Novus Publius
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novuspublius.bsky.social
Novus Publius
@novuspublius.bsky.social
12 followers 7 following 150 posts
A designer of thought and dreamer of better things. With a love for law and prose, I explore how we can build a world based on human dignity. novuspublius.com dignitas.press covenant.earth
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Wholeheartedly agree.

Real reforms require a foundation: the dignity of the person.

Without that bedrock, we get hand-wringing instead of protection.
Pretty sobering when you realize how different things would be in our country (and beyond) right now if we actually took interpersonal violence and sexual abuse and assault seriously in our society. Seriously as in real reforms in policy, law, and culture, not hand-wringing that does nothing.
I love this.

Empathy is not wrong.

It is foundation for justice.

Diversity is not weak.

It is foundation for wholeness.

Love is not limited.

It is foundation for dignity.
No matter how hard people try to convince us having empathy is wrong,

it is right.

No matter how hard people try to convince us that diversity is a weakness,

it is a strength.

No matter how hard people try to convince us that love is limited,

it is unlimited.
Inspired by a recent post, I decided to write an essay on how the 13th Amendment didn't fully abolish slavery.

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude...except as a punishment for crime."

That exception created a constitutional loophole that's being exploited today.

New essay:
The 13th Amendment’s Unfinished Abolition
How Constitutional Design Enables a Pipeline from Poverty to Enslavement
dignitas.press
It's past time for reconstitution—not a convention where those in power solidify control, but where the people unite in their sovereignty and declare a new founding document.

Preferably one based in the inviolable dignity of all.
This is why constitutional design matters.

Yep. The 13th Amendment explicitly permits slavery "as punishment for crime." Build detention infrastructure, eliminate survival programs, force people into desperation—you've created a pipeline from poverty to enslavement that's perfectly "legal".
When institutions violate their oath to uphold the Constitution, the People retain the authority to withdraw consent and reconstitute governance.

The lawful exercise of sovereignty that "We the People" holds from the beginning.
I understand our Constitution and fully support it.

All 3 branches of our government, The Executive, Legislative & the Judicial branch took an oath to uphold the constitution when they were sworn in. All 3 branches have violated that oath repeatedly.

The 340 million citizens must unite.
“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings."

~ Ursula K. Le Guin
The first step we should undertake is breaking the two party system which keeps us in political gridlock. Neither side will be for these reforms, as admirable as they are.
How We Break the Two-Party System (Part 0)
Why Bottom-Up Constitutional Evolution Works
dignitas.press
In a world of shifting time, rising stakes and fragile future, we remember that even as darkness beckons earlier, our work of cultivating hope, justice and renewal must press on.
"The right of the people to live free from harm, deprivation, abandonment, or artificial scarcity shall not be infringed.

Access to food, water, shelter, healing, and education shall be upheld as conditions of freedom...No person shall be punished through neglect or cast into harm by omission."
The future can feel heavy right now.

But light doesn’t vanish when it’s unseen—it waits.

A maxim for those who still tend the flame.
Of Light Kept in the Midst of Shadow
Concerning the Unbroken Flame of the Human Spirit
dignitas.press
Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday.

It’s a small, sometimes controversial ritual. But maybe that extra sunlight is an invitation to stretch, breathe, recalibrate.

A small reminder that even with everything happening in the world, we can still turn toward the light together.

#CommonSense
Laws, borders, markets, algorithms.

Every one of them was designed by someone.

And what was designed can be redesigned.

#law #design
Law does not begin in parchment or decree, but in the moment one being recognizes another as worthy of care.

When we forget this, law becomes machinery without purpose.

When we remember, law becomes living covenant.

#law
Somewhere right now, a city planner, a teacher, and a farmer are solving problems most politicians won’t touch.

That’s governance—not the spectacle, but the stewardship.

Look closer. Hope hides in plain sight.

#GovernanceAsCare #BuildBetter
Every issue becomes binary. Every election feels existential. Compromise is betrayal. The other side isn't just wrong—they're evil.

This isn't happening because Americans are broken. It's because U.S. constitutional design produces a two-party system where extremism is the logical outcome.
Why the U.S. Has Two Parties
(And What That Costs Us)
dignitas.press
Can we build something new, or are we too far past the point of no return?
Agreed. But I would extend that fear to also asking hard questions, like: Is this all we've got, or could we build something better, outside of ruling class control?
Many people think being a revolutionary means picking up a gun. The ruling class has a monopoly on violence and an endless ability to escalate their atrocities, what they truly fear is you picking up a book and joining together with other like minded people.
There will come a day, when the only course of action for the People is to sunder from the old, and forge anew.
#MyTwoCents

The US government is transforming. Representation in Congress has ceased, the Court is captured, the President amasses more and more power, and Capital revolutionizes the republic into a 21st century beast that Orwell would find unimaginable.
It's time for a fundamental rebase of the code of western governance.
At the end of the day, I keep going back to the fundamental divide in western politics since the French Revolution. Property rights vs human rights. I'm team #HumanRights
There's more common ground than you think: dignity, stewardship, community sovereignty, protection of the vulnerable, and the right to refuse systems that harm us.

These aren't political positions. They're constitutional bedrock for new governance ready to meet the challenges of today's world.