This isn't a gotcha to them. They do believe in the power of the state, as far as it regulates normies. They see that extremely wealthy people are above the law, and assume they got that way via secret magic spells rather than starting with wealth and privilege.
The sovcit stuff is a cargo cult trying to reverse engineer the magic spells, for people who lack the analytical ability to understand the source of the inequality of today's society.
I can kinda see why they think this way. I went to court recently and the Magistrate and all the lawyers have these strange phrases and rituals that don't get used in regular parlance, so Im not surprised that sovcits think that if they learn the magic language of the court, they can get their way. But its just a bunch of old-timey Victorian era routine.
It's possible, but children are much smarter than most people give them credit for. They're most likely aware their parent is a nutter, and none of their nonsense is working for them.
My understanding of this sovcit insanity is that the "strawman" is a legal entity that the government uses as their placeholder. The strawman is a US citizen and all that comes with it, but the actual person is not. They believe that the rules do not apply to them because it is only the strawman that is bound by laws and rules, and not their actual self.
A lot of this loonacy revolves around the belief that they are legally separated from their strawman, and use all sorts of forms, "rules", and excuses to "prove" this.
It seems like there are enough of these people that a unscrupulous lawyer could really fill the niche and make a lot of money. "Yes, just sign over power of attorney to me and I can represent your strawman to sever that from your court appearance."
There's an interesting take… maybe sovcits are not really wrong-headed fundamentalist morons. Maybe they are just desperate enough that it makes as much sense as the alternative. In this economy, can any of us really afford not to try sovcit life?
I watch court videos on YouTube. It seems that many judges are cluing in to the best methods to respond to the sovereign citizen nonsense. If you're, "the authorized representative of [name]" then [name] has failed to appear and they issue a bench warrant, have the person thrown in jail until they can be positively identified. I've seen judges throw them in jail for up to 30 days for contempt for refusing to answer basic questions and I've seen judges withdraw their permission to represent themselves because they keep saying that they "don't understand" anything that's going on. You can't represent yourself if you don't understand.