The plank in brief

You can not own land, not absolutely. Under this plank sovereignty is spread across four nested levels. The municipality handles local needs: zoning, housing, services, parks, streets, and safety. The bioregion or watershed looks after water, habitats, forests, soil, and climate resilience. The region runs the big systems that cross city lines, like transit and energy grids. The commonwealth sets the guardrails and shares prosperity across the whole land. Authority is delegated down. Accountability is earned up.

What you get is secure use-rights: a home you live in and pass on, buildings you improve, crops you grow, a business you run, a long-term leasehold you can sell or leave to your children. What nobody gets, not a person, a company, or the state, is unlimited dominion. No destroying ecosystems or poisoning water. No permanently shutting the public out of what it needs. No pocketing land value the community created. That value goes into a public land value trust and comes back as affordable housing, parks, and transit. The trust is held for the people living here now, for communities with a historical connection to this land, for future generations, and for the living world we share it with.

Objections and replies

None posted yet. If you have a strong objection to this plank, send it to me. The strongest ones go up here with my reply.

Changes

• November 2026: first published here.