Free Republic

I took the above time and provided several links to articles that I hope you at least scan, because the above is necessary to understand my answer to the first two important questions that have arisen since the publication of Mark Levin’s Liberty Amendments. Our questions this week are: What happens if we try an Article Five convention of the states, and we fail to accomplish our objective? Why should we expect the federal government to honor these new amendments, should they pass, when they ignore so much of the Constitution now? An Article Five convention for proposing amendments sounds...

[snip] The authority for such a procedure is Article V of our Constitution, so they are calling their plan of action an Article V convention. However, they are fooling themselves when they suggest that Article V creates a path to bypass Congress with a “convention of states.” [snip] If Congress ever decides to act, Article V gives Congress exclusive power to issue the “Call” for a convention to propose “amendments” (note the plural). The Call is the governing document that determines all the basic rules such as where and when a convention will be held, who is eligible to be...

Amendment to establish congressional term limits. No more than twelve total years combined in house and senate. Amendment to repeal the 17th Amendment. Governors may fill vacancies to fill out remainder of terms. Upon two thirds vote, state legislatures may remove their senators. Amendment to establish twelve year term limits on scotus. On three-fifths vote, and within twenty four months of a ruling, congress or the states may override scotus decisions. These overrides are not subject to judicial review. Congress shall submit preliminary budget to president by first Monday in May for the next fiscal year. Should congress/president not adopt...

One of the proposed Constitutional amendments in Mark Levin's new book specifies that Congress can overturn a Supreme Court opinion. But the amendment also specifies that if, within 24 months, Congress doesn't so overturn a Supreme Court opinion, then the opinion becomes definitive. It's that last part that seems a big step in the wrong direction to me. Under the current Constitution, a Mayor, County Executive, Governor or President's duty to support the Constitution would not be defined by a court opinion or by Congress. But under Mr. Levin's proposed amendment, executives would have to let these other branches tell...

Mark Levin was on with Hannity and a great conservative panel tonight for the full hour to discuss his new bestseller, The Liberty Amendments. Great questions from the panel and great discussion from Levin. Watch below:

"We are spectators to a game show in Washington.   We might be able to vote a few of the contestants off the show,  but we have NO control over the rules of the game..." "Levin aims to change the rules of the game…  or, more properly, reset them, to restore the brilliant system  put in place by America’s Founders" Some highlights from Mr Hayward's glowing endorsement of the Levin plan for conquering the leviathan establishment state, as spelled out in his new book 'The Liberty Amendments'... The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic is one of the most focused,...

Radio host Mark Levin’s new book, The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic, is one of the most focused, accessible, and aggressive political books you’ll ever find. Levin’s thesis is that the balance of power between the three branches of the federal government, the states, and the American people has been distorted beyond the ability of conventional politics to repair. After all, if the power of the legislature has been diminished relative to the executive, the executive has dispersed its disproportionate power into unelected bureaucracies, and the states are increasingly powerless vassals of Washington, then there is no way for...

On the first day of its release, Mark Levin's The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic reached the #1 spot in sales on Amazon.com--not just for political books, but all books. Levin appeared on Hannity on the Fox News Channel on Monday evening to discuss the book, and his proposals to restore the Framers' vision for limited government through an Article V convention that would propose eleven new constitutional amendments to restrain the runaway power of the federal government. "I'm simply saying, I think it's time, if Americans want to remain free, to start reacquainting ourselves with the Constitution, and...

On last evening`s show [7-10-2013], Mark Levin has called for a second constitutional convention. But it is baffling why Mark Levin, who I have grown to admire as a constitutionalist would call for a second constitutional convention for proposing amendments to our Constitution, when, just like the call for immigration reform, the fault is not a defect in our law, but a failure to enforce existing law. Indeed, the fault is not in our existing Constitution, Mr. Levin, but an unwillingness and failure of the States and people therein to enforce the existing Constitution and its defined and limited powers....

Mark Levin's new book - "The Liberty Amendments: Restoring The American Republic"

Americans may be able to regain control over their federal government by moving their respective individual state legislatures to invalidate the 16th and 17th Amendments to the United States Constitution. Essentially, this is a vote to reverse ratification of an Amendment without a Constitutional Convention. Repeal of the 16th Amendment starves the federal beast by depriving it of its consumption of money from the states and the taxpayers through income. States could exercise better control over how or even if their money is spent. Repeal of the 17th Amendment makes United States senators directly appointed by the state legislatures, as...

Among the many thoughtful details that the founders bequeathed to the rest of us is the purposeful naming of our nation; The United States of America. A single moniker like “America” would have neglected the composure of independence and cooperative defiance necessary to earn the crucial signatures on the Declaration of Independence and, soon afterward, the Articles of Confederation wherein the new country’s name was made official. The basic tenet behind the name is captured plainly in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. The Ninth of our Bill of Rights reads, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not...

Article V of the Constitution spells out the processes by which amendments can be proposed and ratified. To Propose Amendments •In the U.S. Congress, both the House of Representatives and the Senate approve by a two-thirds supermajority vote, a joint resolution amending the Constitution. Amendments so approved do not require the signature of the President of the United States and are sent directly to the states for ratification. •Two-thirds of the state legislatures ask Congress to call a national convention to propose amendments. (This method has never been used.) To Ratify Amendments •Three-fourths of the state legislatures approve it, or...

COLUMBIA FALLS – A state lawmaker in the Flathead Valley is proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution to offset the effects of new firearms restrictions, which if passed, he says will erode civil liberties and infringe on state’s rights. Rep. Jerry O’Neil, R-Columbia Falls, says he will work with the Montana Legislature in an effort to adopt two new constitutional amendments to the U.S. Constitution to protect firearm ownership and national sovereignty. He said the issue is pressing due to the call for gun restrictions in the wake of last month’s school shootings in Newtown, Conn. He is most concerned...

A Massachusetts group has submitted thousands of petition signatures in support of a non-binding public policy question asserting that corporations are not entitled to the same rights as people on the November ballot. The Democracy Amendment Coalition of Massachusetts announced Tuesday that it has submitted 20,000 signatures from registered voters to Secretary of State William Galvin’s office. The ballot question would instruct Massachusetts lawmakers to pass a resolution asking Congress to propose a Constitutional amendment regarding the rights of corporations and placing limits on political contributions and spending. If approved by Galvin’s office, voters in six state Senate districts and...

...... Just as Justice Owen Roberts' switch was attributed to the political storm of Democrat opposition to the Court's reversal of New Deal legislation, there is a widely cited report....that Chief Justice John Roberts had originally sided with the conservative dissenters in the ObamaCare decision, but changed his vote because of concerns about the political prestige of the Court in the eyes of the media and Washington elites. Owen Roberts destroyed his judicial papers. However..... He acknowledged that the Supreme Court's pro-New Deal decisions "reduce the states to administrative districts rather than coordinate sovereigns" and that his switch reached "a...

Gay marriage dominates the list of “social-issue” ballot measures going to voters this year, with amendments for and against same-sex unions up in four “blue” states: • In Minnesota, voters will be asked to amend their state constitution to say that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. Amendments like this have already passed in 31 states, including North Carolina in May. The Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment was put on the ballot by lawmakers in 2011, a few months after Republicans took over the state Legislature for the first time in 38 years. • In Maine, gay-marriage...

There are many amendments that have been proposed whose sponsors claim will abolish corporate personhood and/or declare that money is not free speech. Here is a discussion of the problems with the four types that have been introduced in Congress and of two that are being promoted by various groups and individuals to address these problems. EDWARDS-STYLE AMENDMENTS TO GIVE CONGRESS THE POWER TO REGULATE CORPORATE “FREE SPEECH” The Donna Edwards amendment is the prototype of a group of amendments that would if passed give Congress the power to regulate corporate money in campaigns. Others falling into this group include...

In "Reconstituting The Constitution: How To Rewrite It," we invited readers to share their own thoughts on how we might change the founding document for 2011. Now the people have spoken. As of Dec. 20, you've chosen to abolish the Electoral College, to limit campaign contributions from corporations, to deny corporations the rights of citizens and to prohibit members of Congress from lobbying once they leave office. In our un-scientific sampling, "ratification" required the support of two-thirds of voters. (You can still add your selections here.)

A showdown begins Monday in the Senate over the handling of terrorism detainees, with the Obama administration pushing to scuttle a bipartisan proposal that would generally put detainees before a military tribunal. A proposal seeks to largely close the door to civilian trials for detainees, such as those at Guantanamo Bay. The proposal, part of Congress's annual spending bill for the Pentagon, represents the latest escalation of a battle between President Barack Obama and lawmakers over detainee policy that began soon after he ordered the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba........