John Washington III Asks Who Gave the Government the Right to Speak for Him and His Family

John Washington III is putting a consent question to the federal government and to every state government in America. In a written statement, John Washington III cited the Declaration of Independence for the principle that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and then asked, in his words, “Who gave you the right to speak for me and my family without my consent?”

“So when did I give my consent? When did my family give theirs?” John Washington III wrote. “Who gave a small group of people the authority to speak for every American?” He argued that an agreement a group makes for itself speaks for that group, not for everyone else, and that being born under a government does not mean a person personally agreed to every decision it makes.

John Washington III said his children and he hold constitutional rights, and he warned against government confusing legal authority with unlimited control. “If you claim to speak for me, show me where I agreed, show me how you're representing us, and answer to the people whose lives you affect,” he wrote. “That's the ground I'm standing on.”

The statement is the latest in a series of written challenges John Washington III has directed at federal and state officials as his 2028 presidential campaign presses its case that officeholders answer to the people they govern.