Far-right “constitutionalists” have been around for decades now, particularly in rural America, where they have a history of recruiting vulnerable marks into their grift, which convinces the gullible that they can declare themselves “sovereign” people free from obligation or oversight from the federal or state government. They have left a long trail of human and community wreckage in their wake, from Jordan, Montana, to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. But along with everything else associated with the self-styled “Patriot Movement” in recent years, it has been spreading widely and insinuating itself more deeply within communities, especially as they increasingly elect “constitutional” sheriffs and other public officials. The city fathers in the small northern California town of Oroville this week, however, went even further: They declared Oroville its own “constitutional republic” independent of federal and state governments. Read more