There is a small kernel of interesting political philosophy at the core of this insanity. The idea that you are born into a system which you didn't opt in to, and cannot opt out of. If you're born in the US (or most places with a functional government), you're born subject to several layers of government that you didn't agree to, each of whom has all the typical government powers like a monopoly on the legitimate application of violence, and coercive taxation. You have no choice in any of that. You could try to leave, but you'll just be subject to some other government. There's no truly "free" land at this point in history (there is, just not the land anyone wants). This is, at the very least, interesting to consider.

The sovereign citizen mindset goes from that, straight to "I can just decide to opt out". Usually the even more hypocritical "I can use the parts of society I want to use, but opt out of the others". The fact is that their vision is ultimately untenable and there are good reasons why things are the way there are. There are too many humans in the areas of the earth where people actually want to live to let everything be a free-for-all. The cost and compromise of living in any valuable area this day in age is that you're subject (without your express consent) to the government that controls the land where you were born.

The sovereign citizen just can't handle any of this and rejects all or parts of it at their convenience. They think there are magic words they can say to a cop to make the law not apply, and all manner of other insanity.

They’re delusional and the legal basis is all in their heads. When you declare that a traffic court is only subject to navy doctrine because the flag in the room has fringe, you’ve gone off the deep end.

Even if it were recognized, Sovereign Citizens would not be American citizens. Therefore they are illegal immigrants and would be deported (I dunno, to the ocean?) They have this whole thing about laws don't apply to them and shit. Welp if that's true what stops the US government from just abusing you? Or even just a gang of folks with guns shaking you down?

Sovereign cities are idiots and cheats who are trying to "game" the system by being petty criminals.

I read an article on it once and it seems to be based on not understanding the nuances of the US regulatory and legal systems. Like, a corporation can manipulate the tax system so they don't owe any taxes, and corporations are people, so they decide people can declare themselves to be corporations and not pay taxes.

Someone in one state goes to bankruptcy court with a decent lawyer, a lot of preparation, and a very specific set of circumstances and gets their debt written off; they go to bankruptcy court in their own state, representing themselves, no work done, and just declare themselves free of debt. When it doesn't work, instead of finding and confronting the actual reason (which may take work, or may not give them the answer they want), they look for other things to fix. Oh, someone it worked for used this exact phrase, let's use that - it didn't work, but we didn't capitalize some things, so let's Capitalize Random Words for extra Emphasis.

There are also fraudsters who prey on these people, telling them they'll sell them a complete bankruptcy kit for only $200, absolutely guaranteed to get them out of debt. Even better, here, buy this other more expensive kit and you can assign your existing debt tow corporation of your choosing! Or buy this even more expensive kit and you can become a corporation and you'll never owe money again! Or hey, file this set of papers and you'll be given the money the government has been holding onto for you! (That one seems to be some mix of the unclaimed funds database and rich kids aging into their trust money.)

It's interesting in a way, because they know enough to understand that the social contract is broken, and that rich people and corporations aren't subject to the same repressive tax structure as the rest of us. But it's also sad, because they're in too deep to realize that helplessly flailing against a system that was never meant to represent them fairly. And it's annoying af if you ever have to deal with them, because they're usually highly stressed and don't understand why their Magic Words aren't Working like they Should, so they keep re-iterating variations of the danger thing over and over.

It's delusion but a historically motivated one. It's a combination of leftover resentment from the Reconstruction, proxy war fuckery and serious oversteps by the government in forms such as Ruby Ridge and Waco. The sparknotes of it is just people who wanted to do what they wanted to without consequences using big words that mean nothing and 30 year old mistakes by the federal government to justify things as small as vehicle registration and speeding tickets or as large as mass firearms hoarding and human trafficking

I’m pretty sure it was born from trying to justify tax evasion. In the US at least.