State vs Federal Citizenship and Changing Parties to Libertarian

Great news! As of 2016’s election, the Libertarian Party of NH regained ballot status equal to the Rs and Ds for the first time in two decades! I’d previously been registered as a Democrat for the purposes of running for office but this year I made the switch to Libertarian, since it was the first time I’ve been able to do that since moving here in 2006.

That’s the short version of the story. There’s more, however. In addition to re-registering to vote as a Libertarian, I also modified the voter registration form to reflect my “state citizen” status and put the Keene City Clerk and Secretary of State of NH offices on notice of that.

What is a “state citizen”, you ask? Good question. Here’s my understanding, which the clerk and S.O.S. didn’t contradict. I present to you the notice I sent to the clerk and S.O.S. and the video of my visit to the clerk’s office to change my voter registration and notice them of my state citizen status, under duress. Below the video, I’ll discuss in more detail.

First, beware that there are a lot of “paytriots” out there who will sell you information purported to get you out of the state system if you just file the right papers in the right order in the right places. It’s all a bunch of crap, from what I can tell. If you try their methods and they don’t work, they’ll just claim you did something wrong. You didn’t study enough, didn’t buy the advanced course, etc.

Last year, I attended an online class called “Destination Freedom” by Christopher Gronski from Lee, NH. It was recommended by a good friend of mine, Jay Noone, a man who once put his own home on the line to test his own theories.

To his credit, Gronski addresses the “paytriot” scammers and acknowledges that no amount of paperwork is going to stop the government from hurting you, if that’s what they want to do. Gronski does charge for his course and any consulting work, however he does give away some of his key information for free. Here’s a video of his presentation to the NH Liberty Forum in 2017.

Gronski’s research shows that the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledges three distinct definitions for the term “United States”. According to Hooven & Allison Co. v. Evatt. 324 U.S. 652 (1945), “the term “United States” may be used in any one of several senses. It may be merely the name of a sovereign occupying the position analogous to that of other sovereigns in the family of nations. It may designate the territory over which the sovereignty of the United States extends, or it may be the collective name of the states which are united by and under the Constitution.”

Whenever you see “US Citizen” in government documents, you think you know what it means, but if it’s not defined, you’re jumping to a conclusion. US Citizen can mean you’re a federal citizen – one who owes the federal government a duty of allegiance in return for an obligation of protection. (A quick google search reveals the federal government’s Supreme Court has ruled again and again that they have no obligation to protect you, so we know federal citizenship is a lie and a scam.) However, under the third definition of “United States”, US Citizen can simply mean a citizen of one of the states – independent nations which joined together as the “United States”.

Indeed, Gronski’s research reveals that, according to U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Cruikshank. 92 U.S. 542 (1875), “There is in our political system a government of each of the several States, and a Government of the United States. Each is distinct from the others, and has citizens of its own who owe it allegiance, and whose rights, within its jurisdiction, it must protect. The same person may be at the same time a citizen of the United States and a citizen of a State, but his rights of citizenship under one of those governments will be different from those he has under the other.”

Given citizenship is an agreement trading allegiance for protection, and considering that it’s already clear the federal citizen status is a scam, I don’t consent to being a federal citizen. However, this doesn’t mean I’m not a “US Citizen”. By their own definitions, if I’m a New Hampshire state citizen, then I’m also a US Citizen, just not a federal citizen.

But, why would I want to even be a New Hampshire citizen? I don’t. I don’t even believe in the idea of “the state”. The idea of the state is one that allows people to justify violence against their peaceful neighbors, and as a voluntaryist and a peace minister, I oppose the idea of the state entirely. Despite the fact that their own state constitution specifies in article one of its Bill of Rights that a government of right is by the consent of the goverened, the state government believers, specifically Keene’s judge Edward Burke, have threatened me to the point where I have accepted the state citizen status under duress.

I explained all this in my notice to the city clerk, which she refused to accept in written form in person, so I read it out loud while re-registering to vote as a Libertarian, had my notice notarized, and then mailed a copy of that to them and the NH S.O.S. when I got home. So, it’s pretty clearly on-the-record. I invited them to rebut any of my legal conclusions and research within 30 days, and have never heard from them or the NH Secretary of State.

So, I’m working within the system for now, under duress as a New Hampshire state citizen, which means I’m also a “US Citizen” (but not a federal citizen), until New Hampshire secedes, which will be one of my next campaign platforms when I file to run for office next month.