commit 674045997bd7f12d7d1c1e6064540a740ed58fcf
Author: A Better Union Bootstrap <admin@git.dontoucha.us>
Date:   Fri May 1 23:10:28 2026 +0000

    Seed constitutional drafting backbone

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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+# A Better Union Constitution
+
+This repository is the public source of truth for A Better Union's working
+constitutional text and drafting process.
+
+The trust model is Git-first:
+
+- `main` is the protected public branch
+- accepted changes preserve their rationale in commits or proposal files
+- ratified snapshots are signed annotated tags named `ratified-YYYY-MM-DD`
+- anyone may browse, clone, mirror, compare, or audit the full history
+- only invited maintainers may push
+
+Clone a public mirror:
+
+```bash
+git clone https://git.dontoucha.us/better-union/constitution.git
+```
+
+Create an independent mirror:
+
+```bash
+git clone --mirror https://git.dontoucha.us/better-union/constitution.git
+git remote update --prune
+```
+
+This repository is not a voting system by itself. It is the durable record that
+the future civic workflow should write to.
diff --git a/constitution.md b/constitution.md
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+# Constitution Of A Better Union
+
+Status: working draft
+
+## Preamble
+
+We establish this working draft to explore a constitutional system for an
+information-age republic: democratic enough to hear the public, constrained
+enough to protect rights, and transparent enough to make power auditable.
+
+## Article I: Public Authority
+
+Public authority is delegated, limited, reviewable, and bound by law. No office,
+platform, majority, emergency process, or private contractor may become the sole
+holder of civic power.
+
+## Article II: Democratic Participation
+
+The people must have durable channels to propose, deliberate, amend, and ratify
+public rules. Participation systems must preserve public auditability while
+protecting individuals from unnecessary exposure and retaliation.
+
+## Article III: Rights And Safeguards
+
+No temporary majority may remove the civic floor of speech, association, due
+process, equal protection, privacy, local autonomy, and peaceful dissent.
+
+## Article IV: Institutional Balance
+
+Legislative drafting, executive action, civic review, and judicial constraint
+must remain distinct enough that each can check the others.
+
+## Article V: Amendment
+
+Amendments must be public, deliberative, time-delayed for high-impact changes,
+and ratified through a process that protects both majority consent and minority
+rights.
diff --git a/process.md b/process.md
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+# Drafting Process
+
+## Branches
+
+`main` is the protected public branch. Direct mutation of ratified text should be
+exceptional. Ordinary changes should begin as proposals and enter `main` only
+after review.
+
+## Proposals
+
+Each proposal should identify:
+
+- the affected text
+- the reason for change
+- expected benefits
+- rights and minority-protection risks
+- implementation or transition concerns
+- dissenting arguments that remain unresolved
+
+Accepted proposals should be linked from the merge commit or preserved directly
+under `proposals/`.
+
+## Review
+
+Review must consider more than popularity. A proposal should be checked for:
+
+- due process risk
+- speech and association risk
+- privacy and surveillance risk
+- local autonomy risk
+- emergency-power abuse
+- concentration of authority
+- impact on politically weak minorities
+
+## Ratification
+
+Ratified snapshots are signed annotated Git tags named `ratified-YYYY-MM-DD`.
+Each tag message should identify the ratified scope, the public process used,
+and any unresolved minority report.
diff --git a/proposals/README.md b/proposals/README.md
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+# Proposals
+
+Proposal files preserve the public rationale for constitutional changes.
+
+Use one file per proposal. Prefer names that include a date and short subject,
+for example:
+
+```text
+2026-05-01-public-audit-trails.md
+```
+
+Each proposal should include:
+
+- summary
+- affected sections
+- proposed text
+- rationale
+- rights and safeguard review
+- objections and responses
+- ratification notes
diff --git a/ratification/README.md b/ratification/README.md
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+# Ratification
+
+Ratification records connect public process to immutable Git snapshots.
+
+Use signed annotated tags for ratified text:
+
+```bash
+git tag -s ratified-YYYY-MM-DD -m "Ratified snapshot: YYYY-MM-DD"
+git push origin ratified-YYYY-MM-DD
+```
+
+This directory can hold supporting records such as tally summaries, minority
+reports, public-notice windows, and links to deliberation archives.