Working draft · updated October 23, 2026
The clause
Every citizen is guaranteed an education through a bachelor’s degree, to one national standard; acute and preventive health care; insurance on their home; a retirement pension; a justice system they can use, whatever their income; a wage they can live on; and the basics of life: water, sewer, trash collection, shelter, clothing and food.
In return, every able citizen finishes high school, works in whatever way their abilities allow, votes, pays taxes, obeys the law, and keeps up with recommended vaccinations and a basic standard of health, where medically possible.
Every citizen is free to do anything that doesn’t take away the freedom of others, and the country’s government is protected from foreign interference.
Why
Co-ownership runs both ways. A shareholder gets a stake and takes on duties; a citizen should too.
The guarantees cover what a person needs to take part: an education, health, a roof, a fair hearing, and pay that covers the cost of living. On wages, the rule is simple: a business that can’t pay a living wage isn’t a viable business.
The duties are what keep the arrangement paid for and working. Finish school, work, vote, pay in, follow the law, and don’t put other people’s health at risk.
What already exists
- Public school is free through 12th grade in every state, and attendance is compulsory until an age between 16 and 18, depending on the state (National Center for Education Statistics).
- Every state requires certain vaccinations for school entry, with different exemptions (CDC).
- Australia has required voting in federal elections since 1924 (Australian Electoral Commission).
- Medicare guarantees health coverage from age 65, and Social Security pays a retirement benefit. The clause extends both ideas to every citizen.
How we’d know it’s working
Each measure is read on its own, from its own source.
- Adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree: Census Bureau, American Community Survey.
- People without health insurance: Census Bureau, American Community Survey.
- Deaths before age 75: CDC WONDER.
- Hourly pay compared with the local living wage: Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and the MIT Living Wage Calculator.
- People experiencing homelessness: HUD Point-in-Time count.
- Drinking-water violations: EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System.
- Voter turnout: Census Bureau, Current Population Survey voting supplement.
- Kindergarten vaccination coverage: CDC.
The hard questions
- What does each guarantee cost, and who pays?
- What counts as work? Caregiving? Volunteering? Going back to school?
- What happens to someone who won’t vote or won’t vaccinate? A fine, as in Australia, or lost benefits?
- Who defines the “basic standard of health,” and how is medical privacy protected?
- Are energy and internet basics now?
- If a living-wage rule closes businesses in low-cost towns, what replaces those jobs?
- Which guarantees does the federal government deliver, and which do the states?
Further reading
- Richard Haass, The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens (Penguin Press, 2023).