Idaho Constitutionalist Seems A Bundle Of Contradictions

Hari Heath lives in a Nez Perce lodge, a partially underground home with canvas walls. The magazine he puts together, however, is made with a modern PC.

The 39-year-old chairman of St. Maries’ fledgling constitutionalist group seems a bundle of contradictions. He’s an environmentalist and logger, a constitutionalist and dreadlock-wearing hippie.

Heath believes the Civil War was the beginning of the federal government’s war on states’ rights, but he says he’s vehemently against racism.

Upfront but soft-spoken, Heath is comfortable bridging these counterculture worlds.

His movement has “brought together people from different backgrounds, and we get along real well,” he said in an interview last week.

“A lot of people considered right-wing Christian elected me - a dread hippie - as their chairman.”

For two hours, Heath explained his beliefs: Politicians are shysters. Government courts are corrupt. Cops are the real criminals. Feds consistently frame the true patriots.

“All this is tied into everything else,” Heath said, eyes wide. “A guy could study this forever.”

Heath is a logger who has lived in Idaho about 13 years. Four years ago, he turned to making and selling wooden archery bows.

But he closed his Heathen Arms business a few months ago because it ruined the fun of his hobby. And with November’s ice storm, the demand for logging returned, and Heath began felling damaged trees.

Heath wears leather shoes he made himself, right down to the copper eyelets. And from his van, he pulls out a flashing metal sword that looks like something out of a Conan the Barbarian movie.

“It’s sharp,” Heath said, grinning. “It can take off heads.”

He made the blade at home - with his own forge.

For Heath, the road to constitutionalism started in the ‘70s. He grew up in Bellingham but has lived in Florida, Canada and the San Francisco area. He did the “hippiedom, New Age, commune thing.”

While in California, Heath got a speeding ticket that changed his life. The government has no right to tell him how fast he can drive, he decided. He hadn’t hurt anyone.

“It was null and void,” he said.

Now, Heath plans to put “sovereign” license plates on his vehicles. To avoid needing a title - which he believes gives the state actual ownership of vehicles - he has decided to build his own car out of parts from a BMW motorcycle. No sale, no title.

Despite his distrust of government, Heath says he’s uncomfortable with the claims of militant hate groups such as the Aryan Nations.

“As a Celtic descendant, I’m a little offended. … My ancestral enemies have been Saxons (Aryans) for as long as anyone can remember.”

One article from the March issue of his magazine cites Rosa Parks as an example of bravery in the face of opposition. “We’re all humans,” Heath said. “That’s our race.”

Even so, the latest issue contains an allegory titled “Equality Comes to Birdland.” It’s a fable about how chaos came to the wild kingdom when eagles tried to live equally with vultures.

“It’s a free-speech open forum,” Heath said. “I publish things that aren’t necessarily my viewpoint. Mostly, I’m just trying to get people to think.”

Constitutional amendments are memorized. So are dusty laws that Heath says are still on the books but are ignored intentionally.

At the May 9 trial of Joseph Stevens in Wallace, Heath said he had chased away three sheriff’s deputies by reading portions of the Constitution.

“They didn’t want to hear it,” Heath said. “They’re afraid of us.”

, DataTimes