January 05, 2014
Photo courtesy fellowshipoftheminds.com
Joseph, a self-styled sovereign citizen, thinks mankind has been “hoodwinked” into bowing to governmental authority, making him one of a growing number of Americans who register their alienation from local, state and federal government with nuisance lawsuits, refusal to pay taxes and even violence in extreme cases.
“All are born into the sovereign domain of the prime creator,” Joseph, who declined to give his full name or location, told FoxNews.com in an email. “No code can ever abridge that fact, no amount of manmade thought or words on paper can ever abridge that. Today man has lost sight of himself so bad that he will blindly follow, believe or succumb to anything considered an authority outside or seemingly above himself.”
Dubbed sovereign citizens by law enforcement, the movement numbers anywhere from 80,000 to 300,000 nationwide, according to experts contacted by FoxNews.com. While many live on society’s fringe and pose no immediate threat, police are being trained to be wary of sovereign citizens, knowing that they may not respect cops’ authority and could be prone to violence.
“We’re five years into a major resurgence of the sovereign citizens movement and even with that, most Americans have no idea that the sovereign citizens movement exists,” said Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research at the Anti-Defamation League. “It has this uncanny ability to fly under the radar screen.”
The anti-government view of sovereign citizens made headlines last month when a Las Vegas couple was accused of plotting to abduct police officers at random and interrogate them in “trials” that would be videotaped and released to the public. David Brutsche, 42, and his accomplice, 68-year-old paralegal Devon Newman, never carried out their alleged plan, but the case was enough to send a chill through the law enforcement community.
Sovereign citizens have no leader, no headquarters and no secret handshake. The term is most often bestowed on them by academics, activists and law enforcement authorities, and not one embraced by so-called members.