New Constitution for Asgardia 2.0 – Commentary, Scope, and Intent21 min read

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

created by James O’Neill

Created during the timeframe of
2017 December 4 grc – 2018 July 21 grc

Introduction

A. General

This is my running commentary on each section of my New Constitution for Asgardia 2.0 – Part Iwhich is a complete rewrite of Asgardia’s current mess of a constitution as well as unifies the Declaration of Unity, the Asgardian Calendar, and some of the other authoritative website texts.

This was a labor of Herculean proportions and of my love for the Asgardian ideals! I hope you find my work pleasing and a trillion times better than the constitution we were given, and one that actually embodies Asgardian values.

B. Fixing Severe Problems

As you probably already know, I am significantly critical of the current Asgardian Constitution. I have made no qualms about letting people know about this, especially in my 2 documents talking about the constitution directly:

With this rewrite I am attempting to fix all of its very many shortcomings:

  • a lack of focus
  • a lack of clarity
  • a lack of organization
  • the Stepping Stones to Tyranny
  • lack of expansive or clear enough human rights protections or laws which enforce or exemplify their foundational ideals; as a matter-of-fact some of the important parts of the constitution is put together premeditatively in a way that is antithetical to Asgardian ideals
  • a governmental formation that is just as bad if not worse than existing governments which shows the founders have very little concern about actually creating a government that really wants to change the world, but really wants a puppet state to be monetized

This is enough to get you started on my many complaints and criticisms, but criticism without action or methods to correct them ring somewhat hollow, so this rewrite is an attempt to correct their egregious oversights and premeditations.

D. Influences for Rewrite

I will not go over the extensive list of influences, but you can check my blog page which contains all of my Asgardia writings as well as any pertinent other writings and sources.

In short, here are the few very powerful sources that have helped to form my ideals and foundations for this rewrite:

C. Final Notes

Here are my final notes before you begin you dive into my complete constitutional rewrite.I started to put this document together after I had effectively completed the 35 pages (including title page and table of contents) which is the text prior to the description of the governmental workings.

Please keep in mind that in this extensive rewrite things were:

  • added
  • moved
  • deleted
  • changed

… with complete and total abandon as needed. Nothing was seen as sacred and this work started with pasting in the original constitution. I held back nothing, so my commentary and how things formed and moved may not be so easy to follow, because, thankfully, things are radically different  =) and I am assembling this document somewhat after-the-fact.

What follows will be a chapter by chapter commentary. I will also use the same headers to make it easier to follow. Hopefully, you will also see a constitution, which actually embodies the stated Asgardian ideals, especially in comparison. Now onto the main event:

Declaration of Unity

The Declaration of Unity, which was a separate document from the constitution (and was found on the Asgardian website right above the link to the constitution), and stated that ‘This Declaration is a primary document for the creation of ASGARDIA – the Space Nation’. A modified version was included into the Constitution as Chapter 1 – Declaration of Unity too. (or the other way around – not sure which)

In either place, it was a jumbled and unfocused mess, and really worked on talking about what Asgardia is, rights of citizens, objectives, and others. The focus of this section, strangely, was not on unity. It is mentioned in passing however. =O

Much of this section was pushed down into the new Chapter 1 – Declaration of Asgardia which is what this section was really about – what is Asgardia. The other texts were relegated to other areas or dropped altogether, since other much more expansive areas cover these concepts and ideals more powerfully.

We needed something much more powerful to set the tone and to really get the reader to understand what is happening here and the scope of what Asgardia says it wants to accomplish – the complete unity of humanity throughout all of existence and bringing about world peace.

Pulled from science fiction, this modified Declaration of Principles as spoken by G’kar from from the Sci-Fi TV show Babylon 5 which I blogged about in 2013 very powerfully sets the tone for the rest of the document, for its singular focus is on unity in all Humanity not just here on earth, but all throughout existence – every world, every star – as one, which is the core foundational Asgardian Principle and the point of this section – Unity.

If we are to aspire to create and inspire the world of tomorrow, then science fiction is a great place to pull from, for its works are as much prophetic as it can be inspirational while looking to the future filled with promise and potential.

Preamble

This section was originally about the transcending of humanity and our many regression and problems, our very fallible nature as humans, to try to bring peace to humanity and to existence, so I really powerfully focused on that here.

The ‘irrespective’ language was out of place here and was moved and dealt with primarily in the Asgardian Unified Rights of Citizenship.

Chapter I – Declaration of Asgardia

The original Declaration of Unity was mostly moved into this Declaration, and a part of that was moved to the new Objectives section below for clarity. I also reorganized this section so it made sense. The original was a jumbled mess which drove me nuts and I was eventually able to fix that.

Part of this also absorbed the Mission, Objectives, and Status sections whose presences seemed to be a bit of overkill. How do you really define and use mission, objective, declaration, and status in the same document? This could result in confusion and the wrangling and splitting of legal hairs on philosophical grounds – What really is a Mission?  What really is an Objective? These lacked clarity and focus, and were absorbed by other sections like this one.

Also, the becoming a citizen and equality language was left to be dealt with in their appropriate sections such as the Asgardian Unified Rights of Citizenship and the, now much clearer and expansive, Chapter on Citizenship.

Chapter II – The Transcendent Path of Asgardia

This section was added because so many people, especially the various citizens and including the MP elects, do not really realize this and it needs to be stated and made explicit for all to acknowledge and comprehend. Asgardia, if it is successful, will be a continuously evolving organism with a desired path to travel from internet based micronation to a unified and space faring humanity.

This also creates and sets the tone for a much more expansive and explicit definition of Asgardia which includes ALL of Humanity, and not just Asgardians as a “national entity”. This more explicitly expansive definition will be made quite apparent in the later in the  Citizenship Article.

Fortunately, this will also be the last time you will see Asgardia mentioned as as national entity, Earth State,  or nation state. It is only mentioned here in the beginning because it is needed for clarity and a legal frame of reference, otherwise the usage of such a word does nothing but promote division and nationalism which are one of the many divisive diseases and ‘ims of Humanity to which we state we need to and shall transcend in the new preamble.

Such words are a necessary evil within the context and frame of reference of a constitutional document in this very broken and corrupt era of humanity.

Chapter III – General Provisions

OK, so here we really start to get into the meat of things in this large General Provision chapter. There are like 4 new articles here and there has been significant rewriting and reorganizing done for clarity and focus. Some articles were moved around too.

Article 1 – Name of Asgardia

In my Stepping Stones and my Commentary documents:

… I talk about the many problems with the name. I completely destroy those here and looked to create a name which is more useful by being a challenge for us, as well as something to remind us where are are going, what we should be aspiring to, and how we wish to get there too, so that we may never forget.

The full name is not so pretty, but it is much more robust, descriptive, and useful, and still has the option of “Asgardia” as the good old stand by name which will most likely be used in most circumstances unless a person wants to emphasize a certain aspect of Asgaridia – The Humanocracy of Asgardia. I also write the definition of the descriptors of the name in that section too, so that there is clarity. These descriptors of our nation are very Asgardian.

Destroying the Stepping Stones to Tyranny is needed and I did just that here.

Article 2 – Asgardian Objectives

Honestly, I am not sure if this section is needed since we have the both Declarations and the Preamble sections, but the language here in-and-of-itself is useful to have explicitly stated, so I kept it here.

Article 3 – Asgardian Symbols

The original section, I felt, was in the wrong place and should be moved towards the front nearer to the definitions of Asgardia.

A. General

I needed to correct the Stepping Stones issues here (freedom of expression and nationalism) which I did with complete abandon.

B. Asgardian Flag

The Asgardian flag which is named The Flag of Humanity (FoH) is a modified version of the amazing International Flag of Planet Earth (IFoPE). This new flag is not as pretty as the IFoPE which is powerful in its simplicity and symmetry. I used some of its symbology, but changed and expanded it greatly because a flag for an entity which supposedly aspires to represent a unified and interstellar Humanity needs a much more powerfully symbolic flag.

I explicitly explain the symbology in the text which is important to an Asgardia that represents all of Humanity and our unified and interdependent journey. The symbolism calls deeply to the Asgardian Core Values too, which are very important, symbolic, and definitive of Asgardia.

C. Asgardian Emblem

The emblem is meant to be simple and to be used to powerfully emote, embody, and represent:

  • the Asgardian Core Values
  • Humanty’s interdependence with all of existence

… in places where the full flag is overkill or too busy. Such a symbol could be used on just about everything because of its simplicity. It also powerfully and directly represents the the Asgardian Core Values and Humanity’s interdependence with all of existence both of which are definitive of Asgardia, Unity, and interstellar peace.

D. Asgardian Core Values

These are a core part of what shall drive Asgardia and peace within Humanity – what it aspires to be and how it aspires to get there. I did struggle a bit about putting this part here. I even had full text of the Asgardian Core Values here at one point, but eventually changed it to this text which calls to it as an Asgardian symbol. Having the ACVs mentioned here as a symbol and then its own section later really calls to its importance. For the Asgardian Unified Rights of Citizenship, I also set it apart in its own Chapter which allows me to set it apart and to show its importance.

E. Other Asgardian Symbols

This is here to help prevent nationalism and other isms in Asgardia and Humanity, for such divisions are powerfully destructive and are things to which we need to transcend.

Article 4 – Asgardian Territory

The original text was disorganized, had confusing term usage, and needed better organization. Over all it was put together fairly well barring those technical flaws.I also added a section to clarify and state digital localities which was going to be necessary, especially because we are currently primarily a digital nation and they only listed physical localities.

Article 5 – Asgardian Metrics

This section was not there in the original document, but the calendar was was pulled from the website as the official Asgardian calendar and should have been included here. I have long been a fan of this calendar which is the International Fixed Calender (IFC), although I instituted some important reforms by changing it to the Reformed International Fixed Calendar which fixes some of its issues. You can find my very large posts detailing the many failures of our current calendar, the Gregorian Calendar, and why the Reformed International Fixed Calendar is superior and solves many of its many problems.

I included the text to describe the calendar in full and changed the name of the 13th month back to Sol which was from its original creation by August Comte in 1849 and it was almost passed by the League of Nations in ??. This also helps to reduce the hubris of having Asgard as the 13th month which is a potential Stepping Stone and reeks of isms – nationalism. I also have a few more posts on Calendar Reform on my blog too.

I added a few other other metrics as well to help standardize Asgardia, as well as a standards body to manage as such. America specifically, as broken as it is, needs to convert to celsius and and to metric.

Article 6 – Languages in Asgardia

The original section on languages was actually fairly well put together, even though Admin/Civic completely ignores it en toto by enforcing English as the primary language which violates that section (27.2) of the constitution and general equality too, so I correct that here as well as establish a secondary language which respects linguistic rights and has a real potential of use. My extensive writing on the merits of Esperanto can be found on my blog.

In the later section on Asgardian Unified Rights of Citizenship, I also call to the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights, which I almost included there, but it was like 50 articles long =O so  I opted to mention it as a consideration for further adoption and review by Asgardia. The base language here suffices as a powerful start.

Article 7 – Consensual Age in Asgardia

This was not a part of the original document.

How do we move beyond a strict, arbitrary, and non-individual age or consent (18, 21, etc) and allow something that is more flexible and sphere dependent, and may allow for individual differences. 18 (or whatever chosen static age) is horribly arbitrary and not reflective of science (brain formation until 25) nor actual individual maturity or knowledge in life area.

I did a complete rewrite of my original article getting rid of the current ideals of a hard and fast Age of Majority and Age of Minority concepts and ensured that specific ages of consent were possible to be set in the various spheres of life individually, and that individual emancipation in specific areas are possible. Hopefully, these changes can rectify my concerns. Although, as a necessary evil, I do set as baseline Consensual Age to start with.

Chapter IV – Asgardian Core Values

As I mention in my Commentary document, the Supreme Values section was a complete disorganized mess – part values, part human rights, part objectives, etc and it needed to be focused and clarified. So, it was mostly absorbed by the Asgardian Core Values and the Asgardian Unified Rights of Citizenship, with the other parts already spoken for by other sections.

The seven Asgardian Core Values are it – these are the philosophical and idealistic heart and soul of what Asgardia and a unified and peaceful Humanity is and how we get there. If we throw away everything else in my work and only keep and embody this, then we will be so very much farther ahead than we are now, by orders of magnitude.

This section explains each and every one of the core values, why it is important to stop our many horrific regressions, why it matters to create a unified and peaceful human history, and how we really use them to create foundational change to bring about a complete new human history. If you read nothing else in my rewrite, then please read this chapter.

The seven Asgardian Core Values are:

  1. Interdependence
  2. Sustainability
  3. Equity
  4. Justice and Compassion
  5. Education
  6. Science and Technology
  7. Humanity

Chapter V – Asgardian Unified Rights of Citizenship (AURoC)

This encompasses pretty much all of the previous texts on rights and protections within the constitution in a much more holistic and complete fashion by including and starting with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This section assimilates and expands sections such as:

  • the Supreme Values
  • Article 8. Rights and Freedoms of Citizens

As I mention in that Chapter I start with the UDHR and then add in a few other texts and then add in text of my own.

If the Asgardian Core Values are the most important part of this document, then this Asgardian Unified Rights of Citizenship is the second most important part. If we had to make a choice to only keep 2 parts then we should keep those 2 and discard the rest.

There are some articles here that I do have questions on still, and will need to take a look at them.

Chapter VI – Asgardian Citizenship

This section was, by and large, mostly OK. It just needed a lot of clarity, organization, and a more robust language which also really embraced that Asgardia was really about all of Humanity and not just Asgardia as a independent nation state. It is can and should be about so much more than that, especially if the espoused Asgardian ideas are embodied.

Chapter VII – Asgardian Resources

I spent a lot of time expanding and clarifying this section, because our resources and how we use them are very important. How we accomplish something is just as important as what we wish to accomplish.

Article 2 – Human Resources

This was probably one of the most important articles included in the original text, but it was not in depth enough. It needed a little more to describe how it was going to accomplish human resources on a global scale. Some of the text that was here was dealt with through the AURoC.

Article 3 – Natural Resources

This section was OK to start but needed a little more to assist with the unification of all of Humanity.

Article 4 – Financial Resources

Like much of the rest of the original document it lacked focus, organization and clarity to which I fixed here.

I added text to ensure that it is known and acknowledged upfront that economic systems are a disease and need to be dealt with, otherwise the pursuit of unity and peace will, never ever happen.

I also ensured that an ethical standard for our economic systems through the ACV and the ACGBS was included, which will be very powerful and help to ensure that any Asgardian economic system will operate with a guided conscience, which is a significant problem in most of the world – conscienceless profiteering – especially with the US as the preeminent example of the horrors that can be wrought on a global scale by such.

There is also language to ensure that banks belong to the people.

Article 5 – Scientific, Creative, and Intellectual Resources

This section needed organization and some expansion on certain areas.

I included focusing on open source projects and an Asgardian open source license to help manage Asgardian works.

Article 6 – Base Asgardian Internet Website Resources

I also added the Base Sites article, which will most likely be removed at some point since it seems a bit overly specific for a constitutional text, but it is great to have at the start to get people thinking about such things.

Article 7 – Universal Sustainable Processes

This article was not present in the original text, but really should have been, for it is needed to help protect and heal the planet, and to help enforce and guide us towards a sustainable processes. This is a powerful implementation of the Asgardian Core Value of Interdependence and Sustainability into manufacturing and other processes.

Article 8 – Property

For me, this one of the most troubling sections that took me the longest to deal with, partially because I did not have strong feelings about this subject, but also because some of the language was a bit obtuse and difficult to understand. I even posted a blog post on Asgardia asking for clarification.

Eventually, I have adjusted this so that it pleases me. Collective ownership and shared resources are a necessary step for unification and efficiency of the world, for without global management and sharing of the world’s resources there will always be greed, competition, and significant waste of resources.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.