Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sovereignty



            In a recent essay about the Supreme Court rulings on Healthcare and the Arizona Immigration law I used the terms sovereignty and citizen together.  Just a few days ago I received a call from my middle son who is with a Sheriffs Department in the south.  He was telling me about an arrest he had made and the subsequent court date.  He had arrested an individual on drug charges, this individual claimed to be a sovereign citizen therefore the law did not apply to him.  It was an interesting conversation and the research I did later on Sovereign Citizenship was even more interesting, it was also frightening.  Frightening in the sense that I in no way want to have what I have written to be misunderstood to be an endorsement of Sovereign Citizenship.

            The Sovereign Citizenship website mentions that the group believes themselves to be free from all laws.  They have no identification, no drivers license, no social security number, no registrations, nothing.  When they drive they claim they are not driving, they are traveling and there are no laws that prevent them from traveling.  There is even a handbook they will send you to show you how to live a Sovereign Citizen lifestyle.  The website claims they do not advocate violence nut in recent history some of the more horrific violent acts, especially towards Law Enforcement, have been committed by Sovereign Citizens.  Terry Nichols was a Sovereign Citizen as were the Father and Son in Arkansas recently that shot down 2 Police Officers performing a simply traffic stop.  When I went on to obtain more information about these people I came across an article on the FBI website talking about Sovereign Citizens and the domestic threat they pose, not all mind you, but like other groups the extreme faction; sound like any other group that seems to be in the news a lot.  At the end of the FBI article there was a paragraph about the signs to look for in identifying Sovereign Citizens, this was the part that prompted me to write this.  The FBI mentioned a few things in particular, speaking of the Bible and quoting the Constitution.  These happen to be the same types of things that are typically quoted by Tea Party groups, Independents and Libertarians that desire a return to the Constitution.  In short Sovereign Citizenship is not the type of Citizen Sovereignty that I am talking about when I mentioned it in my essay or anytime I mention the 9th Amendment, nor is it the type that any true Patriot of the United States and the Constitution of the United States are talking about.

            Citizen Sovereignty as it applies to the Constitution means that the Citizens are the first step of chain when it comes to the Governments of both the States and the United States.  Citizens created the States and the States created the Union that we call the United States.  Citizens are the ones that are responsible for electing the officials that will represent them at both the State level and the Federal level.  If there were no citizens there would be no Government, I know that is an obvious statement but it is true, it also means that the Citizens are the pool from which the Politicians come, so if the Politicians are a problem then it is the fault of the Citizenry.  I can not and will not take credit for that thought, George Carlin, the late great comedian that told it like it was, had a skit using that thought and he was right, 100% right.  In Carlins’ skit he asks where all the good people are, are the Politicians we keep sending to Washington, and to our State Legislatures, the best we have?  I don’t believe so but until more of the People understand what the 9th Amendment was written for and stop being afraid to stand up we are going to continue to get the same type of Politicians we currently have.  The Tea Party and others that feel as I do believe in having a Government, just not an out of control Government.  The Nation is too large to not have a Government; there would be utter chaos without one.  In truth I believe our Nation is too large for the Government we currently have and we are going to see utter chaos regardless.
            The Government we have currently seems to believe themselves to be more like the British Monarchy of old, the same Monarchy our founding generation fought against, and the same Monarchy our founding generation gave up their lives and their fortunes to free us from.  When this Nation earned its freedom from the British Monarchy it was because the Nation was made up of independent minded people that believed in personal responsibility.  Today our Government does not believe any of us to be responsible enough to make our own decisions; we are not smart enough to think for ourselves.  The Sovereign Citizenship group would tell you to just ignore the Government, ignore their laws and ignore their regulations.  A Sovereign Citizen in accordance with the 9th Amendment will tell you to learn about your Government at all levels and to get involved, even if it only means getting to know your Politicians and voting with knowledge not because of popularity.  We have been led to believe only those with money can be elected to public office, maybe it’s time to disprove that myth, maybe it’s time for Citizen Statesmen again.
           
Steve Avery
7/29/2012

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