Free Republic

ATLANTA - State Representative Jason Spencer (R-Woodbine) will join legislators from across the country to attend the Mount Vernon Assembly meeting on December 7, 2013 at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate, near Washington D.C. The Assembly is a bipartisan gathering of state legislators whose purpose is to discuss the state-led process for crafting amendments to the U.S. Constitution. “The Mount Vernon Assembly is an opportunity where state legislators from around the country can come together to discuss ways the states can limit federal government overreach,” said Rep. Spencer. “It is the responsibility of the states to check all branches of...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLQebqVQKcc The Senate, by not passing a budget, and by saying fund all or nothing, has taken away the House's power of the purse to defund courts or an other agency that goes beyond its power. If the House impeaches a judge, the current senate would neither try nor convict and remove from office. If the House abolished a court, or limited its jurisdiction, that law would never get through the senate. Every means by which the people can rein in a courts power would be halted by the US Senate and then by former Senator Barack Obama. Therefore, we...

Fed up with Washington? Angry that elections don't seem to matter when it comes time to solving problems? Disgusted by the polarization that puts politicians' careers ahead of taxpayer interests? Frustrated because you don't think anything can be done about it? Indiana State Senator David Long (R-Ft. Wayne) has experienced all of these feelings, but has chosen not to accept the status quo. He has a plan for returning power to the people where the Founders wanted it to reside. Long is promoting an unused section of the U.S. Constitution as the ultimate check on big government. Article V provides...

The next session of Virginia’s General Assembly needs to pass important legislation as well as sending an amendment to the Virginia Constitution to the voters for ratification. This may be the most important priority in generations. And it might attract bipartisan support, so Republicans need to try it and not simply assume Democrats won’t be on board. Battle of the Titans: Mark Levin vs. Phyllis Schlafly • Mark Levin, insists: Amend the US Constitution independently from Congress by States calling for a Constitutional Convention, in his new book The Liberty Amendments. This is the only pathway left, Mark Levin argues,...

This is great news. We may be witnessing the beginning stages of the Article V convention process that will hopefully, someday be used successfully to restore America back to its founding principles. And it’s being led by Indiana State Senator David Long who is holding a gathering at Mt. Vernon with many other state senators to begin the process of figuring out how this will work. Long explains below: Listen:

Duties of Article V convention delegates. Describes the duties of delegates and alternate delegates to a convention called under Article V of the Constitution of the United States.Provides that a vote cast by a delegate or an alternate delegate that is outside the scope of the instructions given by the general assembly is void. Provides that a delegate or alternate delegate who votes or attempts to vote outside the scope of the instructions given by the general assembly forfeits the delegate's appointment by virtue of that vote or attempt to vote. Provides that the call by the general assembly for...

INDIANAPOLIS - The leader of the Indiana Senate has invited lawmakers from every state to join him Dec. 7 at Mount Vernon, George Washington's Virginia home, to discuss the state-led process for crafting amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne, asks in a letter written to fellow legislative leaders that each state send a bipartisan group of three delegates to the "Mount Vernon Assembly." He said the meeting will lay the groundwork for a Convention of the States that would, when established by Congress, propose amendments to change various provisions of the Constitution. "The authors of...

In early September, the Convention of States Project began searching the country for citizens who recognized the brokenness of D.C. and were ready to be a part of the solution. Since the release of its Volunteer Leadership Application, the Grassroots Team has reviewed hundreds of names. Each application highlights a common desire to serve the nation and defend its freedoms for future generations. We are excited to announce that twenty-six states now have active leadership in place. One recently-appointed leader explained, “I don’t want to take the chance of sitting aside thinking that perhaps someone else will jump in and...

Mark Levin spoke out against The Washington Post’s George Will on Monday, saying the call for Tea Party congressmen to compromise is nothing more than a way to “rationalize soft tyranny.” Levin's comment references French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville’s idea of “soft tyranny.” This is a sort of tyranny in which the government does not shatter men's wills but "softens, bends, and guides" them. A people under a soft tyranny run the risk of becoming nothing more than "a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd." Levin continued, “The individual is under attack. Private...

Like a modern day Patrick Henry, Mark Levin may have sparked a revolutionary train of events. The Liberty Amendments rationally examine where we are, where we are headed, and what must be done to restore our once federal republic. Fussing and fuming at FR, demanding the political head of Boehner, electing conservatives, etc., are all necessary but demonstrably insufficient to check our death spiral into despotism. Those who profit so well from the system they corrupted have no interest in reform. The key to restoration resides with us, the sovereign American people. What follows is a letter I sent in...

Practically everyone I know agrees that strictly obey the Constitution and that is why those that oppose the calling forth of Article V Convention are Constitutional hypocrites. You can not support the Constitution while at the same time rejecting the provisions of Article V. The Article V Convention was what the method the founders provided to insure the people would be able to control the government and prevent their abuse of power. There have already been more than 34 states that have petitioned Congress for an Article V Convention Even though the requisite numbers of states has been reached Congress...

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...

What are our chances of restoring the Constitution through Article V? Since we conservatives do not have the services of Nate Silver at our disposal we are left to our own devices to handicap the participation of states in any Article V convention. Here is my humble offering. Statescape reports that houses of the legislatures in the following states are controlled by Republicans: AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasFloridaGeorgiaIdahoIndianaKansas Louisiana MichiganMississippiMissouriMontana North Carolina North DakotaOhioOklahomaPennsylvaniaSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahWisconsinWyoming In addition to these 26 states we might add Nebraska as number 27 with its unicameral legislature and its technically nonpartisan legislature but one which is regarded to...

[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...

Take a look ahead. Despite our nation’s free fall into totalitarianism, congress recoils from using its power of the purse and impeachment. Only a small cadre of conservatives call for a state amendment convention to go around congress, and defeat the eighty year assault on liberty called progressivism. Obamacare, Benghazi, F&F, illegal appointments, open borders, use of executive agencies to silence political opponents, suspension of the laws, fag marriage, a foreign born president . . . are insufficient to cause serious resistance. While Obama is the face of those recent assaults on our freedoms, he had plenty of help from...

It’s no secret that one hundred years of progressivism has twisted the American mind. A once proud and independent people have become increasingly meek and dependent on the decisions and goodies disbursed by faraway masterminds. Part of that twist shifted our attention and expectations from the dispersed power in our states, and toward a single focal point, Washington, DC. For any real or imagined problem, the perceived answer no longer resides within our communities or states. No, there must be a national program to deal with and regulate everything. This top-down imperial approach, that treats the fifty states no better...

The annual meeting of the National Governors Conference is underway in Milwaukee, WI. Scheduled meeting topics include employment for people with disabilities, health care changes, the National Guard, water infrastructure needs, comprehensive federal tax reform, education, homeland security, prison reform, cyber-security. Governors will also meet in private, off-the-record settings, where I presume the substantive, real discussions will take place. As a sort of sister organization, the National Conference of State Legislatures will meet next week. Navigating the Affordable Care Act, helping military veterans find jobs, improving the election process and regulating drones are among the wide variety of topics state...

What’s more powerful, the right to complain about government, or the right to reform it? Clearly, one right is more powerful, and indeed it’s that one which makes an American citizen who and what they are – a member of a society with the power to alter or abolish what it dislikes about government. You’ll find very few Americans today who want to abolish the government we have, the one with three branches – legislative, executive, and judicial. What the vast majority want is to keep what we have, but address concerns regarding how it currently operates. Polls show as...

On Mark’s nationally syndicated show last night, he revealed the thrust of his soon-to-be launched Liberty Movement. He described once again how reform will not emerge from the men and women of the institutions responsible for the fast approaching demise of our society and republic. If reform is to occur, it will only emerge from us, the sovereign people, the foundation of legitimate government. The vehicle for that reform will be the states, and the tool of reform is the constitutional amendment process of Article V. He emphasized that neither of the two amendment processes of Article V provide for...

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that if the federal government were to become self-destructive, it would be the right of the American people to alter it. In Article V of the Constitution our founders preserved that right by empowering the states, as those that originally established the federal government, to bypass and reform it by convening an Article V Convention, which permits the states to amend the Constitution. Participants in the UCF Article V Convention Conference will decide whether to recommend this course of action to the state legislature after discussing the financial policies of our government....