“Do legislators know Soros is behind the Astroturf opposition? What is their most common objection? Runaway convention?”
Yes sir, we were able to bring Soros backing into our testimony before the House Committee on State and Federal Power and Responsibility. There were some of our COS folks who had obtained clear evidence of that.
Yes, runaway convention probably rates as the first objection to A5. It’s pitiful listening to the fear mongering. I appreciate you, Publius, Art in Idaho, Hostage, Nathan Bedford and some I’m forgetting for making the case for Article V here REPEATEDLY. I get aggravated with fearful responses to A5 and you guys do a good job of countering fear in the FR posts. For some reason it’s much easier for me to make the arguments verbally, in person. I present the same facts, but conversationally I seem to find it easier to make folks understand.
The various forms of runaway convention given in Legislative testimony are exactly what we see from uninformed freepers.
1) Omg the rats will take over (despite the inate difficulty in even getting amendments passed i.e. 13 State House fails)(and the overwhelming number of state houses we have now)
2) The Constitution will be re-written completely (forgetting Article V of our blessed Constitution is what we’re attempting to utilize)
3)The delegates will be out of control and will pass who knows what new laws (because of course all the states would pass just anything, right?)
4) Delegates will be equal to the career politicians we already have in D.C. (for my conversations, this has opened up great dialogue on repeal of the 17th also. The difference between our state choosing representatives and the “swamp” we have with 2 popularly elected houses.
So you see, it’s the same old arguments. As a lifelong hobby student of government and history I will rejoice when we can prove once again the genius of the men who crafted our Constitution. It took courage, tenacity, perserverance and work to implement our government. We need to put on our grown-up panties, decide to embrace the courage to USE Article V of the very Constitution everyone claims they want to be keeping.
To Publius, ArtinIdaho, NathanBedford: Ping to #33.
To Wneighbor, thank you. In response to those who charge that no one today can equal the brilliance of our Framers, I say there is no need to make the attempt. From the Framers, we KNOW first principles, we know what works to keep free-government. The first lesson of representative government is a bicameral legislature derived from distinct sources.
The only reason we don’t have annual elections to the House of Reps is the difficulty of 18th century travel. A saying of the day went something like, “Where annual elections end, tyranny begins.” To elect at-large, statewide politicians to six year terms is democratic, but subversive of free government.
The Left has poisoned many minds into believing that democracy, the democratic element, is the purpose of government, rather than being a portion of the means to keep government to its purposes itemized in the Preamble to our Constitution.
Our Framers wisely limited popular election to one half of Congress. Since there’s no need to reinvent anything, the reincarnation of Madison isn’t necessary. The 17A was a mistake. Let’s admit it, repeal it and press on.
http://articlevblog.com/2015/09/article-v-blog/ [Free government]
http://articlevblog.com/2016/08/more-democracy-less-liberty/
One more talking point. Have you appealed to the politician’s natural desire for power?
Repeal of the 17A is the empowerment of fifty state legislatures and thousands of state legislators.
Imagine federal senators checking in with their state Speaker of the House and Majority Leader of the Senate to get their take on pending national legislation, presidential appointments, etc. Unlike the people, state legislators will keep a close and accurate score on their senators. No longer will anti-9th and 10th Amendment lawyers have a shot at the federal bench. The list goes on.