gains are to be taxed at this same rate. No deductions will be allowed, except those costs directly used to create the reported income. The only income not to be taxed is that of non-profit organizations, that which has already been taxed and money transferred between immediate family. (Immediate family is defined as one's parents, siblings, spouse and children.) The CyberNation views the family as one entity, a team, and it will not advocate taxing monies that move between the members of that team. Of this 15%, a minimum of 3% is to be specifically earmarked for the eighth role of providing a limited safety net for the less fortunate. (Primarily for a domestic safety net, but also for those physical nations in a financial position to extend emergency international humanitarian aid and/or participate in peacekeeping missions to troubled areas of the world.) The specification of this minimum 3% is to ensure that the destitute are never neglected. Furthermore, no portion of the 15% tax may be diverted to any programs or activities outside the eight roles. It is imperative that government be obligated to operate within its means and in accordance with a balanced budget. Deficits lead to increased taxation, which in turn invites the 'governmental creep'. Deficit spending and the raising of taxes would only be permitted during a defensive war duly declared and authorized by the legislative body of that physical nation.

The 15% tax threshold was selected based on two important examples; 1) The historical norm of total government spending in the United States from 1800 to 1929 did not exceed 12% of the national income, and that was over the lengthy period of time that the United States went from being a sparsely populated agrarian society to a highly populated industrial world power. This was also during the time that the majority of the nation's infrastructure was built. 2) Hong Kong, with a density of population per square mile over 180 times that of the United States, rose from the ashes of World War II to become one of the great economic miracles of the 20th Century. They operate a 15% flat tax system and have consistently kept total government spending to 15% or less of their national income. Both examples support our conclusion that a tax not exceeding 15% of income is more than sufficient to fund the legitimate operations of government.

The freedom of entrepreneurship for individuals and the businesses they create, is an essential component of a free society. The industries of steel, railroad, automobile, oil, aerospace, computer and Internet are the creations of individuals, not governments. Unfortunately, the governments of the physical nations cannot resist claiming credit for, trespassing on and taxing these industries as they rise, as can be seen by the recent government intrusions into cyberspace. In the CyberNation, government will no longer be permitted to attack businesses they view as cash rich, sinful, unpopular or vulnerable. The current government practices of double and triple taxation of the same dollars will cease in this new system as well. Income previously taxed at the business level will no longer be taxed again as it is passed on to the individual. The creation of wealth will not be hampered by government officials or overzealous tax collectors. Moreover, no businesses will be allowed to live off the government, for all corporate welfare and subsidies will be terminated, except during the state of a defensive war. All unnecessary government regulations, antitrust interference, tariffs, quotas, permitting and licensing forced upon private enterprise will be terminated, except those that explicitly act to protect the individual from bodily harm, fraud, misrepresentation, criminal activity, or the creation of environmental hazards. Businesses, large and small, will be allowed to operate freely, without governmental intrusion, so long as they abide by society's laws and do not infringe upon the inalienable rights of the individual.

If our goal is the well being and betterment of humankind, we would gain more by putting our trust in the individuals and the organizations they create, as opposed to relying on government. Government was not designed to cure all the ills of humanity, and it has proven itself ineffective at doing so. Religious organizations have spawned many selfless humanitarians, such as Mother Teresa, who have tirelessly worked on behalf of the less fortunate. Community service organizations have successfully attacked many humanitarian causes. For example, Rotary International, through the administration of vaccines, has nearly eradicated polio in the Third World. These religious groups, humanitarian organizations and community service clubs that individuals have voluntarily built, are the most effective at solving humanitarian problems.

By limiting the scope of government to its eight legitimate roles, and by restricting the taxation ability of the physical nations to a maximum of 15%, the CyberNation will quickly curtail the power of the 'tyranny of the majority' and the 'governmental creep' that accompanies it, and government will finally be kept in check. "A wise and frugal government which shall restrain [people] from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." (Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801)

Cyber Description:
The CyberNation of Freedom is an autonomous nation empowered by the individuals who have voluntarily chosen to be its citizens. It does not exist in physical form and therefore has no borders. The CyberNation is instead based primarily on the Internet and built upon the union of the minds and spirits of its citizens with the common goal and purpose of defending their inalienable rights and liberties. Individuals of all nations, races and creeds are invited to join. Participating in the CyberNation is an honest effort to restore the dignity and legitimacy of the physical nations by returning them to their eight roles. We are all proud of and committed to our various national heritages, but we recognize that our individual sovereignty and inalienable rights must take precedence. Our goals and principles are stated herein.

Cyber Goals:

I.	To change the world for the better by returning and defending the inalienable rights of individuals everywhere.
II.	To restructure all the governments of the physical nations so as to limit their future activities to the 'Eight Legitimate Roles of Government' that are based upon the defense of the individual's inalienable rights.
III.	To restructure the policies of taxation of all the governments of the physical nations to a single tax that does not exceed 15% of the net income and net realized gains of each citizen and business, with all other taxation ceasing to exist.
IV.	To act as the oversight nation, above all physical nations, against any future encroachment or occupation by any government upon the inalienable rights of the individual.

Cyber Principles:

We are a nation based upon honesty, honor, integrity and principle. We are a nation based upon individual responsibility. We are a nation based upon benefits to the individual. The monied interests and special interests have no power or influence over us. We view all people as sovereign individuals, created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness. We treat all individuals equally and we vigorously oppose the practice of discrimination against or preference for any individual or group of individuals based upon their race, creed, gender, or social class. We hold sacred the United States Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as central tenets for the protection of individual rights. (Although we support the Second Amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, we will not oppose those physical nations which choose to restrict or exclude it.) We support representative Cyber-Democracy as the new operative principle of government, whereby the jurisdiction of government is limited to its eight legitimate roles, and its total taxation is restricted to a maximum of 15% of net income and net realized gains. (However, we will not oppose those physical nations which choose to implement a consumption based tax instead, a.k.a. national sales tax, so long as all goods and services are taxed at the same rate, not exceeding 15%, and all other taxation ceases to exist.) We support the 'rule of law' necessary to maintain civil societies, and therefore will not advocate or support the violation of any laws of the physical nations. We will seek to bring about change through legal means only, based upon the power of our ideas and the strength of our numbers. We unwaveringly support the path of non-violence to achieve change, as inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. No violence of any nature will be advocated or supported. We support all laws, policies and programs of the physical nations that are in accordance with the 'Eight Legitimate Roles of Government' that are designed to defend the inalienable rights of the individual; and we are opposed to those laws, policies and programs that do not. We support all government regulations, permitting and licensing which explicitly act to protect the individual from bodily harm, fraud, misrepresentation, criminal activity or the creation of environmental hazards; and we are opposed to those regulations, permitting and licensing that do not. We are strong proponents for the protection and preservation of wildlife and the environment. We support the strict separation of Church and State. We support the unrestricted use of encryption technology as a central element for our right to privacy. We support the right of all private enterprise to operate freely, so long as they abide by society's laws and do not infringe upon the inalienable rights of the individual. We support free world trade, free world markets, and the unrestricted movement of capital, and we are opposed to any limitations, tariffs, quotas or taxes placed on them. (The only exceptions would include military equipment and applications, products that are deemed to threaten the individual's inalienable rights and/or the law and order of society, trade with nations which have been embargoed for humanitarian violations, and trade with nations against which war has been declared.) We support a policy of open immigration, whereby individuals may migrate uninhibited to any physical nation they so choose, so long as they do not have a felonious criminal record, do not have any life threatening infectious diseases (Bubonic Plague, Ebola Virus, etc.) and do not violate the inalienable rights of others. We are opposed to any obligation or pledge that prior generations have bound us to that violates the inalienable rights of the individual. We are opposed to policies of taxation that exceed 15% of our net income and net realized gains, and we are opposed to any government that does not operate within a balanced budget. (The sole exception would be during a defensive war duly declared and authorized by the legislative body of that physical nation. Within one year after the end of such a war the government must enact a one to four year plan to return the nation to a balanced budget and a tax that does not exceed 15%. In addition, a second plan, if needed, must also be enacted to payoff the debts of war by detailing a payment plan and/or sale of assets, etc.) We are opposed to all corporate welfare and subsidies to private enterprise, except those explicitly necessary during the state of a defensive war duly declared and authorized by the legislative body of that physical nation. We are opposed to all government efforts to force private enterprise to be their tax collectors and their financial informants. The payment of taxes is the sole responsibility and private business of each recipient of income, whether it be an individual or a business. Employer tax withholding is to be voluntary. We are opposed to any governing authority over cyberspace or any attempts of censorship upon our freedom of speech in cyberspace. We are opposed to any infringement upon the physical or intellectual property of the individual, be it through robbery, trespassing, invasion of privacy, plagiarism, patent infringement, theft of ideas, property taxes, permitting, etc. We are opposed to any government action to legislate 'Issues of Morality'. We are opposed to any military draft call unless it is for a defensive war duly declared and authorized by the legislative body of that physical nation, and is non-discriminatory to race, creed, social class, or current educational enrollment. (The only other military draft situation we support is in the case of a legislative body calling for emergency draft measures in response to a significant rising threat, such as a Nazi Germany, Napoleonic France, etc.) We encourage all individuals to save at least 10% of their net income and net realized gains to provide for family emergencies, their children's education, care for elderly family members and if they should choose to retire. We recognize that the individual, although sovereign, is a part of humanity, and thus we encourage all individuals to voluntarily donate at least 5% of their net income and net realized gains to charitable and/or scientific research causes for the betterment of society.

The CyberNation of Freedom is committed to returning and protecting all of the individual's inalienable rights. In order for the individual and the CyberNation to succeed, the format of nationhood, that is, the linking together of those with common goals and purposes, is an absolute necessity. Only through the power of ideas and the strength of numbers can the CyberNation successfully defeat the 'tyranny of the majority' and the 'governmental creep' which currently prevail.

All people, without discrimination, are invited to join the CyberNation. Citizenship in the CyberNation is not a birth right, but is instead a serious decision that free thinking individuals must make. Only through this process will our citizens truly understand, respect and appreciate the importance of their inalienable rights and freedoms.

The potential benefits of Cyber-Citizenship far outweigh its minimal requirements. If we accomplish what we have set out to do, we each will enjoy not only the return of nearly 70% of our taxes that are currently being confiscated by government, but more importantly we will finally experience legitimate governments that truly respect our inalienable rights.

There will always be people, based upon their political, religious or moral convictions, that believe they have the legitimate right and authority to tell us how to live our lives. Individuals who prefer to submit to the physical nations that operate in this fashion are free to do so, but we no longer will, nor will we allow those that do to infringe upon our rights or live off our labors again. Moreover, we will not be implored to leave the land of our birth or accept any punishment because of this decision. In sum, we will no longer submit to being slaves of the state. We are not asking for permission to take this action of liberation, we are exercising our legitimate right as individual sovereign units of existence to direct our lives as we see "most likely to effect [our] Safety and Happiness." (U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1776)

We recognize and understand that no government has ever given up power voluntarily. It is only when the people force a government to change does it do so. We hope that the governments of the physical nations will see the 'cyber-writing on the wall' and reform themselves according to the goals and principles that we have set forth. However, if they do not, we will pursue all available means within the law to force them to do so. Democracy will continue as the operative principle of government, but in the new system of Cyber-Democracy, the majority and their elected representatives will no longer have free reign over the individual.

The 'tyranny of the majority' and the 'governmental creep' will not easily be defeated, and your participation is essential for our success. One hundred million people with the same goal acting separately have little power, but the same one hundred million people acting together can alter the direction of history. We need all individuals who believe in our mission to sign on as active Cyber-Citizens and begin spreading the message of The CyberNation of Freedom. For the sake of posterity, we must take measures to defeat the 'tyranny of the majority' and the 'governmental creep' that we have finally recognized as deadly enemies to our inalienable rights. If we delay, we betray our sacred duty to do all we can to leave the world a better place for our children. In this most noble effort to free the individual, we need not have any fear, for truth, honor and justice are on our side.

The moment has come for us, as individuals, to retake and lay claim to the sovereignty and inalienable rights which are rightfully ours. Prepare yourselves, fellow Cyber-Patriots, for the dawning of a new age, a far better age, is upon us. The Cyber-Revolution has arrived. Never before have the stakes been higher or the opportunity greater in humankind's fight for individual freedom and liberty. Let us all, as individuals, join together for the benefit of humankind and bring forth the liberation of the individual.

The CyberNation of Freedom
January 1, 2000