Posted on 12/07/2014 9:36:03 AM PST by Jim Robinson
Conservative talkradio host Mark Levin made news Thursday when he addressed the annual conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a "non-partisan membership association of state lawmakers," and it wasn't just because he reiterated his call for an Article V "Convention of the States" to propose new amendments to the Constitution.
Levin's call for an Article V Convention of the States has been well known since the publication of his best-selling book, The Liberty Amendments, more than a year ago.
On Thursday, Levin framed the Article V Convention of the States as the beginning of the process in which state legislators can reassert their constitutional power and become, in effect, the kind of check on the out-of-control federal government the framers expected the three branches of federal government they created in the Constitution would be on each other.
"Take your power back," Levin told the enthusiastic crowd of state legislators from around the country.
Critics who claim an Article V Convention could become a "Runaway Constitutional Convention" miss the point entirely, Levin said. Critics think such a convention would have no impact, as the federal government is ignoring the Constitution already and would have little reason to observe any amendments, subsequently ratified by the states, that emerged from the Convention of the States.
"So if you ask me what makes you think the federal government will follow amendments to the Constitution if it won't follow the Constitution today, then you don't understand this process," Levin told the audience.
"By giving the state legislatures the ultimate say on major federal laws, on major federal regulations, on major Supreme Court decisions, should 3/5 of state legislatures act to override them within a two year period," Levin said, " it doesn't much matter what Washington does or doesn't. It matters what youdo."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
It’s important that AT LEAST ONE AMENDMENT makes it all the way through the Article V process for the history record as it will serve as a clarion call to future Congresses that’s there’s a new sheriff in town.
Just one is all that’s needed and it doesn’t matter much which.
I favor an amendment to allow state legislatures to ***recall*** their wayward US Senators as it will put the States back into the game. And I don’t care what those think who say it will result in ‘perpetual’ elections. I say BRING IT! Maybe if US Senators have to spend sleepless nights wondering what their state legislature is going to do next, then maybe they will learn how to represent their state in Congress rather than the Oligarchs that presently pull their strings.
Once States are players again in Congress, then all the other fixes and amendments and repeals will follow. If Amendment 17 can’t be undone, then at least get an amendment where state legislatures can get the attention of their US Senators
Thank God for Mark Levin.
“the parents who picked up the schooling costs should get a huge check, paying back all the school taxes they paid into the system over the years”.
That has always seemed fair to me-I’d love to be reimbursed for the public school taxes we paid while we sent our kids to private school-and paid for it in cash...
The homeschooled and private schooled kids around here participate in activities together-some are organized by the parents, some by the private schools and the local churches-mostly the Catholic and Methodist. The public school district also invites them to participate in extracurricular activities like sports, 4H, etc.
I don’t know what is done in cities, but rural areas tend to be community oriented, and are pretty much colorblind and ethnically diverse-I see that as a good thing.
I couldn't agree more.
All good things are possible with repeal of the 17th. Without repeal, our existing trajectory into ever harder tyranny is guaranteed.
Our Founders were fortunate in that they had at least a decade of George Washington writing to them, meeting with them and pointing out what was truly at stake - way before they attempted to write the Constitution.
And, all of the Founders were on the same page regarding moral philosophy meaning that no one questioned first principles, which kept arguments to a minimum and they were able to wrap up their work in only 4 months.
I like Mark's idea but we need fully informed legislators.
ping
But the movement is crystallizing rapidly. What's even more astonishing is that this movement is the result of the efforts of a single man, Mark Levin.
Thank God the amazingly far-sighted Founders gave us this option. It may be the last hope for this constitutional republic.
Ditto.
A hearty Amen!!!
I pray that the states have the cajones to do this and follow through.
The regime has doubled down in the recent years - nationalization of the banks, nationalization of the health care industry, the IRS abuses, the too numerous to count regulations from the EPA and other bloated bureaucracies, the amnesty push and Obama bragging, "Yeah, I did change the law", the more and more obvious Uniparty blurring of the parties, Boehner and McConnell offering no resistance, Obama and Holder pushing now to nationalize Law Enforcement, the relentless gun grabbing schemes, the supreme court stacking, constant race card. . you could go on and on. They are speeding up the process, and as many have noted, we need to push the Article V process along at a faster pace than originally planned. It's now or never.
Levin describes we're living in a post-Constitutional soft tyranny. He's right. Article V now or revolution sooner rather than later. It's your call America.
FOX and Beck should offer an hour of their 24 hour news cycles and play this over and over so everyone in America sees Mark Levin’s ALEC speech. Maybe Hannity would show it with his audience response afterwards? It is an absolute classic. An education for all. Every high school and college student in America needs to see it.
Snip:
"My question to you is: Where does this end?," Levin asked. "We are not without recourse," Levin noted. "We're not some cult over here; we're the majority."
Levin is exactly right. We are are the majority and it must end with us. We must stop the behemoth and become once again a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
I’m all for this effort, but let’s say everyone jumped through all the necessary hoops and we actually ended up with the right amendments which were correctly worded and they were ratified.
By definition, the right amendment(s) with the right wording would significantly and substantially cut back the government’s unconstitutional activities and overreach (in that sense, at least in some amendments, we would be probably be reiterating the Constitution).
Therefore, if these are the right amendments, MANY government officials, bureaucratic department heads, and government workers would be packing their backs and out of jobs. Government would be committing a sort of bureaucratic suicide.
What are the chances the people in power who make a living from the federal government machinery would do such a thing? And what would force them? The states? How long would they drag their feet and find a million ways to delay anything close to this kind of government self-immolation.
IMO, I believe the states who are serious about living under freedom and the rule of law may very well need to be willing to do without federal funding and become financially independent from the federal government, because when it’s all said and done, that’s where the rub will be. If the feds can successfully intimidate and extort the states financially, they win, Constitution or no Constitution. I think it will come down to whatever states are willing to severe financial ties to the federal government. Not sure where that would ultimately lead, but I believe that financially independent states that held to a Constitutional Republic form of government with minimal government and allowed the free market economy to run would soon become stronger financially than the bankrupt federal government.
The issue of an entrenched, rogue federal government that refuses to submit to the Constitution or the amendments from an Article V convention would IMO come down to whether states were willing to do without federal funding. That’s what it all comes down to. A state that goes it alone financially would be better off if it kept their state government small and let the free market economy run. That state would soon have a healthier economy than the bankrupt federal government.
I don’t think you need an amendment for that. The Supremacy Clause and the Tenth Amendment support the Constitution and laws “in pursuance thereof” as the Law of the Land. There is nothing in the Constitution that supports a rogue, runaway unconstitutional federal government. And there is nothing in the Constitution prohibiting states from severing from an unconstitutional federal regime.
Are you being cute?
There’s a minor precedent, called the civil war, that makes those passages in the constitution toothless.
An amendment making secession a very explicit option doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the feds won’t stop it, but it’s much less likely that they would.
That’s the beauty of it and what we’ve been working toward all these years. The federal government has no say whatsoever in the matter. It’s we the people acting constitutionally through our elected state legislatures reasserting our constitutional powers and reclaiming our sovereign right to self-government from the overstepping federal government. The states would effectively be nullifying all unconstitutional (tyrannical) federal laws, acts, edicts, regulations and rulings. It is a restoration of the constitution and a rebirth of freedom in America.
Mark doesn’t look healthy. I realize it’s a poor production video, but he looks like he’s heading the way of Breitbart soon.
Great speech. Wish he was a bit more Baratone.
Anyway, he addressed points that I had concerns about — co-opting then runaway convention. I still think it’s possible because it will be whatever the MSM and the status quo say’s it is.
Another point not addressed was a “poison pill”. Obviously they will pass several amendments. Will they pass them as a package state by state or as an individual roll call per amendment? I like the latter because it will keep the amendments down but also allow poison pills to be quickly jettisoned.
3rd and final point. The Federal Judiciary, Congress and the President and just as important, the media, will all insinuate themselves and claim jurisdiction over certain processes (the ones that will fail or poison the zeitgeist. You know it’s going to happen because the States, even collectively, have no enforcement provisions written into the Constitution other than the 2nd amendment of course.
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