Sovereign Citizens Right or Wrong? Perhaps Both

Sovereign Citizens Right or Wrong? Perhaps Both-Most of us in Alaska are familiar with the term Sovereign Citizen. They seem to be growing in the valley as well as the interior. Most sovereign citizens are attracted to the ideology of Joe Miller, and Ron Paul. The recent case of Alaska Sovereign Schaeffer Cox put sovereigns in the media spotlight. However, in case you aren’t, sovereign citizens believe that the United States of America has been replaced by an unlawful defacto corporate government called the United States. According to them this happened in the 1800’s during the civil war under the Lincoln administration. Sovereign citizens believe that income taxes, driver’s licenses and business licenses among other legislation passed since then are unlawful because an unlawful government passed it. They are strong supporters of the constitution. They claim that the American people were better off and truly free before the civil war and that we need to restore America to what is once was. The question is are they right or wrong?  Personally I think they are both. 

Where I agree with the sovereigns

First all I think we need to define a few things; sovereign means that you are in control of your on territory. You have unalienable rights granted to you by God, nothing is between you and God. Only God can take away these rights unless you render the rights to someone else through consent. We see the terms consent in many government documents. The constitution simply reaffirms the rights granted to you by God. All of this I agree with. I agree that the constitution is the supreme law of the land. I support free speech, the 2^nd amendment, right to assemble and so on. I think most will agree that the constitution is being eroded. I believe in the will of the people. I do believe that we have the right to defend our freedoms. I remember taking an oath to defend the constitution. To me that oath still stands. I really like the idea of auditing the Federal Reserve. I believe as our founding fathers that governments are instituted to secure the freedoms. In other words, the government keeps me from treading on your rights and you from treading on mine.

Where I disagree with the sovereigns

I am a die hard Alex Jones fan, and although I believe most sovereign citizens are good people, I must disagree with them on many points. First of all this “If it’s not in the Constitution, you can’t do it” is a bunch of baloney. The question is not if it’s constitutional or not because our founders made provisions in the constitution for new amendments. But does the new law violate anyone’s rights and does it benefit the free republic, and what is the will of the people?

Although I believe that the only constitutional tax is a sales tax or corporate excise tax, I do and will always pay my income taxes. Why? Because without the income tax we would have never won WWII or the cold war. Nor would we be able to fund social security or medicare. It’s for the greater good. Remember the mission, which is to save the free republic.  Sovereign citizens drive on the public roads just like everyone else, go to public hospital just like everyone else, all of which are funded by taxes. Sound a little hypocritical?

I’m sorry there is reason we have driver’s license requirements, which is to make the highways safer. Without a federal government, America would break up into fifty anarchist banana republics. Anarchy is bad. The end road to anarchy is always tyranny. America has to have a sheriff and the sheriff is the government. Our founding fathers saw the need for government. I’m sorry some regulations are good, so this idea of repealing all post civil war legislation is just plain crazy.  However, we do need to repeal legislation that is not helpful to sustaining a free republic such as the 1968 gun control act. If we ever succumb to tyranny through invasion or whatever, we are going to wish we had some of the firearms, which were banned.

Again I believe that most sovereign citizens are good people who believe in the constitution. I agree we must always keep the government in check. In other words, limit the power of the sheriff. However, we have a process called the courts to decide what’s right and what’s not. It’s not perfect but it’s what should always be used first. Extremism isn’t the answer. Now I know the argument, it’s no vice to be extreme in defense of liberty and I agree. But refusing to buy a drivers license does not make you Paul Revere. A society can’t function with everyone choosing which laws they will or will not abide by. Again the process is the courts, calling your elected officials and the ballot box. There are numerous examples where the people have challenged government authority and won using the system. Our founders did a pretty good job even though it’s not perfect. Now if the day ever comes where citizens are being thrown in concentration camps and the constitution is burned then is the time to reach for something else.

The picture needs to be accurate

I do believe that the 60 minutes documentary painted an unfair picture of sovereigns. And as far as the southern poverty law center is concerned, which is nothing more than a left wing extremist group, has no credibility whatsoever. However, I will admit there are some nut jobs among the sovereigns as with all groups. I strongly sympathize with the officers in Arkansas who were murdered. I don’t see anywhere where these officers violated their constitutional oath as some sovereigns claim. You see extremism in every group from sovereign citizens to environmental groups. The problem is that many of these people are like cult followers. Notice I said many not all. It’s wrong to paint the whole group with a broad brush as 60 minutes did. Out of 300,000 estimated sovereign citizens, only a handful, not even 1% has acted in violence. That’s less than the American population as a whole.

From what I understand about 1% of the American population is in prison. I personally feel that the lazy nose ring, purple hair, baggy paints wearing disrespectful under 25 crowd is a greater threat to the American way of life than most sovereign citizens. Perhaps they should be the ones on an FBI watch list. But again, I do feel the sovereigns are wrong just like so many extreme groups because of their extremism, which blinds them to the ultimate goal, which is to preserve the free republic. It’s sad they try so hard to save the republic, yet they help destroy it. Kind of like the extreme environmental groups do more harm to conservation than good.

I know if I were an enemy of the American people I would try to create a scenario where no matter whose ideology prevailed the end result would be the same. That’s exactly where we are.

You see countries are like cars; you got to keep them between the ditches. Sometimes you turn right and sometimes turn left to stay on the road. Now if you have left wing socialistic democrat extremist, a right wind country club republican extremist, and a Ron Paul libertarian anarchist sovereign extremist all fighting for the wheel, you are gonna crash. Unfortunately our country is coming apart. At one time people of with different ideas could sit at the same table and have a sane conversation. But not anymore, today most Americans are a bit too extreme.

Maybe we should pray for a sober mind and maybe we could get along better and come to our senses and save the country. God knows, we have enough enemies to fight on the outside without fighting among ourselves.

The Obsolete Man-Rise of the State-Twilight Zone

The Obsolete Man. A warning from an old show. You've got to watch these in order. You can watch all three parts in less than 30 minutes.

The Obsolete Man Part I

The Obsolete Man Part II

The Obsolete Man Part III



Those in Uniform & The Constitution

Those in Uniform & The Constitution- The constitution is the supreme law of the land, or so we have been told. If that were true one would think those in charge of enforcing the law would understand the law. I respect those in uniform who put their lives on the line. It is they above all who are the guardians of freedom. Since the American Revolution countless unsung heroes whose names we will never know have fallen in the defense of freedom, from sheriffs who stood up against outlaws to the men who stormed Normandy. However, there are others who hide behind the uniform instead of stand for it. Thank God this has been a minority. However, this may not always be the case. You see up until now the problem has never been systematic. Things are changing.

I think one of the biggest problems is this; most Americans really don’t understand the constitution. This is a failure of the public educational system. You see the constitution does not give us rights. The creator does, that’s part of natural law. The constitution simply reaffirms those rights. If the state decided to abandon the constitution does that mean the rights are gone? Of course not, because it isn’t the state or the constitution that is the right giver, it is the creator. These rights are forever and belong to all people from all lands. America’s founding fathers were one of the few who understood this. This is why America has always tried to spread freedom around the world.

Everyone has rights no matter his or her state believes. The Chinese government can say whatever it wants at the point of a gun, but it is still wrong. Remember might does not make right. The Chinese people still have rights granted to them by someone much higher than the state. In other words the constitution applies to all people everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you are standing.

When I was young I remember taking an oath when I joined the military. Back then we were taught that we weren’t to follow illegal orders. That “I was simply following orders crap” won’t cut it. The Nazi concentration camp guards tried that line and it didn’t work. I think the military may be a bit different today because the “old tough as nails chew your ass brass” has been replaced by politicians in uniform who are more concerned with their after military carriers.

If the constitution is the supreme law and I believe it is, then anyone who has taken the oath must follow the oath. That means if a locality passes an unconstitutional ordinance, the police are not to follow it. That means the guardsmen and police who confiscated the firearms of law-abiding citizens who were defending their rights in New Orleans were following illegal orders. These poor souls disgraced their uniform.

Should we blame those in uniform? Guilty is guilty. However, I do believe most want to do the right thing. I personally believe military members have a better understanding of the constitution than say the police and are far more unlikely to violate the constitution. Perhaps this is why there is a movement to internationalize our troops, to water them down with tyrannical UN blood so to speak. As far as certain Federal agencies go, most have lost it to the point that they need to be dismantled. There are three in particular which come to mind. We need to educate those in uniform in support of the constitution. Unfortunately it will not be easy given the government and society is educating against the constitution. Now unlike ever before we have a systematic problem.

Case in point, I have a friend who is a former Anchorage Police Officer. I grew up down south where the police were more like Andy & Barney. They understood their duty. According to my friend, the FBI sent some of the agents from Ruby Ridge to train the Anchorage Police. Remember Ruby Ridge was the place where the FBI butchered Randy Weavers family. His wife, baby, son and dog were murdered in cold blood. Don’t get me wrong I truly believe most Federal agents are good folks. But this is the result of bad training and poor recruitment standards. Randy Weaver sued in court and won. Yet, can you believe that no one went to jail?

Waco is another example. If any of you don’t believe Waco was a butchering then I will challenge you to do the research. As far as Anchorage goes, my retired police friend who spent over twenty years on the Anchorage Police Dept. claimed that APD is changing. Many officers are anti-second amendment. Now I don’t know about the rest of you, but if you don’t believe in the constitution then don’t wear the uniform. I will say this, there are many guardsmen and police who refused to participate in the New Orleans gun grab.

I think that we as Americans need to demand on the local, state and federal level that the constitution be honored. When anyone in uniform violates this scared law then that person must not only loose their position but should be put on trail in a court of law and if found guilty, punished.

I know this may seem harsh but remember the mission, which is to preserve, or perhaps I should say restore the free republic called the United States of America. If a local cop can’t figure out that you can’t arrest someone for handing out flyers on public property, then folks we have problem. This happened in Anchorage. Years latter one of the officer’s accused, Paul Honeman a high ranker, ran for mayor. He lost. Luckily the individual Uwe Kalenka who was handing out flyers got the justice he deserved. Mr. Honeman cost Anchorage taxpayers 200k. He should have lost his position and pension. See

http://www.chugachconsumers.org/Lib/arrest.htm

I think we should give those in unformed the respect they deserve. We need to stand behind them when they do the right thing and help them when they are tempted to do the wrong thing. I fear the temptation is going to get worse. And finally help familiarize them with organizations like Oath Keepers. http://oathkeepers.org/

By AverageAlaskan