Wanting the autonomy to choose your own pronouns is all well and good to a point, but I think it does injustice to the language to not enclose every reference to these types with scare quotes as ‘so-called “sovereign citizens”’ every time it’s said.
As with any whacko who wants to claim they are an angel, an alien, a prophet, or a reincarnation of the buddha - simply wanting to be called something because you think it sounds cooler or gives you authority you do not possess does not mean that anyone else is required to do so - especially LEOs. Or reporters.
No part of the US government seems to know what to do with them. There was that recent NYTimes article about the sovereign citizens and a tax-fraud scheme that’s popular with them. Apparently they’re getting a lot of money from the IRS in bogus refunds and the IRS still hasn’t caught on. White privilege is really working for them.
Agreed, though I think there’s a huge difference between demanding equal treatment, free from discrimination on the basis of gender, race, or sexual orientation, and demanding special treatment and personal exemptions because you don’t like paying taxes.
Yeah, the whole tribal law thing is incredibly complicated, and while I am still learning more details as I go, it a lot of times involves the US courts not really respecting their rights or past treaties. And other times giving them some autonomy, i.e. the gambling decisions. And of course the nation is huge, so dealing in one area and one tribe is different from another. But it’s been going on for a long, long time. As I’ve said, I belong to a the Citizen Band of the Potawatomie, and they specifically took citizenship to try to be afforded the same rights as those around them.
There’s a new brand of see something/say something in our cinemas (UK). One of the ‘suspicious’ activities is police filming. (The other two are buying hammers and knives, and dumping plastic containers with hazard symbols on them.)
I find the sov-cits rather touchingly naive in their faith in legalities. They will haul out hundreds-year old constitutional minutae and expect police and judges to respect it. And it’s not just white people, although they seem to be the majority…there are numerous first Nations people who think that because treaties were signed with “the Queen”, Canada has no jurisdiction…
And really, who among us can say that she has never needed to rapidly dispose of a polystyrene micro-cooler filled with human pituitary glands at one point or another?
Societies work because of cooperation., Cooperation requires shared goals., Shared goals require shared values. “Don’t tell me what to do” is not the cry of the Libertarian free-spirit; it’s the whine of an adolescent, the flag of the anti-vaxxer and gun fetishist and coal-rolling SUV driver. “Don’t tell me what to do” is a shit way to run a functioning society.
Reading the wiki page on that shooting, it was a Wildlife Officer who rammed their car with his truck, which seems . . . appropriate.
As I understand it they don’t recognize the federal gubmint, they think they are primarily citizens of their county I guess, the county sheriff is supposedly the highest office they will recognize. But I’ll bet if the county sheriff tried to arrest them they’d have something else to say about that.
I recommend the podcast series “Bundyville” for anyone who is interested in a deeper look at this movement, its origins and the terrifying implications of its future.
Capitalists err when they insist that greed is the fundamental human drive.
Social anarchists err when they insist that mutualism is the fundamental human drive.
These are both errors because human nature fundamentally includes both of these drives (and others).
Likewise, don’t tell me what to do is a pretty fundamental human aesthetic. You may not like it, however, I suggest you add “are female,” “are a gender minority,” “are a sexual minority,” or are just about anyone else for whom massive structures of society exist to put you in your place to your “if you are 12”. Otherwise you err by omission.
Insomuch as “sovereign citizens” can be classified as a unified movement it’s almost exclusively white (and largely white supremacist). The claims made by non-white sovereign citizens usually hinge on entirely different legal theories, such as native tribes claiming (not without justification) that the Federal Government failed to honor binding treaties.
