Posse Comitatus (organization)
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The Posse Comitatus (from the Latin phrase meaning "force of the county") is a loosely organized far right social movement that opposes the United States federal government and believes in radical localism. There is no single national group, and local units are autonomous.
Posse members believe that there is no legitimate form of government above that of the county level and no higher law authority than the county sheriff. If the sheriff refuses to carry out the will of the county's citizens:
...he shall be removed by the Posse to the most populated intersection of streets in the township and at high noon be hung by the neck, the body remaining until sundown as an example to those who would subvert the law.[1][2]
Many Posse members practice survivalism and played a role in the formation of the armed citizens militias in the 1990s.
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[edit] Federal taxes
Members of the Posse Comitatus frequently refuse to pay taxes, to obtain driver's licenses, or otherwise to comply with regulatory authorities. They deny the validity of United States fiat money as not backed by gold, which they claim the Constitution requires.
They have unusual legal documents drawn up and attempt to record them, declaring independence from the United States, or claiming to file "common law" liens against perceived enemies like Internal Revenue Service employees or judges. They are often involved in various tax protests, and have invoked arguments popularized by tax protesters.
[edit] Criminal activities
Some Posse members have engaged in vigilantism.
In 1983, Posse member (and accused parole violator) Gordon Kahl killed two Federal marshals (who had come to arrest him) in North Dakota and became a fugitive. Another shootout ensued on June 3, 1983, in which Kahl and Lawrence County, Arkansas Sheriff Gene Matthews were killed. Other members of the group have also been convicted of crimes ranging from tax evasion and counterfeiting to threatening the lives of IRS agents and judges.
[edit] Antisemitism, racism and origins
Many Posse members embraced the anti-semitic and white supremacist beliefs of Christian Identity.
Some believe that the U.S. Federal government is illegitimate and in the hands of "ZOG," an alleged Jewish conspiracy.
Posse charters were issued in 1969 in Portland, Oregon, by Henry Lamont Beach, a retired dry cleaner and one-time member of the Silver Shirts, a Nazi-inspired organization that was established in America after Hitler rose to power in Germany.
William Potter Gale, the intellectual founder of the movement and one of its most virulent anti-Semites is descended on his father's side from a long line of devout Jews. His father Charles Gale (born Grabfiker), was a Jew who immigrated to the United States in 1896 from Eastern Europe at the age of 14. He changed his name and lied about his birthplace to join the US Army in 1900, eventually converted to Christianity, married a non-Jew, and raised his children as Christians. Several of William Potter Gale's siblings have converted to Judaism to practice that part of their heritage.[3]
In 1985, Posse Comitatus announced: "Our nation is now completely under the control of the International Invisible government of the World Jewry."[4]
[edit] Sovereign Citizens
The legal theories of Posse Comitatus have been further developed by the Sovereign Citizen Movement, which claims that a U.S. citizen can become a "sovereign citizen" (as opposed to a "Fourteenth Amendment Citizen") and thereby be subject only to common law and/or "constitutional law", not to statutory law (including most taxes).[5] The Uniform Commercial Code plays an important part in these legal theories.
While some African-American groups have adopted Sovereign Citizen beliefs,[6] the movement is dominated by adherents of Christian Identity.
In turn, the Sovereign Citizen movement gave rise to the "redemption movement", which claims that the U.S. government has enslaved its citizens by using them as collateral against foreign debt, and sells instructions explaining how to "free" yourself by filing particular government forms in a particular order using particular wording. This movement "has earned its promoters untold profits, buried courts and other agencies under tons of worthless paper, and led to scores of arrests and convictions".[7]
[edit] References
- ^ Terrorism in America: Pipe Bombs and Pipe Dreams by Brent L. Smith (SUNY Press, 1995; ISBN 0-7914-1759-X), 57–58
- ^ "Common Law and Uncommon Courts: An Overview of the Common Law Court Movement", Mark Pitcavage, Militia Watchdog archives, Anti-Defamation League website, July 25, 1997
- ^ The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right by David Levitas (Thomas Dunn Books, 2002; ISBN 0-312-29105-1)
- ^ Christian Posse Comitatus Newsletter, n.d. quoted in Kenneth S. Stern, A Force upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate (NY: Simon & Shuster, 1996) p.50
- ^ What is a Sovereign Citizen?, Message to Students, Militia Watchdog archives, Anti-Defamation League website
- ^ Are sovereign citizens racist?, Message to Students, Militia Watchdog archives, Anti-Defamation League website
- ^ Beyond Redemption, Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, Winter 2002
[edit] External links
- Posse Comitatus on Nizkor's website
- The Posse Comitatus by Ian Geldard brief overview of the origins and development of the group
- Hate and Hypocrisy - What is behind the rare-but-recurring phenomenon of Jewish anti-Semites? Features story of William Potter Gale
- Sovereign Citizen Movement article from The Anti-Defamation League
