Beyond The Fringe

What is it about Columbus, Oh. that attracts these people?

In this June 24, 2010 photo, James T. McBride discusses his governmental beliefs during an interview in Columbus, Ohio. As a member of the Sovereign Citizens movement, McBride contends the U.S. government has not had authority over citizens for more than a century.(AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press Writer – Thu Aug 12, 12:23 am ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio – They call themselves sovereign citizens, U.S. residents who declare themselves above state and federal laws.

[...]

At the heart of their belief system: The government creates a secret identity for each citizen at birth, a "straw man," that controls an account at the U.S. Treasury used as collateral for foreign debt. File enough documents at the right offices and the money in those accounts can be used to pay off debt or make purchases worth thousands of dollars.

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"These people really seem to feel that filing certain kinds of legal papers that are connected to their theories will somehow also magically have the power to alter relationships and grant things that otherwise would be unobtainable," [Barkun] said.

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Martin Smith, 48, a civil engineer in Carthage, Mo., lost $8,000 to a father-and-son company in Columbus called Liberty Resources that pitched a method to eliminate credit card debt based on a theory that national banks aren't authorized to issue credit.

"We just became convinced that each of the parts of the puzzle that Liberty Resources ... was telling us existed would work," said Smith.

[...]

Jim Jarvis is Ohio coordinator for the Restore America Plan, which shares similar beliefs with the Guardians group. He maintains the country has lacked a legitimate government since Congress failed to adjourn properly in 1861.

The people who are crazy, he says, are those who won't do the research to find out what's really going on in the country.

[...]

In a 2003 document Jerry Kane filed in a county recorder's office in Ohio, he said he was not a "Fourteen Amendment Citizen." Many sovereign citizens believe the 14th Amendment created a new class of citizens, people who had no constitutional rights but were instead slaves to the government, according to Mark Pitcavage, investigative researcher for the Anti-Defamation League.

McBride, the jailed sovereign citizen, came across anti-government beliefs while in federal prison in Michigan on a 1992 cocaine importing conviction.

Over the years he developed his own tenets, including a revised history of the United States that says the country was secretly organized as a general post office in 1789.

He dismisses any accusation that the programs he pitched were fraud, arguing he's not subject to the laws of the U.S., which he calls a corporation along the lines of a car company.

"General Motor's laws don't affect me because I'm not an employee of them," McBride said. "Same with the state of Ohio and the United States."

Today, McBride is headed back to federal prison after prosecutors said he cashed bogus checks and refused to cooperate with his parole officers following a 2004 bankruptcy fraud conviction.

Foaming of the first water. Superfluous snark would only ruin the magical legalism. Pictures, however ...

In this July 2, 2010 photo, a store front housing a business operated by James T. McBride, a member of the Sovereign Citizens movement, is shown in a shopping plaza in Columbus, Ohio. McBride runs a business from this location providing information about his anti-government views in exchange for donations.(AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

FWIW: AP offers the Southern Poverty Law Center as a source.