Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

* October, 1986/2021. There are two “origin” dates associated with the Covenant of Unanimous Consent. It was originally published in 1985 in Chapter XVII of The Gallatin Divergence by L. Neil Smith, Del Rey Books (a division of Random House), and was amended by unanimous consent, October, 1986. This is a slightly modified version of my tribute that was published in THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE, Number 879, July 3, 2016. https://ncc-1776.org/tle2016/tle879-20160703-02.html

The Covenant of Unanimous Consent does not receive nearly the amount of publicity that it deserves. The USA Imperial Empire is in the late stages of fascism (crony-corporatism). The Covenant can play an important role among those who plan now to survive and rebuild after the collapse of the dollar, the military empire and the breakup of the United States.

What I want to accomplish artistically amounts to nothing more than fulfilling the promise of the American Revolution.”— L. Neil Smith

I consider The Covenant of Unanimous Consent to be L. Neil Smith's most important work, ever.

As a Memorial, I would like to review what he wrote in 1985 and amended by unanimous consent 35 years ago, in 1986, and what I have described elsewhere as “the fulfillment of the promise of Jefferson's Declaration” [1].

L. Neil Smith's Covenant of Unanimous Consent actually FULFILLS the promise of individual freedom in Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. The Covenant is simple, rational, personal, easy to understand and even short enough to memorize. It easily fits on one side of a single piece of paper—and is currently available in English, Spanish, French and German![5]

The Covenant also satisfies the objections noted by Lysander Spooner[2] in 1870. Instead of being a document that describes how the government shall act, and a document YOU did NOT sign, the Covenant is a document that describes how YOU will act and is a document that YOU VOLUNTARILY SIGN, IF YOU AGREE.

Those who do not sign (the “dissenters” mentioned by Ayn Rand [3] in 1964) are not punished. They are simply and clearly warned what to expect if they violate the EXPLICITLY CLAIMED rights of Signatories.

The Covenant of Unanimous Consent is indeed the political foundation, the “legal framework needed to establish and maintain a free society open to all, including dissenters” as was suggested by Ayn Rand. I explore that legal framework concept further in my own article, What *IS* The Bare Minimum...? [6] at http://tinyurl.com/The-Bare-Minimum-W

To live together peacefully and productively:

      Follow the Precepts of the Covenant and

          no “government” will be necessary;

      Violate the Precepts of the Covenant and

          no amount of government will be sufficient.

*I* think that Mr. Smith's Covenant of Unanimous Consent has indeed fulfilled “the promise of the American Revolution.” Well done, sir![4]

Dennis Lee Wilson
Signatory: The Covenant of Unanimous Consent

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