Frontiersman, September 2026

In Proliferation, in the April 2008 issue, I characterized corporations as overcreatures. In Keystone Species, in the June 2026 issue, I suggested that the war in Ukraine had been initiated by overcreatures and was being managed by them entirely for their own benefit. On Friday, July 24, the PBS NewsHour presented a report that, I believe, further supports my suggestion.

According to the PBS report, an entire business community has arisen in Ukraine, in which individuals are manufacturing, in their own homes, the weapons of war. Entire institutions have been established by means of which Ukrainian soldiers in the field can log into websites, peruse catalogues, and order the weapons that they need. The people who are making the weapons then ship them directly to the soldiers in the field. There are even feedback systems that allow the soldiers to rate the sellers. There are reward systems that give points or credits to soldiers, according to their success in the use of the weapons. The soldiers can apply those points or credits to future purchases. The PBS report likened the system to Amazon Prime. The reporting correspondent even used the term “gameification of war” to describe the system.

It isn’t easy to convert from a wartime economy back to a peacetime economy. The products, the skills, the incentives, and so forth, are all different. It’s easier to foment conflicts, and sustain the wartime economy. Overcreatures love a war. The war in Ukraine is a sustaining resource for the overcreatures, and has even enabled them to multiply, spawning those new institutions, young overcreatures. I suggest that the war in Ukraine is an example of an unidentified worldwide phenomenon. Maybe, all over the world, wars are being fought under the unnoticed supervision of overcreatures. Maybe a sort of Darwinian process is in operation. Wars that are well managed drag on for years while sustaining their overcreatures in a healthy condition. Wars that are poorly managed diminish the prospects of their overcreatures. Those overcreatures might not survive. Natural selection and natural deselection will probably work the same way for overcreatures as they do for any other living thing. See Darwin’s Wolf, in the February 2021 issue.

The war in Ukraine presents a vision of a possible future. If overcreatures continue to evolve in the direction of war management, and if they utilize artificial intelligence and autonomous robotics, which they certainly will, then we’re facing the likelihood of a worldwide network of intentionally perpetual wars, managed by overcreatures, entirely for their benefit. It will be a worldwide warnet in which, incidentally, people might be nothing more than a resource. Note that most corporations already have a human resources department. Also note that an employee in a corporation doesn’t have any control over the behavior of his corporation. That’s true even for members of the boards of directors. Their behavior must satisfy the needs of the corporation. They benefit when it benefits but the corporation’s needs come first.

The theory of corporations as overcreatures is unorthodox but, if we treat them as such, then we’ll be better able to predict their behavior and maybe even to control them.

Population Studies
http://frontiersman.org.uk/Population/Curve.html

A Better Document
Sam Aurelius Milam III

One day while I was discussing with my father some of the flaws in the U.S. constitution, he got annoyed and declared that nobody alive today could write a better one. I told him that I could. He didn't believe me, so I started work on writing one.

At that time, I’d already been writing a collection of essays about the flaws in the U.S. constitution. As a part of that project, I’d studied the U.S. constitution, the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the Journals of the Continental Congress, and a few of the state constitutions. I don’t mean that I’d read what some so-called expert had written about them. I mean that I’d studied the actual documents themselves. I’d also studied a few other historical sources, for which I admittedly relied on other authors. In any case, I was reasonably well prepared, at that time, to write a better constitution.

One day, as I was working on the project, I realized that I wasn’t writing a constitution. I was writing a treaty. I thought about it for a while and decided that it was a good idea. We don’t need a better constitution. We don’t need a constitution at all. A constitution defines a government. A treaty is an agreement between governments. The government that was formed by the U.S. constitution was never more than an artificial and uneasy alliance of disparate members. The American states should have remained as they were originally described in the Declaration of Independence, that is, “... that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states ... and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do.” The U.S. constitution was a mistake, a step backwards, another example of winning the war and losing the peace. That's why I wrote a treaty instead of a constitution.

Presented next is an excerpt from that treaty. The entire treaty is available in Pharos. I chose to present Article 8 as the excerpt because it represents a significant innovation over previous and present such documents. It provides a Convention of the States. That body has some important powers. Two of them are the powers to repeal or to rescind legislation, powers that are desperately needed today. It also controls the admittance of new members into the alliance, or the expulsion from the alliance of current members.

Even though it’s a treaty, and not a constitution, I still wrote a better document than the U.S. constitution.

Treaty for an Alliance of American States

(an excerpt)

Article 8: The Convention of the States

Article 8, Section 1
1.

The Convention of the States shall consist of Delegates from each state in this Alliance.
2.

Each state may send any number of Delegates to the Convention of the States, but the Delegates for each state shall vote as a group and each state shall have one vote.
3.

The qualifications for a state’s Delegates shall be as determine by that state.
4.

The method of choosing a state’s Delegates shall be as determined by that state.
5.

A state may recall any or all of its Delegates whenever it chooses.
6.

Delegates to the Convention of the States are not officers of this Alliance, but of the states they represent.
7.

The emolument to be received by each Delegate shall be determined by the state that he represents and shall be paid to him by that state.
8.

No Delegate, during the time that he is a member of the Convention of the States, shall hold any other office under the authority of this Alliance.

Article 8, Section 2: Rules of Procedure
1.

The Delegates to the Convention of the States may determine the times when the Convention of the States will convene and adjourn.
2.

The Convention of the States shall not conduct business unless at least a majority of the member states is represented.
3.

A motion of the Convention of the States shall not pass unless it receives the approval of at least two-thirds of the states represented and voting.
4.

When the Convention of the States is deciding a conflict within the jurisdictions provided in this Article, any state which is a party to the conflict may provide evidence or testimony, but such state shall not have the power to vote.
5.

This Alliance may provide evidence or testimony in any matter before the Convention of the States, but it shall never for any reason whatsoever have the power to vote.

Article 8, Section 3: Powers
1.

The powers of the Convention of the

States shall not exceed those expressly delegated in this Section.
2.

Powers delegated to the Convention of the States are reserved exclusively to the Convention of the States. The Convention of the States shall not delegate its powers to other bodies or individuals.
3.

Except as provided in this Article, the Convention of the States shall have the power to determine its own rules of procedure.
4.

The Convention of the States may, with the concurrence of at least two-thirds of the states represented and voting, expel a Delegate.
5.

The Convention of the States shall not itself have executive powers. However, the states in this Alliance may take any appropriate action, individually or in concert, to enforce decisions of the Convention of the States.
6.

The Convention of the States shall have the exclusive power to make any necessary rules within such district as may, by cession of particular states and the acceptance of the Convention of the States, become either the temporary or the permanent seat of that Convention.
7.

The Convention of the States shall have the power to propose revisions to this Treaty (see Article 15).
8.

The Convention of the States shall have the power to judge the eligibility, as specified in Article 14 of this Treaty, of new states requesting admission into this Alliance.
9.

The Convention of the States shall have the power to expel a state from membership in this Alliance, as provided in Article 14.
10.

The Convention of the States shall have the power to resolve conflicts between
•

this Treaty and the constitution of any state in this Alliance,
•

this Treaty and any legislation of any state in this Alliance,
•

any legislation of this Alliance and any legislation of any state in this Alliance, or
•

any legislation of this Alliance and the constitution of any state in this Alliance.
11.

The Convention of the States shall have judicial power over cases and controversies to which this Alliance is a party.
12.

The Convention of the States shall have the power to repeal any legislation of this Alliance.
13.

The Convention of the States shall have the power to rescind any legislation of this Alliance. See Article 11, Section 4.
14.

This Alliance may request a session of the Convention of the States. The Convention of the States may then, at its discretion, assemble and consider the matter for which the session was requested.
15.

Any state not a member of this Alliance, and which wishes to apply for membership in this Alliance, may request a session of the Convention of the States. The Convention of the States may then, at its discretion, assemble and consider the admission of the state into this Alliance. See Article 14.

Article 8, Section 4: Duties
1.

Any state in this Alliance may call a session of the Convention of the States. The Convention of the States shall then assemble and consider the matter for which the session was called.
2.

If any decision of the Convention of the States results in a proposal to revise this Treaty, then the Convention of the States shall transmit that proposal to the several states. See Article 15.
3.

If any decision of the Convention of the States results in a proposal to revise the legislation of this Alliance, then the Convention of the States shall transmit that proposal to the Legislative Council. See Article 10.
4.

If any decision of the Convention of the States results in a proposal to revise the legislation or constitution of a state in this Alliance, then the Convention of the States shall transmit that proposal to that state.
5.

The Convention of the States shall keep a Journal of its proceedings, which it shall publish after the end of each session but prior to the beginning of the next session.

Additional Information
•

Treaty for an Alliance of American States, in Pharos
http://pharos.org.uk/Contracts_of_Nations/Contracts_of_Nations.html#Treaty_for_an_Alliance
•

U.S. constitution: Topical Arrangement, in Pharos
http://pharos.org.uk/Contracts_of_Nations/Contracts_of_Nations.html#Topical_Constitution
•

Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, 1889, in The Sovereign’s Library
http://sovereign-library.org.uk/Bouvier/Bouvier.html
•

Miscellaneous Definitions, in The Sovereign’s Library
http://sovereign-library.org.uk/Main_Directory.html#Miscellaneous_Definitions
•

Try, Try Again, in the February 2019 issue
http://frontiersman.org.uk/2019/2019-02/2019-02.html#Try_Again
•

The Supreme Flaw of the Land Essays, in Pharos
http://pharos.org.uk/Flaw_of_the_Land_Essays/Flaw_Essays.html

Boundaries are limits of power, not of law or of treaty.

—from Jack of Shadows
by Roger Zelazny

Availability — Funding for this newsletter is from sources over which I don’t have any control. Therefore, it might become necessary for me to terminate one or more subscriptions at any time, without notice. All past issues are presently available for free download at the internet address shown below. Contributions are welcome.

Cancellations — If you don’t want to keep receiving printed copies of this newsletter, then return your copy unopened. When I receive it, I’ll terminate your subscription.

Reprint Policy — Permission is hereby given to reproduce this newsletter in its entirety or to reproduce material from it, provided that the reproduction is accurate and that proper credit is given. I do not have the authority to give permission to reprint material that I have reprinted from other sources. For that permission, you must apply to the original source. I would appreciate receiving a courtesy copy of any document or publication in which you reprint my material.

Submissions — I consider letters, articles, and cartoons for the newsletter, but I don’t pay for them. Short items are more likely to be printed. I suggest that letters and articles be shorter than 500 words but that’s flexible depending on space available and the content of the piece.

Payment — This newsletter isn’t for sale. If you want to make a voluntary contribution, then I prefer cash or U.S. postage stamps. For checks or money orders, please inquire. You can use editor@frontiersman.org.uk for PayPal payments. In case anybody’s curious, I also accept gold, silver, platinum, etc. I don’t accept anything that requires me to provide ID to receive it.

—Sam Aurelius Milam III, editor

The veterinarian refused to treat ducks because he didn’t like being called a quack.