An alternate interpretation of sovereign citizens

Background

A steady stream of videos is available for those interested in the “sovereign citizen” genre, which show interactions with police and judges as these people claim they are not in the jurisdiction of the court, and try to get out of punishment. “Sovereign citizens” are classified by the FBI as potential terrorists because, as their numbers rise, it threatens public order in general; however, they rarely are a physical danger.

The common elements of the incidents are:

• The subject person gets training in ways to avoid being held accountable. They commit time and money towards books and seminars where they learn about a fictitious alternate system of laws and how they can opt out of being under the authority of government. This is enticing because it promises to alleviate costs, and the risks of breaking the law (even if they are not setting out to hurt anyone). It also feels empowering to believe that ones social contract is consensual, rather than authoritarian.
• The subject is drawn further into the belief system. Initially even an educated skeptic might find that one of their concepts is plausible, like “A 1923 case ruled that the state cannot require you to state your name”. (That’s made up, but something I could potentially believe.) Then the claims get increasingly unbelievable, but circularly reinforcing like in a cult. So they get drawn in to the point of disbelieving the legitimacy of any of the actual government. The belief system ties in with a standard set of conspiracy theories about the gold standard and Federal Reserve, “globalists” and so on.
• They are stopped by police for traffic or minor drug offenses, often something obvious like not having a license plate.
• They refuse to comply with anything, and escalate the situation by repeatedly stating or yelling their alternate legal system that they memorized. They cannot question the cult during a stressful encounter so they double down on the alternate reality and they won’t stop talking long enough to hear anything.
• They sometimes get taken to jail. At that point it appears from what I’ve seen that because of the long hours, days, or months in jail, the subject will eventually become practical and act compliant to regain freedom. But before that, they may have one or more encounters with the judge where they insist they are in a kangaroo court and yell wildly the whole time.

Standard interpretation

Those who narrate the videos, as well a majority of commenters, say that the subjects never were properly educated or are very stupid or gullible. In that model, the subject completely believes that they are in the right, that they are more educated than the judges, and by saying all the right things, they will weasel out of any consequences. Breaking that down, this model says that:

• The subject has the intent to fly under the radar, to skirt any possible encounters with the law.
• The subject is delusional about their mastery of the law, or their intellect or wisdom or other personal asset.
• The subject believes in the idea of a social order, which is systematic and consensual; but they are misinformed about the social order that we actually have.
• The subject may have an intolerable personality with self-importance.

To me this model of their intent and character completely fails to explain the behavior. Most of the points apply to many people to some degree, but these subjects’ behavior is not just an exaggeration of what normal people do. For example, uninformed or unintelligent people do not memorize whole bodies of fictitious legalese. People who want to fly under the radar tend to slip away quietly from situations rather than escalate.

My interpretation

Basically what I’m seeing is a BDSM ritual being played out with non-consenting fellow role-players.

Consider the number of people who record and even livestream the interactions (voyeurism). In some cases the recordings start well before any police encounter and the subject is talking about the potential of being pulled over before it happens, indicating it is being sought after.

Consider the different reactions to being caught with a fake ID. When normal people use a fake ID for entry, to buy alcohol, or anything, and then it does not work, they feel shame or disappointment because their plan was foiled. But these subjects feel emboldened, because it is just a planned step in the escalation process.

Consider the use of elaborate scripts. In BDSM rituals, scripts can be part of the foreplay and sexual gratification of it. People who do that get bored of regular sexual interaction so they use characters with drawn out scenes to capture the building energy. Imagine this being said gleefully in a bedroom: “Oh no, if you handcuffed me to this bed, then I’d have to bite you!” That same tone is used by men, whose voice goes way up in pitch, to police, saying things like “Don’t you dare drag me out of this car!” Or when drunk, they forget the act and just say “I dare you to put your hands on me!”. They will also proclaim things like “I am a man/woman in the flesh”, frequently drawing attention to the body.

Consider that the movement is growing despite the fact that their tactics have never worked (as in, no police or judge has ever ruled in favor of their alternate legal system). There are many aspects of the cult legalese that are so absurdly facile that they could only be conceived to extend the time of interaction rather than be coherently debated. Examples are constantly referring to maritime law in the middle of Kansas, or saying that their names are not in capital letters, or saying that whatever verb the police uses, they are not doing that. (“You were driving over the speed limit” / “I was not driving, I was traveling” / “Ok, the car was traveling over the speed limit” / “It’s not a car, it’s a vehicle”.) All of these are not intended to “work”; they are intended to maximize the duration of the encounter.

Finally, consider that when they are isolated in jail and cannot enact a BDSM scene any more, they stop doing the behavior. We are in fact in a police state, and the social contract is imposed, not optional. When that fact becomes inevitable, it is not fun any more.

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