A 3rd Path Forward
We're usually presented with Reform or Revolution; I like to think there's a third way.
Revolution or Reform
I see it everywhere—across the internet, in conversations with people I love, in the exhausted debates that go nowhere. Revolution or Reform. Two positions from which many want to fix the world we’ve got.
In a world already full of binary choices—left or right, capitalism or socialism, growth or degrowth, us or them—I refuse to believe that we must choose between the two.
I’ve pondered, twisted myself into knots trying to think of a third way, and the solution I keep arriving at is this: we need fundamental transformation of everything from a different standpoint than what current thought allows.
Reconstitution
Words exist for a reason. They shape what we understand to be possible. And the word I keep coming back to is Reconstitution.
Revolutionary reformation from the old to something new.
We don’t have to pick between revolution or reform. We can do both. But we need a unifying template for such a transition. A pathway for how to get from point A to point B.
And boy do we need to get from A to B quickly.
We all know that the way things are is unsustainable. We feel the effects on a daily basis, and we’re beginning to experience the repercussions and consequences that current systems, governments, corporations, mass consumerism, individualism, misinformation, disinformation, etcetera are having on everyone and everything.
How We Got Here
Our current world is built on constitutions, laws, treaties, customs, stories, declarations—layer upon layer of language that shapes what we think is possible.
And here’s the thing: bad actors—authoritarian leaders, billionaires like Elon Musk, disinformation networks—aren’t corrupting something that was pure. They’re exploiting the flaws that were built in from the beginning.
Control of our shared understanding has always been the game.
The controlling classes across the world in every country and nation have always bent, suppressed, distorted and implemented language that:
Divides us into so many fragments we’ve never been able to realize our collective power;
Distracts us from effecting real change by forcing us to accept their binary choices;
Destroys cultures, communities, and entire peoples in service of expansion and control;
Depletes the natural resources of Earth and extracts from its environment beyond measure.
These aren’t bugs. It’s how the system was designed.
Constitutions Shape Reality
People view themselves and their place in the world through language. Through language we each construct an understanding of what binds us together. This isn’t abstract—a lot of it exists permanently etched into our collective psyche.
The Pattern Is Global
What I’m getting at is this: Constitutions are the foundational rules that determine who has power, who counts as human, and what’s considered legitimate.
And those foundational rules were corrupted from the start.
United States: 3/5 compromise = corruption.
South Africa: Apartheid constitution enshrining racial hierarchy = corruption.
India: Caste-based legal distinctions = corruption.
Soviet Union: Article 6 guaranteeing Communist Party supremacy = corruption.
China: Provisions subordinating rights to Party authority = corruption.
Constitutions worldwide: Extraction encoded as law = corruption.
All functioning for the interests of the controlling classes. All vulnerable to their power. All designed to sustain their control.
What This Means
If we write new constitutional foundations, we change what’s possible.
Not just what we think is possible. What actually becomes possible. Change the constitutional foundation from “property owners have rights” to “all persons have inherent dignity” and you don’t just change beliefs.
You change law.
You change institutions.
You change what people can do to each other and for each other.
This is why control of language has always been the game.
The people writing the code write the rules.
The people implementing the code shape reality.
That leads me to this: If current constitutions could be written to encode power and extraction, we can write new ones that encode dignity and care.
Covenant as New Foundation
The Covenant is a constitution—actual law—that reconstitutes society from first principles:
All persons have inherent dignity (human and any conscious being)
The Earth belongs to life, not markets (ecosystems, knowledge, culture held in collective stewardship as the Commons)
Governance requires consent, not coercion (participation, not domination)
Coexistence is sacred (difference is dignified, not threatening)
Power requires accountability (always, no exceptions)
These aren’t suggestions or aspirations. They’re constitutional bedrock. The foundation everything else builds from.
Reconstitution as both Reform and Revolution
It’s designed to work alongside existing systems while building beyond them.
You can advocate for reform within current constitutions while building Covenant-based alternatives. You can respect old institutions while constructing new ones. You can honor what still serves while preparing for what must come.
This is a pathway forward.
Not “burn it down and hope” (revolution).
Not “keep patching forever” (reform).
But build new foundations while the old still stands (reconstitution).
We’re Already Doing It
People are already building on the principles formalized in the Covenant.
Mutual aid networks operating on Commons thinking. Communities using consensus governance. Movements and organizations centering dignity over extraction.
The Covenant doesn’t invent these practices. It makes them constitutional.
It gives scattered experiments legal bedrock. It shows how they connect into a coherent alternative. It provides the pathway for reconstitution—both reformation and revolution working together.
We don’t have to abandon reform work.
We don’t have to wait for revolution.
We don’t have to choose between them.
We can reconstitute.