Thank you for your interest in our new country of Oceania. This letter is in response to your electronic mail of September 21, 23, & 24, 1993, in particular, the "Freedom Project" questionnaire which you sent to us via electronic mail on September 23 & 24, 1993. The questions you raised or the concerns you expressed are quoted herein in italic text.

(1) Will people in Oceania be free to produce and earn as much as they are able, and to dispose of it as they wish?

YES. Our constitution, in Article Three, prohibits taxation, government licensing, eminent domain, the draft, emergency powers, and rationing. However, there are a few important exceptions to any Oceanian's right to dispose of income as they see fit. Article Four, (on National Security), Section C, restricts Oceanians from owning, producing, or importing weapons of mass destruction such as atomic bombs or killer viruses. Special arrangements must be made for that. Otherwise most weapons are allowed. Another restriction is Section D of Article Four which restricts Oceanians from importing and exporting things like mind-altering drugs to or from countries where they are illegal. Oceanians are allowed to use, manufacture, and sell such drugs but their import and export could be interpreted as a national threat to outside nations and result in an attack upon Oceania. Additionally, Section E of Article Four prohibits Oceanians from exporting weapons to nations that are on Oceania's fobidden list and finally, Section F restricts certain persons, based on mere suspicion, from traveling into Oceania during a time of war. However, people will always be permitted to leave Oceania, war or not.

(2) Will people in Oceania be free from direct taxes on their earnings?

YES. Oceanians will be free from all forms of taxation. Section A of Article Three forbids the Oceanian government to tax in any form whatever. Only donations are requested for such things as military defense. However, this freedom from taxation and its replacement by requests for donations doesn't mean that not donating will be free of negative effects. The military and other government bodies will be allowed to publish lists of donors and, depending on the public mood and attitude towards the project being supported by the donations, this could conceivably affect your ability to do business in Oceania. People will be allowed to discriminate freely and may discriminate against people, or boycott businesses, that do not donate to causes they think are important.

(3) Will the right of personal property be fully secure in Oceania? Will people there be free from government seizure of their property?

YES. Section 3 of Article One in our constitution is meant to insure that your property will not be taken by government seizure nor by any force or fraud. Section 3 says this: "An Oceanian has the right to property and the right not to have eir Property taken from them by force or fraud. A person's body and the fruits of eir labor are eir property. No one may claim another's work or property as eir own, nor claim any use thereof, by any means, such as taxation, civil forfeiture, eminent domain, or other forms of theft." Section 4, Sub-section A, of Article One says: "An Oceanian has the right to be secure in eir person, house, papers, and effects, against all search and seizure that is done without a warrant issued by a grand jury of the Court of Oceania." There is no seizure without a court conviction and this right to security and privacy is emphasized several times in our constitution to assure that no reinterpretation of our constitution can alter our meaning. If your property is taken you have the constitutional right to prosecute government, and agents of government can be held personally responsible for either direct involvement or neglect. Your case will be heard and judged by a jury, not a government-appointed judge.

(4) Will there be any kind of citizen registration in Oceania (ID cards, identity papers, or the like)? Is the privacy of the lives and finances of your people fully secure, for them--and only them--to divulge or keep secret as they see fit?

The answer to the first is that YES, there will be citizen registration, identity cards, and papers, but they will not be required. One prospective Oceanian has already set up and advertised such a registration service. Such "private entities" will sell these cards and papers and you do not have to buy them. Sub-section B of Section 4 in Article One says: "The government may not issue numbers or any other form of `official' identification to Oceanians, nor may it require anyone to carry or present identification at any time." The answer to the second question is also YES. Section 4 of Article One in our constitution assures all Oceanians that they have a constitutional right to privacy, financial privacy, encryption, and privacy in the workplace. Neither government nor your employer has the right to pry into matters you may consider private. Sub-section C of Section 4 in Article One says: "An Oceanian may not be required by the government to reveal eir income or any other financial information ey wishes to keep private."

(5) Will a person in Oceania--insofar as he keeps to himself, harms no one, and lives a quiet life--simply be left alone by government?

Generally, YES, however we can only create a constitutional contract that forbids government from bothering you--this will not be a perfect and absolute method of controlling government. The government may try to overstep its constititutional bounds and if people are not aware of their rights they may, in ignorance, forsake them. You must know your rights and use them to punish government when it oversteps these boundaries. Our constitution of Oceania is a contract between the government and those people of Oceania who wish to use this contract for government services. Both parties, but mostly government, are held legally accountable to its terms. Americans were given many rights when they amended their constitution but many of these rights have been ignorantly forsaken and, in spite of the U.S. Constitution, would be hard to win back now because the U.S. government has been allowed to grow too powerful. Powerful enough to ignore its original, now dated and highly ambiguous, constitution and create its own self-serving laws.

The odds are that if you keep to yourself, harm no one, and lead a quiet life, no one, including government, will ever know you existed or even care much that you did. Only in despotic and totalitarian or authoritarian countries such as the United States are people who lead quiet lives, like Donald Scott* killed by government agents. In Oceania not only will people who lead quiet lives not be bothered by government but neither will obnoxious, loud, and rude people be bothered by government. However, they will have to deal with their neighbors and answer to whatever charges of disturbing the peace or harassment these neighbors may choose to bring in our courts.

I hope the information enclosed above is responsive to your concerns about our country. If you have any further questions, or if you would like further information or clarification, please feel free to write or call us.

Sincerely,

Norman Doering
Atlantis Project