interest rates as banks reacted to global political
and trade realities but these increases crippled
farmers, many of whom had taken out low-
interest loans only a few years before. Bankers
showed no mercy (in the form of flexible
repayment schedules), and they used their
lawyers, courts, and local law enforcement to
foreclose on family farms across the Midwest.
Among the foremost beliefs among the popular
ideologies of an agrarian farmer is “the peasant’s
belief in his right to land” (Rudé, 1980, p. 30),
and that belief continues in the minds of
contemporary farmers and even suburban and
urban homeowners.
Within the Freemen and Sovereign Citizens,
structures of resistance to the American
government’s policies toward land and finance
date back into the 1970s, when groups such as
the Posse Comitatus and the California-based
antitaxers, the Committee of the States (from
1984 to 1988 [Paranoia and Patriotism, 2012])
established common-law courts (Durham, 2000,
p. 140). Flooding courts with documents (i.e.,
paper terrorism) and placing liens against local
officials also date back some forty years, as does
the desire to establish adherents’ own court
jurisdictions, which Freemen attempted in
Montana in 1995 (Durham, 2000, pp. 140–141
see Coppola, 1996, p. 62 Rosenfeld, 1997,
2000, 2011 Wessinger, 1999, pp. 37–42, 2000,
pp. 36–38 ).Having felt betrayed by layers of
government that refused to protect them from
harsh and often illegal banking practices that
courts supported and police enforced, Freemen
and Sovereign Citizens established what they
saw as competing organizations that challenged
the state. Ineffective as these challenges may be,
their operation and the behavioral norms
associated with them (such as refusing the
authority of judges and police) provide
“everyday forms of resistance” (Scott, 2008, p.
33) that reinforce their alienation from, and
rejection of, significant social norms associated
with institutions that they feel have failed them.
The British and Irish Freemen Debate9
Nowhere in the Western world is farming a
stable source of income, and farmers outside of
the United States certainly face difficulties that
reflect climatic conditions in interaction with
governmental policies and increasingly global
pressure. For example, in the 2 years preceding
the year 2000, “UK farm income ha[d] dropped
by as much as 75 percent..., driving more than
20,000 farmers from the land” (Gorelick, 2000,
p. 1). In 2001, 90% of British farmers felt the
impact of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak
(Rayner, 2013b, p. 1), but current problems are
greater. The gravity of current problems stem
from the “appalling weather” (most recently,
floods) combined with more animal illnesses
(Hunt, 2013), leading to income reductions of
between 40% and 50% of previous levels
(Rayner, 2013b, p. 1). Perhaps these and other
conditions (such as the Occupy London protests
in 2011) have led to some individuals turning
toward a British version of the Freemen, but
barristers have been quite clear that such
practices will lead to jail time (Freeman on the
Land/RationalWiki, 2013, p. 2).
The recent British debate about the Freemen
seems to have begun in 2010 when Professor
John Kersey from the European-American
University published a sympathetic analysis of
the movement in a British libertarian magazine.
He concluded his analysis with this statement:
Although the issue of whether these
[Freeman] principles have a firm basis
in law is of considerable interest, it is, as
we have said, not the sole or even the
most important aspect of the Freeman
movement. The key to the importance of
that movement lies in the assertion of
the sovereignty of the individual, the
opposition to the bureaucratic state, and
the willingness through lawful and
peaceful means to disrupt the operations
of that state where they are perceived to
transgress upon the inalienable rights of
the individual, That disruption to the
9 For an example of a Freemen/Sovereign Citizens movement in
Germany called the Reich Citizens’ movement or the Provisional
Government of the German Reich, see Carlhoff, 2013.
8 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 6, 2015
and trade realities but these increases crippled
farmers, many of whom had taken out low-
interest loans only a few years before. Bankers
showed no mercy (in the form of flexible
repayment schedules), and they used their
lawyers, courts, and local law enforcement to
foreclose on family farms across the Midwest.
Among the foremost beliefs among the popular
ideologies of an agrarian farmer is “the peasant’s
belief in his right to land” (Rudé, 1980, p. 30),
and that belief continues in the minds of
contemporary farmers and even suburban and
urban homeowners.
Within the Freemen and Sovereign Citizens,
structures of resistance to the American
government’s policies toward land and finance
date back into the 1970s, when groups such as
the Posse Comitatus and the California-based
antitaxers, the Committee of the States (from
1984 to 1988 [Paranoia and Patriotism, 2012])
established common-law courts (Durham, 2000,
p. 140). Flooding courts with documents (i.e.,
paper terrorism) and placing liens against local
officials also date back some forty years, as does
the desire to establish adherents’ own court
jurisdictions, which Freemen attempted in
Montana in 1995 (Durham, 2000, pp. 140–141
see Coppola, 1996, p. 62 Rosenfeld, 1997,
2000, 2011 Wessinger, 1999, pp. 37–42, 2000,
pp. 36–38 ).Having felt betrayed by layers of
government that refused to protect them from
harsh and often illegal banking practices that
courts supported and police enforced, Freemen
and Sovereign Citizens established what they
saw as competing organizations that challenged
the state. Ineffective as these challenges may be,
their operation and the behavioral norms
associated with them (such as refusing the
authority of judges and police) provide
“everyday forms of resistance” (Scott, 2008, p.
33) that reinforce their alienation from, and
rejection of, significant social norms associated
with institutions that they feel have failed them.
The British and Irish Freemen Debate9
Nowhere in the Western world is farming a
stable source of income, and farmers outside of
the United States certainly face difficulties that
reflect climatic conditions in interaction with
governmental policies and increasingly global
pressure. For example, in the 2 years preceding
the year 2000, “UK farm income ha[d] dropped
by as much as 75 percent..., driving more than
20,000 farmers from the land” (Gorelick, 2000,
p. 1). In 2001, 90% of British farmers felt the
impact of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak
(Rayner, 2013b, p. 1), but current problems are
greater. The gravity of current problems stem
from the “appalling weather” (most recently,
floods) combined with more animal illnesses
(Hunt, 2013), leading to income reductions of
between 40% and 50% of previous levels
(Rayner, 2013b, p. 1). Perhaps these and other
conditions (such as the Occupy London protests
in 2011) have led to some individuals turning
toward a British version of the Freemen, but
barristers have been quite clear that such
practices will lead to jail time (Freeman on the
Land/RationalWiki, 2013, p. 2).
The recent British debate about the Freemen
seems to have begun in 2010 when Professor
John Kersey from the European-American
University published a sympathetic analysis of
the movement in a British libertarian magazine.
He concluded his analysis with this statement:
Although the issue of whether these
[Freeman] principles have a firm basis
in law is of considerable interest, it is, as
we have said, not the sole or even the
most important aspect of the Freeman
movement. The key to the importance of
that movement lies in the assertion of
the sovereignty of the individual, the
opposition to the bureaucratic state, and
the willingness through lawful and
peaceful means to disrupt the operations
of that state where they are perceived to
transgress upon the inalienable rights of
the individual, That disruption to the
9 For an example of a Freemen/Sovereign Citizens movement in
Germany called the Reich Citizens’ movement or the Provisional
Government of the German Reich, see Carlhoff, 2013.
8 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 6, 2015
