How to thrive without a Social Security number

There’s an X account that is the polar opposite of my own. The user is she/they, has short spiky hair, is an avid gamer, and states, “I am real and legally exist and cannot be contained by cults.”

Because I have talked to her, I know that by “legally exists,” she means she signed up for a Social Security number. She is your stereotypical example of a sovereign citizen kid who has gone woke.

My family don’t identify as sovereign citizens, either. We never ‘opted out.’ We never ‘opted in,’ either. We’re just your run-of-the-mill pre-1930 Americans.

It’s a misconception to think that kids who are raised like I was, or this X girl, are raised to a disadvantage. Tara Westover’s 2018 memoir “Educated” propagandized that religious upbringings lead to abused, traumatized youth. Her book vindicates victim mentalities, but I was nonplussed.

Cult status

Westover’s father was a tyrant; mine was not. And yet “Educated” seems to assume her experience applies to anyone raised at all unconventionally. This does a disservice to the many families, like mine, who manage to ignore mainstream expectations without turning into the Duggars.

I blog as the “Girl Who Doesn’t Exist” and study and write about cults and religious communities. My “credentials” are my eleven younger siblings and 60-plus cousins. I am third-generation homeschooled and fourth-generation without a Social Security number or birth certificate.

However, I have not been prevented from doing anything I set my heart on doing: I have lived in Germany, traveled extensively, operated my own business for 10 years, and worked as a professional seamstress, specializing in wedding dresses.

I have plenty of aunts and uncles who are convinced that they were raised in a traumatic cult. They can’t get why my siblings and I don’t seem too keen on signing up to pay taxes nor why we aren’t interested in getting a piece of paper to “prove” we exist.

No complaints

My family don’t identify as sovereign citizens, either. We never “opted out.” We never “opted in,” either. We’re just your run-of-the-mill pre-1930 Americans. We are honest and hardworking, and we don’t pay income taxes. Oh, we give Caesar what is his. But we don’t give him anything more than that. We certainly don’t give him anything that’s God’s.

We are very uninterested in pronouns and in whining about difficulties. Everyone has hard times, but not everyone handled them as well as our family did. Or so we pride ourselves. We aren’t ashamed of how we were raised. In fact we’re proud of our ingenuity and independence.

I could have easily ended up another Tara Westover or angry blue-haired she/they feminist. The statistics are against me, after all. I was delighted in my life, though, and wasn’t tempted by what the world had to offer me. I sure didn’t need the DMV telling me who I am. Instead, I paved a path for my siblings to follow, a path my aunts and uncles had been unwilling to pave for me.

Getting away with it

I learned how to exist in a world that said it was impossible for me to thrive without a Social Security number.

I succeeded in finding my own balance of living in the modern world without handing over my autonomy and identity rights to the government. I learned that if I were pleasant to interact with, I could get away with just about anything. Also, if the illegal immigrants could do it, why not me? And I’m at no risk of deportation. Instead of being envious and jealous, I decided to take notes from the best.

Raising free children

I have since been asked for a bullet-point blueprint. Unfortunately there really is no such thing. Unless you want to become a state national or a sovereign citizen, there’s no good way to get rid of your Social Security number. However, you can give your children a chance at living a life empowered out of the system simply by not giving them Social Security numbers or birth certificates when they are born.

It really doesn’t matter if you have a midwife or a hospital birth; either way, you should be allowed to opt your child out.

If you have a midwife, make sure you can trust her and that she won’t just file the paperwork anyway. While a few good midwives remain, many midwives are now pro-big-government and are often disinterested in unconventionality. If you go this route, choose wisely.

If you have a hospital birth, don’t worry about having any real conversations. Your best bet is to be likeable and invisible. Play along, don’t be weird, and be respectful. When it comes time to take your child home and the staff wants you to fill out the paperwork for the baby, just say, “Oh, we’ll just take it home and do it later.” More than likely they’ll never follow up, not how a midwife might.

Homemade birth certificate

Once you have your child at home, I feel it’s best to do a few things just to make it easier for the child to work and travel later in life. First, if you have a family Bible, write down the child’s birthdate and name. This is still considered legal documentation and can be used to get the child a passport later.

You can also make a homemade birth certificate and have it notarized. After those things are done, you can begin the process of applying for a passport for your child. This process is very easy when your child is under two years old if both parents are legal U.S. citizens. You’ll have to write a letter stating that your child doesn’t have a Social Security number or birth certificate due to religious beliefs. You don’t have to clarify these religious beliefs; it is not an argument or debate. You are entitled to your beliefs.

Getting a passport

You’ll want to put all 0s on the passport line and include a photocopy of the family Bible. Also ask for witness affidavits and affidavits of birth at the passport agency. These will be filled out by family members and friends and notarized at the passport agency. You’ll want two or three copies of each form — four to six signatures from family members and friends. You should get your child’s passport easily and without many hiccups.

Then you can later use your child’s passport number to open the child a bank account at select banks, especially small banks or banks that cater to business with immigrants.

With these two things ensured, your child is set up to live a rather successful life for whatever future we’re heading into. Best-case scenario: Everything stays as it is currently and the child is able to travel, bank, and work. Certain places may still not hire the child because of wanting a Social Security number. But the child won’t want to work there anyway.

Being your own person

At the end of the day, being your own person is more valuable than being tax chattel for the American government. And if you teach your children to think creatively, they will find a way to do whatever it is they want without a Social Security number, as I and my younger siblings have all done.

This will look different depending on one’s drive. All I wanted to do was become a wife and a writer and to be able to travel. I feel as if my life is a raging success. However, many of my brothers are nerds and were more interested in tech, so they learned how to do crypto and get credit cards (things I have no passion for and could tell one little about).

Either way, the point stands. You will find a way to achieve whatever you feel it is you must achieve, and you’ll do it on your own terms. What could be more American than that?