The New Declaration of Independence

Nearly 250 years ago, a people rose up to free themselves from the tyranny of a king through the Declaration of Independence.

While the language and some of the concepts may seem dated to a modern audience, the concerns and problems it addressed remain strikingly relevant.

Today, it may be instructive to use that historic document as a template to draft a new declaration—from the modern-day tyrants.

So, who would qualify as modern-day tyrants?

To an increasing number of people, the answer would include today’s crop of world leaders: Donald Trump in the US, Vladimir Putin in Russia, other would-be totalitarians, dictators, and religious fanatics who are exploiting global chaos to consolidate power.

Yet here is the rub: let’s say all of these leaders were somehow deposed—would the world be better?

The answer is no. Because removing them would do nothing to address the deeper, more systemic problem: We have opened the door to a new, more pervasive tyranny by attempting to model society on the principles of the Market—as warned by Karl Polanyi in his book: The Great Transformation.

You only have to look back at the global euphoria after the election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency.

How the slogan of hope—"Yes, we can!"—soon gave way to the realization that it was all an illusion.

Nothing changed, because the fundamental structural problems of the commodification of society remained unchallenged and unaddressed.

For the first time in history, we now have both the tools and the moral clarity to confront the real tyrant: The Market—unfettered, unaccountable, and unchecked—which now rules not just our economies, but our cultures, our institutions, and even our inner lives.

What was once a tool to serve humanity, through our negligence, has become a master that consumes it—subtly, relentlessly, and without remorse.

It commodifies our time, our relationships, our bodies, and even our values.

It dictates the terms of freedom, distorts the meaning of happiness, and devours the moral foundations of society.

And so, in the spirit of that earlier revolution—and with the shared hope of peace and human dignity—we declare:

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

• That all people are born equal in dignity.
• That the purpose of society is not to serve capital, but to nurture the soul.
• That real freedom is not the freedom to consume, but the freedom to become fully human.
• That no market, algorithm, or ideology can replace our shared responsibility to live moral lives and care for one another.

Let the record show these grievances:

• The Market has deceived us into believing happiness lies in consumption, not connection.
• It has corrupted the idea of freedom, turning it into license—free not to do good, but to do whatever sells.
• It has deferred moral responsibility to the “invisible hand,” absolving the powerful and punishing the vulnerable.*
• It has eroded the socialization process and dismantled the moral life, enabling sociopaths to rise in business and politics.
• It has infiltrated our institutions—courts, parliaments, democracies—not to preserve liberty but to dismantle the common good.
• It has fueled war, division, and distraction to consolidate control.
• It has infantilized a generation, exalting self-gratification and stunting social maturity.
• It has filled the human void with addiction—alcohol, porn, pills, status, screens—while starving our deepest need: meaningful connection.
• It has replaced the socialization of virtue with the monetization of vice.

In truth, this is the culmination of the three great temptations:

1. That we are nothing but animals, and our appetites are all that matter.
2. That virtue and moral education are obsolete—leave it all to the Market.*
3. That if we bow to consumerism, we shall possess the world.

We reject these lies.
We choose, as Christ once did, the harder path of truth.

Not for Christians alone, but for all humanity—because the damage is global, and the cure must be too.

Therefore:

We declare independence from the Market as our master.
We reclaim society as a space for cooperation, conscience, and community.
We assert a new foundation for peace, prosperity, and human flourishing.
We direct the Market to return to its rightful role as the servant of humanity, not its master.

And we invite the world to join us—through conscience, action, and a shared commitment to moral renewal.

Goal: 1 million signatures by 2026

In 1776, 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence giving birth to a new nation.

Our goal is to collect 1 million signatures by its 250th anniversary—for a new declaration of independence that extends the American dream to the entire world as the basis for a new civilization.

Join us in building the civilization the "blind men" cannot see, one signature at a time.

🖊️ Sign the Freedom Declaration for Peace

And take the first step in reclaiming our future.

*Footnote: The Myth of the Invisible Hand

The idea that “virtue and moral education are obsolete—leave it all to the ‘invisible hand’ of the market” is the great abdication of responsibility at the heart of modern civilization.

Where once we taught our children the difference between right and wrong, encouraged them to live by the virtues and avoid the vices, we now teach them how to compete and consume.

Where once communities cultivated conscience, we are told to outsource ethics to mechanisms of price and demand.

Justice, peace, and human flourishing—these too are expected to emerge spontaneously from the sum of selfish choices.

But the invisible hand is blind.

It does not see the child neglected, the family shattered, the addict consumed, the worker exploited, or the Earth scorched.

It does not guide with wisdom or compassion—it simply calculates and consumes.

It rewards not goodness but growth. Not kindness but scale. Not integrity but efficiency.

And in surrendering our moral lives to this blind force, we have not found freedom or the peace that comes with it—we have found abandonment and despair.

Henry David Thoreau’s observation in Walden that “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” is no longer just a philosophical insight—it is now the lived experience of an increasing number of people around the world.