The Five Principles of Eaglexit 

By Michael Tavoliero and Catherine Margolin

Eaglexit seeks to incorporate a home-rule borough that restores the proper balance between social power and state power by re-establishing local government as the servant of the people. Beneath every fiscal debate and administrative dispute lies one guiding purpose: return authority from distant bureaucracy to local citizens. Grounded in the Alaska Constitution, Eaglexit recognizes that all governmental power originates in the people and endures legitimately only when it protects their God-given rights and governs by their consent. 

Through formation of local government, Eaglexit aims to build governance where laws serve freedom, communities direct their own affairs, and property, education, and opportunity are preserved as expressions of personal liberty. By reducing centralized control and reaffirming the people’s right to limited self-government, Eaglexit represents a peaceful, constitutional redistribution of power, returning it to the people, one person and one community at a time. 

The Alaska Constitution reflects and preserves the Jeffersonian synthesis of the Declaration of Independence: the reconciliation of God-given rights with the consent of the governed. Thus, the embodiment of these principles renews a local government founded on liberty, consent, and moral accountability. 

#1: Purpose of Government 

Our communities seek a small local government to serve, not to rule. The Alaska Constitution affirms that our rights come not from the State but from God. The government’s purpose is to secure those rights, not define or limit them. 

History shows freedom thrives when government remains simple, decentralized, and accountable. When laws multiply and authority grows distant, liberty weakens. Therefore, Eaglexit’s purpose is to restore government to its rightful foundation: limited power, answerable to the people, and devoted to protecting liberty, responsibility, and the common good. Sovereignty shall remain permanently with the citizens of local government, and no office or agency shall exercise powers not granted by them. 

#2: The Jeffersonian Principle of Limited Government and Local Sovereignty 

Restoring government to its smallest effective scale begins where authority rests with the people and rises only by their consent. Power is exercised within families, neighborhoods, and communities, delegated upward only when necessity demands, and confined to clearly defined purposes. 

Thomas Jefferson recognized that both liberty and governance depend on the limits of human relationships. The capacity for connection and comprehension is finite. Just as we can nurture only a limited number of close relationships, we can effectively oversee only those governments that remain within the reach of our sight, understanding, and daily experience. 

When power grows distant, it escapes public scrutiny and invites waste, fraud, and abuse. Keeping government near and narrow preserves liberty and responsibility. 

#3: Fiduciary 

Today’s local, state and federal governments suffer from the corruption of fiduciary trust. Citizens’ confidence has eroded under the weight of bureaucracy and preemption. Yet Alaska’s Constitution provides a corrective: it restrains government and limits it strictly to powers expressly granted. The State may act only within those bounds; the people, conversely, retain every right not denied. 

As Article I, Section 21 declares, “The enumeration of rights in this constitution shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” This clause mirrors the U.S. Constitution’s Ninth Amendment affirming that government’s powers are restricted, while the people’s rights are infinite. 

The fiduciary duty of local government begins when authority is delegated. From that point forward, officials are trustees, not masters. They must use every power and dollar for the people’s benefit, under the oversight of consent and accountability. 

#4: Civic Renewal and Education 

A free society depends on citizens willing to govern themselves. The Alaska Constitution entrusts all political power to the people, declaring government exists by their consent and for their benefit. This covenant renews civic participation as the heart of public life, allowing neighbors to deliberate openly and communities to set their own priorities while the government remains transparent and restrained. 

Education stands at the center of that renewal. Public education bears the purpose of cultivating capable, thoughtful, and responsible citizens; individuals who reason freely, work cooperatively, and act with integrity. Schools must reflect local values, empower parents, and inspire every child toward excellence, curiosity, and civic purpose; nurturing in each student a lasting connection to our communities. 

Fostering civic engagement and educational excellence builds competent institutions and a living community of self-governing citizens. Success will be measured not by the size of government but by the confidence of future generations. 

#5: Stewardship and Intergenerational Trust 

Every act of government carries a duty to those who come after us. That obligation extends to our community’s resources, land, infrastructure, and natural wealth management. All must be handled with prudence, transparency, and long-term sustainability. Stewardship means fiduciary duty carried forward in time; the obligation to ensure that the decisions we make today leave our progeny a community freer, stronger, and more prosperous than the one we inherited. 

Is liberty lost whenever power is centralized? Freedom endures only when responsibility is shared; when each person holds a stake in public life and bears the weight of that trust. The vitality of a community flows out from individuals, families, and local assemblies, not down from the state. 

Intergenerational trust requires more than budgets or infrastructure. It requires cultivating strong families, honest institutions, and a civic culture that prizes duty over privilege. The model of such stewardship ensures each generation grows in freedom, competence, and belonging. When people govern close to home, they govern with care. When they see their children’s future bound to the land and community they love, liberty ceases to be abstract and becomes a living inheritance. 

Conclusion 

Eaglexit’s five principles aim to create local government consistent with Alaska’s constitution, not to invent a new system. We insist that government exists to serve, not rule, and must govern only by the people’s consent. Our goals are limited government, lower costs, stronger schools, and a secure future for the next generation.