Russell Pearce: “You’re not a citizen of the United States”

by David Safier

You might think Russell Pearce is talking to undocumented immigrants when he says, "You're not a citizen of the United States." but you would be wrong. He's talking to cheering supporters at a Tea Party rally.

"Do you know, you’re not a citizen of the United States," Pearce said at a Tea Party rally in Oceanside. "You’re a citizen of a sovereign state."

Unfortunately, the date of the rally isn't in the Think Progress post where I saw this, but they have the video. Here it is. The text is below.

Now, U.S. history, most of us weren’t around when the Constitution was written. But you remember we kind of existed before Congress, the states. We created the Congress, we created the federal government, by compact. Do you know, you’re not a citizen of the United States. You’re a citizen of a sovereign state. The fifty sovereign states make up United States, we’re citizens of those sovereign states. It is not a delegated authority. It is an inherent authority that the states have over the federal government. It’s about time somebody gets it right!