The proposals in this book are based on core principles concerning the structure of freedom, principles that have been largely forgotten in the expansion of modern law. Working together, Americans can build support for fundamental changes needed to restore our freedom to make sensible daily choices, along the following lines:
PRINCIPLES FOR DAILY FREEDOM
1. Restore the authority of judges to draw legal boundaries so that people have confidence that justice will be reliable.
2. Replace the vocabulary of rights with the goal of balance.
3. Liberate teachers and principals from legal rules and processes. Bureaucracy can’t teach.
4. Restore responsibility to government by giving authority to identifiable officials.
5. Provide checks and balances for official decisions up the hierarchy of responsibility, not generally by legal proceedings by dissatisfied individuals. The goal is the common good, not the lowest common denominator.
6. Revive personal accountability. Your freedom hinges on the freedom of others to make judgments about you.
7. Decentralize public services to the extent feasible. Citizenship requires active involvement in the community.
8. Organize a national civic leadership to propose a radical overhaul of government. Washington is paralyzed and must be recodified. This requires outside leadership.
GETTING INVOLVED
If you would like to help liberate teachers, doctors, or yourselves from the quagmire of too much law, or have questions or ideas, here are three resources and organizations in which I am actively involved and that can refer you to other resources in specific areas:
Common Good. Common Good is building coalitions of national and local organizations behind a fundamental overhaul of American law and government, including planning pilot projects for expert health courts, devising new protocols for discipline in schools, drawing up new standards for children’s play, and working with leading judges and legal scholars to restore the authority of judges to draw the boundaries of unreasonable claims and defenses. Common Good is nonpartisan and has attracted the support of prominent citizens from both the right and the left, from consumer advocates as well as leaders of business and nonprofits. For information, visit Common Good at www.commongood.org.
Lifewithoutlawyers.com. I will be collecting reactions and ideas for change and responding to questions on this Web site. Please let me know what you think. The Web site will also have a schedule of events and activities related to this book.