The Rescue Party aims to establish a movement of ordinary people and aligned public servants, from across the political spectrum, who will work together to restore sanity and decency to our civic space, who will oppose all forms of corruption and abuses of power, using our rights and freedoms to fulfill the ethical duty to defend the humanity of all.
We note the purposeful and constructive phrasing of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Each word is chosen for its specific meaning and broad reach, and for its ability to contribute to a shared mission that will honor the rights and liberties of all. The “Blessings of Liberty” are many, diverse, and not decided by the state.
When a public official swears an oath to the Constitution, they are making a binding legal and moral commitment to look out for the fundamental human rights of all people—including those not specifically enumerated in the Constitution or in written law. They are committing to safeguard local communities and future generations from preventable harm.
As noted by our sister publication The Faithful Citizen:
The Constitution recognizes—both implicitly in its structure and phrasing and explicitly in the Ninth Amendment, as well as in the First Amendment’s redress clause, the 14th Amendment‘s equal protection clause, and several others throughout—the right of all people to see progress made toward solving complex nonlinear threats. These include threats like foreign aggression, erosion of civil liberties, food insecurity, and worsening climate disruption.
To uphold the rights and freedoms of all people, and of future generations, as the Constitution requires, public officials must not ignore evidence of likely harm or subvert protections against toxic pollution. Chemical pollutants have widespread, costly impacts. A few examples are worth noting:
- PFAS “forever chemicals” now pervade the environment and are actively putting at risk nearly all Americans’ long-term health. More than 200 million people are likely ingesting PFAS through contaminated drinking water. You have a right not to be harmed in this way.
- A single exposure to a toxic agricultural fungicide during pregnancy can echo through 20 generations—with inherited disease risks from kidney disease to infertility not fading, but worsening over time, according to groundbreaking new research.
- Non-communicable diseases account for most premature deaths in the United States and around the world. An estimated 43 million people per year lose their lives to NCDs linked to toxic pollution and unhealthy diets.
If governments should not take life, reduce human liberty, infringe on human rights generally, or interfere with their people’s ability to pursue happiness in their own lives and relationships, then public officials have an implicit responsibility to reduce the incidence of premature death and long-term illness from NCDs caused by toxins in food, air, and water.
Meanwhile, climate disruption is already costing trillions of dollars per year. Two of the leading financial regulators in the US—the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)—have found that unchecked climate change will destabilize the financial system and the wider US and global economies.
Advancing science and “useful arts” (as Article I of the Constitution requires), while reducing harmful pollution, could save hundreds of millions of lives in the next decade alone. Using science to improve practices, reduce climate disruption and related harm to Nature and food security, could save tens of trillions of dollars in coming decades.
A recent report from the UK’s intelligence committee found cascading risks from overseas ecosystems on the brink of collapse pose worsening national security risks. Since 2010, the US Department of Defense has warned of climate disruption being an “accelerant of instability or conflict”.
Pollution poses a significant threat to fiscal stability and national security, and to everyday human health and safety, and to personal liberty and enterprise opportunity. The very right of local communities to exist and to thrive, in peace, freedom, and prosperity, is at stake.
The five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment are all forms of witness—faith, speech, information-gathering and reporting, peaceable assembly, and the pursuit of legal redress for harm caused. Removing from circulation or obscuring scientific evidence that can support innovation and resilience puts lives and livelihoods at risk and violates the spirit of the Constitution itself.
Reducing pollution, improving environmental health and safety, and addressing climate-related risks, are not matters of ideological preference or partisanship; they are fundamental practical obligations of all who hold public office. Disingenuous claims of not having sufficient evidence do not alter the underlying Constitutional mandate.
The Rescue Party calls for cooperative non-ideological problem-solving to address these risks and prevent harm, with a focus on the shared human security and economic opportunity of all.
Rescue Rights & Freedoms 