This ambitious manifesto declares a universal set of rights, guarantees, and civil liberties for all humans, regardless of nationality, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or race. The author has approached this project with the goal of providing a comprehensive plan to resolve many of the world's major problems. The document's core philosophy is rooted in the belief that all of the earth's inhabitants share a common humanity. "We are all children of humanity, all genetic descendants of those that walked this Earth thousands of years prior. Scientists have been able to determine that every person on this planet is a descendant of a small band of people that walked the Earth many years ago," writes author William Earl Cadwallader II. "Although we are all different-speaking different languages, have different skin tones, have different beliefs, and live different lives-we all have the same right to live our lives upon this Earth as we see fit, less we harm none." His far-reaching, twenty-four section bill of rights addresses a range of key concerns, from guaranteeing freedom of speech, religion, and choice of whom to marry to providing deep rights to access medical care, fair trials by jury, and domestic privacy. His document outlines a series of protections from unlawful search and seizure, cruel and unlawful imprisonment, and a ban on human slavery and forced servitude. Addressing concerns in the Third World, Humanity's Bill of Rights lays out an explicit ban on multi-level and caste societies while calling for clear definitions on a ruler's term in power. This serious declaration is not without its humor. It does after all start with a quote from Transformer character Optimus Prime ("Freedom is the right of all sentient beings") and ends with lyrics from "Happy," a hit song by celebrity drag queen entertainer RuPaul. Throughout the book, he intersperses his declarations of human rights guarantees with a history of various countries' social movements. He discusses the international women's suffrage rights movement and the spread of workers' unionization in the early 1900s. He touches on the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and the Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989. "History can be a great teacher for us all. It can teach us lessons learned by others in many areas of life, even show us the power of what protesting and gathering can accomplish," writes Cadwallader. "If we are to continue to grow and prosper, then we must allow all voices to be heard." Though some may call this work overly idealistic, Cadwallader sees his text as simply outlining an ethics for treating each other with the same dignity and respect we would like for ourselves. He believes such a universal ethos would go a long way in eliminating much of the violence, poverty, pollution, and political suppression now plaguing the planet and its human species.
About the Author: William Earl Cadwallader II has earned degrees in English literature and computer science. He hails from a family of schoolteachers and public educators. An American raised in California, Louisiana, and Washington state, he now lives in Melbourne, Australia. He is happily married to his husband though both their home countries only recognize their relationship as a domestic partnership.