Article XVIII

This article exists because truly free markets require competition, opportunity, and accountability—not domination by a small number of powerful private interests. When corporations, financial institutions, or other private entities become large enough to control markets, essential services, or economic opportunity, individuals and small businesses can lose meaningful freedom and choice. 

This article seeks to prevent excessive concentrations of private economic power, protect open competition, and ensure that everyone has a fair opportunity to participate in the economy. It also safeguards essential goods, services, and infrastructure from unaccountable private control while allowing communities to choose public, cooperative, private, or mixed ownership models that best serve the public interest.

Section 1 — Democratic Market Structure

Economic liberty, broad participation, and democratic self-government require markets and economic institutions that do not permit private domination over economic life.

Economic systems shall be structured to preserve meaningful opportunity, broad participation, freedom of enterprise, and freedom from domination by concentrated private power. No private institution shall be permitted to attain such economic power, control, or systemic importance that its actions or failure threaten democratic governance, economic stability, or the sovereignty of the People.

The prevention of private economic domination is a legitimate and necessary objective of federal and state law.

Section 2 — Prevention of Private Economic Domination

No person, corporation, financial institution, consortium, or other concentration of private economic power shall be permitted to acquire, maintain, or exercise economic authority in a manner that substantially restricts economic liberty, forecloses meaningful participation, controls essential goods or services, or otherwise enables domination over the economic lives of others.

Private economic power that exercises authority, influence, or control inconsistent with democratic self-government constitutes a structural threat to constitutional liberty and self-government.

Section 3 — Open Participation and Economic Opportunity

Every person possesses the right to fair and meaningful opportunity to participate in lawful economic activity and to pursue economic advancement free from artificial barriers created by concentrated private power.

Economic systems shall preserve meaningful opportunity for entrepreneurship, innovation, market participation, and economic mobility.

Congress and the States shall enact and maintain laws reasonably necessary to identify, prevent, and remedy structural barriers to economic participation inconsistent with the principles of this Article.

Section 4 — Essential Goods, Services, and Infrastructure

Essential goods, services, resources, and infrastructure upon which individuals or communities substantially depend shall not be organized in a manner that permits unaccountable private domination.

Nothing in this Article shall be construed to prohibit public ownership, cooperative ownership, public utilities, or other democratically accountable forms of economic organization consistent with this Constitution.

Section 5 — Rule of Construction

Nothing in this Article shall be construed to require any particular economic system, ownership model, market structure, or method of economic organization, provided that the principles of economic liberty, broad participation, democratic accountability, and freedom from private economic domination are meaningfully secured.

Nothing in this Article shall be construed to prohibit or restrict public ownership, cooperative ownership, public utilities, public financing systems, worker-owned enterprises, mutual organizations, or other democratically accountable forms of economic organization consistent with this Constitution.

Nothing in this Article shall be construed to restrict the rights of workers, labor organizations, collective bargaining associations, cooperatives, or other lawful forms of voluntary economic association protected by Article XVII of this Amendment.

The provisions of this Article shall be interpreted consistently with Articles XIV and XVII of this Amendment and shall be liberally construed to secure their full and meaningful purpose.