I’ve often stated that Bitcoiners and LIbertarians are one and the same, but there’s also a much more entertaining subset of the population that is attracted to Bitcoins, and that is people who claim to be a “Freeman on the land“, or Freeman for short. These are a group of people who believe that normal rules of law don’t really apply to them and if you just follow some bizzare magic ritual, you can convince any judge in a court of law of this fact.

From RationalWiki:

Freemen hold that we are all subject to a massive international legal conspiracy perpetrated for the profit of the elites, but you can hack the system if you just use the right form of words.^[3] They believe only in their version of natural law, which they call “common law.” In practical terms, they believe this means they do not have to pay taxes, debts, mortgages, etc. because we were all deceived and if you say the right form of words, this fact will be accepted!

Freemen believe they can declare themselves independent of government jurisdiction using the concept of “lawful rebellion”: that all statute law is contractual and therefore only applicable if an individual consents to it. They assert that what everyone else regards as “the law” doesn’t apply to them as they have not consented to a contract with the state,^[4] even going so far as to claim they have a lawful right to refuse arrest if they do not consent. They insist that the government is a corporation, are obsessed with maritime law, and call themselves things like “John of the family Smith.” Essentially, they’re hilarious and somewhat less threatening sovereign citizens.

Here’s a video that explains how nuts these Freeman people are. You don’t need to watch the whole video, only the first 1:30 or so. If you don’t want to hang yourself by then you’re a stronger man than I:

 

Most of these Freeman types love to reject the law in the most pathetic ways possible; things like not paying parking tickets or paying child support are the most common forms to societal disobedience. Over on the newly re-opened Bitcointalk forums, a fellow Bitcoiner who goes by the creative handle “420” decides he will be a slave of The State no more and refuses to pay his speeding ticket. He also want the rest of the forum to pay his fine for him instead:

 

Should I pay my Traffic Tickets?

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you didn’t pay traffic tickets?

I’m in California and I have two tickets, and I’m tired of the fascist extortionist state.

My idea; if I can get 10BTC donated I will let you the forum/people decide what I do:

Option 1: Ignore the tickets and letters up to a notice of “Your License will be Suspended in X days”

Option 2: Try to fight the tickets with standard Trial by Declartion (already tried and lost for one ticket recently)

Option 3: Send a letter and include the fantastic video showing how speed limits are not aimed at safety at all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BKdbxX1pDw

This could be like an ongoing Audience decided ‘Reality Show’, I can post updates on YouTube

Why 10BTC? that’s close to the fine amount I’d be paying and only Nakamoto knows how much this fiasco will eventually cost me

You can donate to:
18gz9b1d7AbXZnafH6Jx5mzpX2EJoG87ss
(someone quote this so we know it’s not changed)

Was he wronged? Does he think the cop was mistaken? Of course not.

 

I just want to be left alone; not a slave; able to travel freely by the most prevalent and popular and safe method with an automobile that I own and am very familiar with how to be safe in using it.

He’s the only safe driver out there obviously.

However, his thread ends up being some sort of honeypot to attract all the crazies as well.

First of all I am not a lawyer. Follow this strategy at your own risk.

I have seen this strategy used successfully before fighting tickets. basically it goes like this…

You get to court, you are allowed to speak and you ask the judge…

“Do I have a right to a fair and impartial hearing in this court today?”

The judge should reply in the affirmative. Then you will ask…

“Your honor who is bringing fourth this complaint against me today?”

He will reply “The State of California.”

You will then ask…

“Your honor who do you represent here today?”

He will reply:

“The State of California.”

You then ask:

“Your honor, if the plaintiff here today is The State of California, and you represent The State of California, how is it possible for me to receive a fair hearing today in this court?”

He at this point has two choices…
1. He dismisses the case and leaves the court with his robes in a bunch.

2. He really hits you hard with everything he can think of such as maximum punishments for your ticket, contempt of court, etc. You might think this is a loss, but this is really a win. Why is that? Because if he continues with the charges after you have demonstrated the hearing is impartial you put the judge into the realm of PERSONAL CIVIL LIABILITY, meaning you can now sue the piss out of him and take HIS SHIT. They usually know this and use the threats as a form of intimidation. At this point you could remind him of his civil liability, or you could let him heap on the charges and then take all his crap later when you sue him. Obviously this option is only useful if you wish to actually sue him.

Again follow this strategy at your own risk. I am not a lawyer. I have however seen pissed off judges storm out of the court room after a scenario like this.

You got the required “WAKE UP SHEEPLE!” posts.

Come on, we all know it is about the revenue.

Kudos to the OP on trying wake the peeps up and trying to get them to fight back.

The only way to stop the madness is to starve the beast.

.gov cannot run without the revenue (taxes, tickets, licenses fees, etc.)

At least at the local level.

Perhaps the fed can, cause all they have to do is print more $$$.

Back to the original topic, if you can  – spring for an attorney, it levels the playing field.

Some crazy guy claiming that fishing is a “God given right”.

I got a seat belt ticket a few years back and forgot all about it. A couple months later an officer came by my house and left a card.

I was like shit I missed my court date. I need to fix this, so I gave him a call. Said man I messed up and want to fix this. What do I need to do? He says oh no big deal just come on down here. I asked do I need to bring anything and he say just yourself. I said bullshit and stopped at the atm and withdrew 250 usd. When I got down there they immediately arrested me, booked me , took my bio metrics then set my bond at 400 usd secured bond. Had to spend most of the day in jail and call my dad to come and bring me some cash

Just 3 days ago I went to court over a fishing licence ticket. I tool the officer when he gave me the ticket that he was stealing from me and my family, called him a thief at which point he asked why I dint have a licence and I told him that i didnt need a licence to fish that it wasnt him or the state of north carolina that gave me the right to fish. I told him I was born with right. He did not like it. So when I went to court he showed up and told the judge I gave him a hard time. Without letting me say one word she tacked on another 250 usd to the fine for a total of 430 usd.

I have 2 felony convictions have spent 6 years on probation, 5 months in prison, and given the state over 100k  take it from someone who knows. If you stir up shit you are the one that is gonna be left stinking

Just pay the god damn fine and keep working to defund the state with bitcoin

Mr. 420 is getting more distraught by the hour

This is turning extremely difficult to pay the fine psychologically.

i am disgusted

Someone plays the cheerleader role

Welcome to the fucked up world we live in. 1984 is real my friend.

Nothing can be done about it

Other than taking away the funding

Someone else tries to look at the bigger picture

1984?  It’s just a speeding ticket.

While that just drives the crazies off the fucking deep end.

how could i live if i didn’t pay they arrest me or just take away a license?

I just imagine the people who wouldn’t have the money to pay; one ticket is half a day’s drive away if you want to plead to the judge.

This is today’s tyranny; yeah it’s the light side compared to jailing drug users and tear gassing protestors and bystanders at the G20 protests

and

Maybe to you.

This is just the tip of the ice burg.

To drive first you have to give over the right to your private property.. by registering you car with the state. It is not your car. Dont pay your taxes on it and watch them take it

Then you are mandated to buy private insurance so that you can drive it down the road. It is not your money you dont get to decide how to spend it. You get to spend it the way that the state mandates

Then you are mandated to wear your seat belt. It is not your life you can not decide the risk you are willing to take

Then you have to get it inspected. I was an auto tech for 10 years and I cant make the decision if my vehicle is safe or not

Then you have to run mandated fuel through it with ethanol that destroys the fuel delivery system

The you have to follow arbitrary speed limits again you dont get to decide what is a safe.

There is nothing about it that is not dictated to you.

You dont even get to decide on the body style. You get the body style that the state mandates the manufactures to produce

You’re right, it’s a full blown tyranny.

 

Maybe it was a sped trap or something? How fast was this guy going?

80 in a 65; mild traffic, central california

Yeah that’s not actually very safe at all.

SA Forums superstar surebet asks why 420 is asking $1000+ to cover a $146 fine

I’ve payed $1,000+ in tickets this year

I said that was for entertainment value; if I received those I would have done the option the audience chooses; you choose my fate HAHA

Who’s extorting who now?

 

This goes on for a couple more pages with a back and forth that gets more and more maddening as a number of different forum members list their grievances with The State proudly proclaim how many tickets they’ve gotten, how many laws they’ve broken and for some reason how much drugs they have done(?).

 

Forums member 420 ultimately doesn’t get his Bitcoin bounty and has to pay THE MAN for his reckless driving charge.

 

Of course he can’t quite grow up and has to do one last passive aggressive move to prove he is truly free. That results in this masterpiece:

Good job guy, I’m sure dad will proudly hang that on his fridge as a symbol of the day his little boy became a man.

 

For more Freeman insanity, I recommend these 2 cool videos.

 

The classic video of a Freeman getting tazed by someone who doesn’t want to take his shit:

 

And a cringe-worthy 30 minute long video of a Freeman trying every trick in the book to get get parking ticket dismissed and failing miserably: