I had a problem, among other things, with the following point that you made at the start of your post.
”… it takes an average of 3,000 activists to turn a member of Congress around to a NATIONAL issue of importance.”
I question if the activists who turn around a member of Congress to a national issue are aware that it is the states, and only the states, who define national issues of importance by proper amendments to the Constitution.
Regarding so-called domestic issues of national importance for example, are you aware that basically the only issue that can affect citizens on almost a daily basis which the states have actually granted the feds the specific power to decide policy for is the US Mail Service (1.8.7). In other words, and not that I’m saying that taxpayers wouldn’t be willing to pay for them, but most other domestic federal services (eg. Social Security, Medicare, Eisenhower national highway system, EPA, NASA, etc.) have been wrongly established outside the framework of the Constitution by corrupt lawmakers who wrongly bypassed the Constitution’s Article V by simply pulling the wool over the eyes of your constitutionally clueless activists.
Are we having fun yet?
As a side note to this post, please consider the following. Low-information citizens, citizens who had evidently never been taught about the federal government’s constitutionally limited powers as the Founding States had intended for those powers to be understood, were spooked by the Progressive Movement to twist the arms of state lawmakers to ratify the ill-conceived 17th Amendment (17A). So until 17A is repealed and voters are taught about the federal government’s constitutionally limited powers, voters can continue to sleep in the bed that they have made themselves where being tricked into abusing their voting power and consequently getting kicked around by the unconstitutionally big federal government is concerned imo.
I understand your expressions about what was and what was not called for by the Founders and Founding Documents. I understand and am aware of that history. But that’s not the point here in the immediate time of now.
I could ramble on about the argument between Lee and Longstreet at Gettysburg and what was and what was not called for in planning the battle. But that battle was long ago and we can do nothing to change the circumstances of that battle.
The question now is what is to be done with a federal class that ceases to be an effective representational body of the American People? That a federal government is necessary is a question that was settled long ago.
The answer is simple and is found within the question itself. What must be done is the federal class must be restored as an effective representational body of the People.
To achieve this requires States to assert Article V and in my view, after much review, the first order of business is to redress the Balance of Powers, giving states power through the US Senate which was the original purpose of the Senate.
However, once a right to vote has been given to the People, it must not be taken back. The 17th Amendment cut the cord between states and the US Senate and in so doing created a vacuum that attracted concentrated wealth who found it possible to ‘buy its will’ thereby throwing out the states and replacing the will of the states with the will of oligarchs.
The idea of a popular vote for a US Senator is a farce. It supposes that people of a state will actually know who they are voting for in the US Senate when in fact advertising, branding, marketing and community organizing create a facade of a person that the voter can never know genuinely. And what is the voter voting for when casting a vote for US Senator? Are they voting for another ‘representative’? Don’t voters already have a Congressional Representative to vote for?
Still, a vote is sacrosanct. Once given, it can never be taken even if on the other end, those who have mastery over election campaigns design a menu of choices so that oligarchs have their way no matter what. It is no secret that US Senate seats are for sale, and many politicians, campaign specialists, pundits know this to be the truth. It is the reason why the political campaign class chases the likes of Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina and on and on. Because this is the monied class that seeks power and recognition to have their way or to represent the oligarchs who want their way. This is no secret. The Congress is for sale.
So what to do if the 17th is be left in place? Allowing the People to vote for some sort of Uber representative called a US Senator begs the question of why should there then even be a US Senate? It’s tough sale to argue for elimination of the US Senate let alone elimination for the right of the People to vote for US Senator.
How to restore state powers if there is no US Senate representation for states?
One way is:
* Continue to let the People vote in accordance with the 17th Amendment for their US Senator, but .....
* Amend the Constitution to allow for states to recall their US Senators via a vote in the state legislatures.
The latter would force US Senators to negotiate with their states or risk a special election.
And I don’t care if elections could be perpetual as some detractors rant about as a scare tactic. I know people eventually get worn down in a 15-ring fight and usually long before the final round. There will be a victor. And my bet is if the states have the power of recall, they will be the victors. And then the states become more representative and closer to the People.
As I have said in other threads, try contacting your state representative or state senator (most people don’t even know who they are) and then compare the experience with that of calling a staffer of your federal House Representative or US Senator. The difference is striking. When calling your state rep/senator for the first time, odds are you will feel as if you are talking to a friendly neighbor who might just invite themselves over to meet you. They are closer to you and I, and are more in tune with our concerns and needs. There are more than 7,300 of them.
So let states continue to self-organize and prepare to assert Article V.
At this juncture in American history, it is crucial that the states see an Article V process all the way through to at least one amendment for the purpose of setting a precedent, for reining in federal government and putting the fear of God back into the Beltway class of people who fancy themselves as rulers rather than as representatives.
In American history, it is ironic that the 17th Amendment started out as an Article V effort by the states and was nearly 95% towards an Article V called meeting of states when the amendment was taken up by the US Congress so that Congress could control the language and the process.
And the same thing will appear when the present day Article V movement nears critical mass which is happening now, that Congress will want and attempt to take control of the proposed amendments so that they control the process and the language. This time around though, with the internet and the mass telecommunications, Congress won’t have such an easy time persuading states to give up the Article V process.
30 minutes of the best real-time political education you could ever have at this moment of our lives. right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdZuV8JnvvA