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Sovereign Citizens Refuse to Recognize the U.S. as a Legitimate Government

 

American Sovereign citizens believe that the laws of the United States do not apply to them. Therefore, no authority can tell them what to do: not judges, lawmakers, lawyers, or police officers. Oh, and they don’t pay taxes either. 

Those who identify as sovereign citizens don’t display state License plates, they don’t register their cars with the DMV, and they don’t carry legal driver’s licenses. Instead, they have their own bizarre way of identification.

Sounds crazy, right? It would be crazy if only they didn’t get away with it so often.

This must be a joke? I wish it were. Sadly, these guys really believe that they don’t have to abide by the laws of this country. And as entertaining as they may seem, sovereign citizens are a growing threat and considered a domestic terrorism group by the FBI. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are about 300,000 Americans who subscribe to sovereign citizen beliefs. There’s really no way to tell. I suspect the numbers are much higher.

It’s tempting to put these morons in one bucket. But unfortunately, it’s more complicated than that. Sovereign Citizens come in all different flavors. And almost none of them will actually label themselves as sovereign citizens. They go by many names… Some call themselves living souls, others go by natural persons, Freemen, Moorish nation. The list goes on.

These conspiracy theories aren’t new. They have floated around for years. But it didn’t really take off in far-right corners of the country when President Obama took office.

But all of these folks have one thing in common. None of them believe they are citizens of this country. So how exactly can they claim to not be citizens? I’m glad you asked. Their account of this bizarro United States goes a little like this:

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Today’s episode was written and edited by Javier Leiva

 

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