The Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Phlegmbottom

We consider all life to be part of our family.

Any human being within the territorial borders of Phlegmbottom shall be considered a resident of Phlegmbottom while residing therein, with all the rights, privileges, responsibilities and protections of any other resident. Phlegmbottom will always welcome new residents without qualification.

We have chosen a silly name for our nation so as to make it less likely that any resident will ever be motivated to engage in warfare in order to “fight for Phlegmbottom.” In that spirit:

The following three provisions cannot be altered:

• At no time will Phlegmbottom ever have a military force.
• Phlegmbottom will have no national flag.
• Phlegmbottom will not have a national anthem.

Phlegmbottom shall not have a monetary system. Matters of trade and exchange shall be based on the Priceless Economic System, as espoused by Ernest Mann.

The organizing principle upon which the Democratic Republic of Phlegmbottom is constituted is nonviolence. We expect the understanding of violence and nonviolence to expand over time. Therefore, nothing in this document shall be interpreted as foreclosing the expansion of rights in the future.

Residents of Phlegmbottom have the inalienable rights to:

Food

Housing

Healthcare

Education

Love

The principle of least harm shall be considered when developing town or city infrastructure. Therefore, when planning transportation or energy systems, harm to the environment shall be of top concern.

The system of self governance shall be one of proportional representative parliamentary democracy. In an election or other plebiscite, each resident shall cast one vote and no vote will count more than any other.

There all be no weapons designed to harm or kill in the Democratic Republic of Phlegmbottom. Therefore, hunting, as well as mass murder, will not be allowed.

Only animals that have died of natural causes and given their advance consent in writing may be consumed by the human residents within the borders of Phlegmbottom.

Except when it can be shown that there is an imminent danger to others, no person shall be incarcerated for any reason. In the rare cases of minimal incarceration, the focus must be on therapeutic rehabilitation.

Involuntary servitude violates this constitution.