There’s a very specific type of crazy person, more common in the US and Canada than elsewhere, who call themselves sovereign citizens. OP is fond of featuring them in particular on this community, because they really are bafflingly, amusingly crazy.
The short version of it is that they believe that no one can be subject to the laws of a political unit without their explicit consent, and that the legal system is built around tricking you into conflating your legal status with your actual, fully sovereign personal identity (EDIT… sort of… @[email protected] comments below have better info). They believe that if they just say the exact right things in court at the right time, then they cannot be held responsible for any laws, that all of their interactions with the government are really their attempts to escape some illegitimate combination of admiralty law and the “Uniform Commercial Code” which isn’t even law anywhere, it’s just a model prepared by law professors and adapted by states (though never 100%). Some of the SovCits even believe that the federal government is bound by law to hold the taxes paid by them and their ancestors in trust and that if you do the paperwork EXACTLY right, the government has to turn it over to you.
This leads them to do dumb shit like drive without a license, registration, or insurance, and to insist on turns of phrase that are distinctions without differences, such as “I wasn’t driving, I was traveling.” Some of them insist that if a US flag has an embroidered fringe that this is evidence of the conspiracy. They waste time in the courts, and then they take any attempts by the authorities to humor them, to decide not to deal with their shit that particular day, or to preserve their rights to be evidence that the SovCit theory is on the right track and they’ll get it right at the next appearance!
Really, it’s stupid people who don’t understand the world, and who feel like they don’t have everything that they deserve, trying to impose some order and control on a system that is confusing, even if it requires magical thinking to do so. It would be sad if they weren’t acting in ways that are completely anti-social and even dangerous. From there, they usually descend into the rabbit hole of generic New World Order, “the bankers run everything” conspiracy bullshit that actually underpins the “movement”.
they believe that no one can be subject to the laws of a political unit without their explicit consent
No, they believe there IS NO political unit. The USA is a corporation and your birth certificate is in fact the creation of a corporate entitity, distinct from a real person.
They think that the USA has legal standing with the corporate-you (whose name is written in all caps), but not the real-you, unless you agree to enter into a contract with them.
There’s a very specific type of crazy person, more common in the US and Canada than elsewhere, who call themselves sovereign citizens. OP is fond of featuring them in particular on this community, because they really are bafflingly, amusingly crazy.
The short version of it is that they believe that no one can be subject to the laws of a political unit without their explicit consent, and that the legal system is built around tricking you into conflating your legal status with your actual, fully sovereign personal identity (EDIT… sort of… @[email protected] comments below have better info). They believe that if they just say the exact right things in court at the right time, then they cannot be held responsible for any laws, that all of their interactions with the government are really their attempts to escape some illegitimate combination of admiralty law and the “Uniform Commercial Code” which isn’t even law anywhere, it’s just a model prepared by law professors and adapted by states (though never 100%). Some of the SovCits even believe that the federal government is bound by law to hold the taxes paid by them and their ancestors in trust and that if you do the paperwork EXACTLY right, the government has to turn it over to you.
This leads them to do dumb shit like drive without a license, registration, or insurance, and to insist on turns of phrase that are distinctions without differences, such as “I wasn’t driving, I was traveling.” Some of them insist that if a US flag has an embroidered fringe that this is evidence of the conspiracy. They waste time in the courts, and then they take any attempts by the authorities to humor them, to decide not to deal with their shit that particular day, or to preserve their rights to be evidence that the SovCit theory is on the right track and they’ll get it right at the next appearance!
Really, it’s stupid people who don’t understand the world, and who feel like they don’t have everything that they deserve, trying to impose some order and control on a system that is confusing, even if it requires magical thinking to do so. It would be sad if they weren’t acting in ways that are completely anti-social and even dangerous. From there, they usually descend into the rabbit hole of generic New World Order, “the bankers run everything” conspiracy bullshit that actually underpins the “movement”.
No, they believe there IS NO political unit. The USA is a corporation and your birth certificate is in fact the creation of a corporate entitity, distinct from a real person.
They think that the USA has legal standing with the corporate-you (whose name is written in all caps), but not the real-you, unless you agree to enter into a contract with them.
Fair enough. I’m a little rusty on my sovcit “legal” “history”. 🤣
I’m not a SovCit, but I’ve played one
on tvat a larp, so I’ve done an unhealthy amount of reading (pirated) books by them.Don’t forget that your birth certificate is a berth certificate, like a boat. Hence the connection to maritime law and shipping.
Beautifully put.