Here's a Russian Times interview of a man claiming to be a sovereign citizen: [video]http://youtu.be/hjnQrZ7-Rcg[/video] I had to post this video - it's really bizarre. The sovereign movement is when individuals just decide they are no longer citizens of the country in which they reside, they claim they are not bound by any of the laws, they refuse to pay taxes, etc. If they don't want to be citizens anymore, it seems it would be the easiest solution, if they could just leave. But, I guess they don't want to. Probably the best article I've found about them was on CBSNews.
Sounds like a would be anarchist to me . RT is a channel that would love to see the US glassed i guess this is just another way in which they encourage anti-US movements . Also the guy looked .... well .... he wasn't much of a role model .
The problem is that even if the government accepts their argument, they will lose. If you are not a citizen of a country then you are an illegal in that country which means you should be deported to your own country but since you don´t have a country then they can keep you in immigration detention until you give up. Governments have guns, so is never a good idea to argue with them unless you are really ready to fight.
the idea is not very appealing unless one is a lunatic of some sort. you can't drive (your vehicle will be impounded if you're caught, jailed if you crash), you can't travel (no passport, no gov't ID), getting a legal job will be kind of impossible and so on.
no need to fight anybody. One is always ( well, pretty much always ) a sovereign citizen. You affairs are always more important to you than ones of the state. Would you die to prevent Wikileaks from happening? Would you kill your family for that? How about 9/11?
The news on RT is predictably biased against the US, but I didn't feel that they were promoting the sovereign movement in any way. If I were to complain at all, it would be mainly that the RT interview may have given a false impression that this is more widespread than it actually is. I still enjoyed the video for entertainment value, it reminded me of a video on The Onion. I had to watch it to the end because I was waiting for them to say -- Ha Ha, just kidding! How it appears to work in practice is they can claim all they want to be sovereign citizens, but they aren't. I've read about them even sending paperwork to government offices, notifying them they are sovereign citizens, but the government sends back a rejection letter. Yet, it doesn't effect their US citizenship. My comment "If they don't want to be citizens anymore, it seems it would be the easiest solution, if they could just leave." -- is just my own personal opinion, but, if they didn't want a US citizenship, it looks like they would actually need to leave the US and renounce it in a foreign country. So, if they did go to a foreign country to renounce citizenship, the sovereign citizen probably wouldn't be interested in citizenship there. And, the foreign country probably wouldn't be interested in providing it, since they don't want to follow the laws of their country. I guess then they would be "stateless" which I don't know too much about - but would imagine no government is that interested in providing residence to an individual that is basically claiming to be an anarchist. True. Even if you work under the table, there is always the risk of getting caught, and tax evasion charges, etc...
Hmm now there are some words of wisdom . To watch RT and other similar "news" just as you watch The Onion News . I think you've just gave me another source of entertainment . I guess i could compile some series like "Terrorist Dad" , "The Anarchist Show" or "Dictator Guy"
as I said no need to fight anybody or renounce any citizenships. Just mind your business and regard taxes, jury, military duty, etc as pestilence or bad weather. Try to get equal amounts or more in governmental services than you pay in taxes. For example you can buy foods that are subsidized by the government, like corn, wheat, etc, you can drive a monster truck that uses more road coating than you pay for with gasoline tax, you can buy things on ebay to avoid sales tax, donate to charities you like to reduce income tax, etc. Bottom line is that it is up to you if you are a sheep or not.