Posted on 03/14/2022 5:51:32 AM PDT by Red Badger
A large and growing number of Americans are coming to recognize that the federal government is out of control. Our national debt currently stands at over $30 trillion. Just 2 lonely Democrats stood between us and another $5 trillion in government spending. If we lined up 100-dollar bills end to end, that debt would reach to the moon and back – over 60 times! The average family of 4 is paying more interest (via their taxes) to service the national debt than they are for their own home mortgage.
Our federal government behemoth now reaches into every aspect of our lives. The EPA is no longer assuring clean air and water. It is seeking to regulate the very gas that we exhale, on the basis of unproven climate change theories. The Department of Health and Human Services has forced nonsensical virus precautions on us, breaking the supply chain and triggering inflation in the process. The Department of Education dictates what local schools are and aren’t to teach. As parents have learned from remote schooling, that guidance has nothing to do with reading, writing, or arithmetic.
As if the spending and overreach weren’t bad enough, now our government is working to crush our constitutionally protected rights. The Department of Homeland Security has even issued a threat advisory designating citizens who speak against the government narrative on COVID protocols or the 2020 election as “threat actors.” That is a clear violation of the 1st Amendment. Freedom of speech is protected specifically to allow citizens to challenge the government on such things. Open debate is essential to the health of a self-governed country. Perhaps that’s why free speech is under attack – to kill the notion of self-governance itself.
If there is one thing, we should have learned in the last 50 years, it’s that these problems will not be fixed by elections alone. That’s because politicians are part of the problem. They profit from the system as it is and have little motivation to change it. Hope is not a strategy. Electing conservative candidates, and then hoping that they will fix our broken system has been a failing strategy. Even the best leaders have merely slowed the loss of our constitutional republic – until the next leftist lies or cheats his way into office (looking at you Joe). We need a solution with more durability than the next election.
Luckily, a better solution is available to us. Our state governments are our last line of defense against an out-of-control federal government. Our state legislators live in our communities. They see us every day. One can even meet with them by merely calling their office and asking for an appointment. Try doing that with San Fran Nan, and see what happens. They know firsthand what our priorities are, and how troubling the expansion of the federal government has become.
Our founders anticipated problems with a central government and provided the states with the means to push back. Article V of the Constitution prescribes how the Constitution may be amended. The first clause allows the US Congress to trigger the amendment process. But the never before used second clause, allows the states to trigger the amendment process by calling a convention of states.
Critics of a convention of states point out that it has never been used. That isn’t because it won’t work. It’s because it has never been necessary before. We have never faced a time when our own government was so uninterested in the wishes of the governed – until now.
When two-thirds of the states (34 in our case) pass resolutions calling for a convention to address specific issues, the process is triggered. Congress is required to set the time and place for a convention. That is the only role that Congress plays in the process. The states remain in control.
Delegates to the convention will propose amendments to the constitution addressing the issues identified in the state resolutions. The states will then vote on each proposed amendment, with each state having one vote.
Those proposed amendments which are approved by the convention are then sent to all 50 states for ratification. Three-quarters of the states must ratify any proposed amendment before it becomes a part of the Constitution.
There are a great many critics of an Article V convention of states. There is also a great deal of misinformation about the process. Common Cause, the George Soros-sponsored organization, is the source of much of this misinformation. In fact, Common Cause has mobilized over 200 other organizations to fight against a convention of states.
Common Cause asserts that a convention of states will turn into a runaway convention destroying social security and all of our protected liberties – including the right free speech and to bear arms. Who knew Soros was such a champion of our liberties? Maybe he’s a member of the NRA too.
Unfortunately, many conservative groups have begun parroting the Common Cause talking points.
The likelihood of a runaway convention is remote, given that the states remain in control. But even if this doomsday scenario were to happen, the critics can never explain how any radical proposals would achieve ratification by three-quarters of the states. It’s a bit reminiscent of the Squad being shocked to learn that Trump wasn’t leaving office after he was impeached. They didn’t understand that there would also be a trial. Similarly, convention of states critics don’t seem to understand that the convention does not amend the Constitution. It merely proposes amendments that the states must approve.
When confronted with these arguments, the critics almost always retreat with the statement that, “At best, we’ll waste a lot of time and money to create an amendment that the government will ignore just like it does the rest of the constitution.” When the critics say that, they are asserting that our constitution is already dead, and we are no long a republic. It’s an admission that they have already surrendered. Well, a great many Americans are not ready to surrender on the United States just yet.
Momentum is building for a constitutional remedy for our current woes. Recent polling by Convention of States Action shows that an Article V convention is supported by:
75% of Republicans
55% of Democrats
64% of independents
Clearly, out of control government is a concern that crosses all political boundaries – making a convention of states a truly bipartisan initiative. Is there any other political initiative of the 21st century that enjoys such broad support?
Eighteen states have already passed resolutions calling for an Article V convention to address:
Fiscal responsibility
Term limits
Federal government overreach
Six more states have passed the resolution in either their upper or lower chambers, but not both – yet. It’s not just Republican-led states that are on board. One of the most recent states to pass the resolution is Wisconsin – a state that is blueish purple at best. In fact, 25% of the states currently working towards a convention are controlled by Democrats.
People often ask me what they can do besides voting. My answer is to think nationally but act locally. They need to support conservative local candidates. They can also contact their state legislators and demand that they join the fight to constrain an out-of-control federal government.
Author Bio: John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He currently writes at the American Free News Network and The Blue State Conservative. He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Blue State Conservative. The BSC is not responsible for, and does not verify the accuracy of, any information presented.
This article was first published by the American Free News Network.
How very Democrat of you.
Unfortunately, this is the issue:
“Three-quarters of the states must ratify any proposed amendment before it becomes a part of the Constitution.”
The likelihood of this occurring is slim to none.
“Let’s support them better and the current situation will take care of itself.”
That right there is the whole problem! Now how do you expect to get that solved? In YOUR lifetime? The system is corrupt from the top down and bottom up, and sideways by allowing foreign money into elections. Time to pull the fire alarm, before the commie rats take control in perpetuity!!! They are ALMOST THERE!!!
Still wrestling with the RvD thing? How many conservatives just voted for Biden’s $1.5 trillion spending bill? I can’t stop the ongoing destruction of this country and neither can you, despite the illusions some are expressing on this thread.
The odds are absolute ZERO. I never understood articles like this or the people who hold hope in a CoS.
The Constitution is brilliant as written. The problem is that it is ignored by both parties.
~~~
And the judicial branch was supposed to be the check against unconstitutional acts by the other branches, which is activist and non-originalist judges/justices are the real problem, and why leftists are so desperate to stack/pack the courts.
If we were going to change the constitution, we would need a more reliable system of checks and balances. The checks on unconstitutional acts by government need to have more teeth.
Completely understand, but what is the alternative?!
Better to try than admit defeat.
There is no RvD “thing. There is Establishment (DC UniPaRTY D&R), Communist/Socialist, and Conservative Parties.
It is time to recognize this and decide which party supports your values.
I’ll give you a hint, the DC UniParty exists for control and lining their own pockets with our money.
Crash the entire system? Good grief - a burner.
The Convention of States thing has been “gaining momentum” for longer than I’ve been on FR. It’s never gonna happen. It’s a pipe dream. And honestly if it did, nothing would come out of it. Guarantee the 3 groups polled have diametrically opposed views to what the new constitution would be. They’d never agree on anything, and all leave cursing the others for being dumb.
“shows that an Article V convention is supported by:
55% of Democrats”
Gee, what would the new stalinists like to have in the Constitution? 2nd amendment - gone. 1st amendment - gone.
Don’t confuse a constitutional convention with an article 5 convention of states.
They are very different.
If what you said was true in Loupe rules for the week it everything they dreamed of, They would be the ones screaming for it- not trying to warn us not to do it.
Most states are very Republican. Think about that.
Just step out of the way of the McConnell-led Republicans as they assist the Ds in spending US into oblivion. This disgraceful bunch won't stop until we are bankrupt. Perhaps you noticed?
I propose that every twenty years the a new District Capital must move to the most demografically remote section of the country. All government functions must move there and cease to be in the previous D.C.
It is absolutely forbidden for children of elected officials to work in government. Forbidden for money from foreign owned businesses from donations to political institutions and campaigns and especially charities.
Just my 2 cents. D.C. lives in a bubble.
Repeal the 16th, 17th, and 19th Amendments. With idiots like Nancy Pelosi running the country, is why we are in the catastrophe living in now.
Stupid auto correct..
I meant to say:
If what you said was True, Liberals would be the ones screaming for it. Not warning us how good it would be for them
We don’t need any changes to our Constitution. Just follow the one we have as written. Anything that comes out of a so called Convention of the States will be just like the present Constitution. The powers, (Read: criminal class) will just ignore it and nothing will be done about it. The Convention is a dangerous waste of time and is nothing more than theater.
What would we then replace it with?
And who are we going to trust to be in charge of it?
When the founders crafted our Constitution, they could NOT have anticipated what life would be like all these years later. They couldn’t have imagined the world we live in now.
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