The Consent Axiom

Agreement

I am a free individual and the sole owner of my body. I agree to take no harmful action against others without their consent, unless they have already harmed others without consent.

Slogan

No action without consent

Rights

To live freely and in peace, individuals who gather together by mutual consent should confer certain “rights” upon each other which all agree to respect:

• the right to life
• the right to resist actions against you to which you do not consent
• the right to own  property
• the right to a fair trial by one’s peers

Implications

• Freedom of speech, association, contract and movement.
• Recognition of  the supreme rights of the individual.
• Respect for property rights.
• Government  limited by the consent of the governed.
• Victimless crimes eliminated.
• Force may be used to resist coercion.

Applications

1. Governments may not use coercion to achieve their objectives, but must rely on persuasion and voluntary cooperation.  Compulsory taxation, the draft, expropriation, censorship and arbitrary arrest, all conflict with this charter.
2. Opponents of government may not use coercion to achieve their objectives, but must rely on persuasion and voluntary cooperation.  Bombing, kidnapping, robbery and intimidation all conflict with this charter.
3. Business may not use coercion to achieve its objectives.  Protective tariffs, violent cartels, abrogation of contracts, all conflict with this charter.
4. Labour may not use coercion to achieve its objectives.  Enforced strikes, closed shops and compulsory union membership, all conflict with this charter.
5. Individuals have a right to be left alone and to keep what is rightfully their property, derived through effort, inheritance or gift.  They have a right to teach their children as they wish, to freely choose where they live and work, in order to achieve the best income available.
6. Individuals do NOT have a right to an education, or a house, or a job, or a living wage when these must be supplied at the expense of somebody else.  All these things must be earned, not coercively taken at the expense of some other individual, no matter how rich.

Live honourably, injure nobody, and allow to each their own

You can find a more comprehensive discussion of the Consent Axiom here.