Free Republic

I do understand the point of a Convention of States. There are certainly things that have gone wrong constitutionally in this country. It appears, however, that the issue is not the constitution, but rather ADHERENCE to the constitution. Although there are items that MIGHT be able to correct that problem (term limits? return to the original election of senators by state legislatures? just for example) the real issue is that the constitution is NOT followed by either those elected to serve and protect it nor those appointed to justify the laws based upon it. I assume if we are taking...

Editor's note: Below is David Horowitz's speech in New Orleans on August 10 at the annual meeting of ALEC -- a policy organization of thousands of state legislators. I want to thank my old friend Lisa Nelson and ALEC for inviting us to present our case for a Convention of the States whose purpose would be to reform our Constitution. Why are we raising this prospect of reform to the fundamental law of the land? It’s because we are in the midst of a constitutional crisis the likes of which we have not seen since the Civil War. It’s because...

It’s Time: There hasn’t been one since the earliest days of our founding, but conservatives — increasingly alarmed by creeping socialism, Left-wing courts, and Democratic efforts to overturn the 2016 election are now turning their attention more avidly towards a “constitutional convention.” In the days of the Tea Party movement, a book called “The Liberty Amendments” by constitutional scholar, author, talk host and former Reagan Justice Department official Mark Levin sparked a modern-day convention movement that would operate much as the first “con-con” which took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia. “I think we’re three or...

Jefferson City, Mo., June 28, 2018 – A Missouri court has handed the Convention of States Project a major victory. Cole County Circuit Judge Jon E. Beetem has ruled a constitutional challenge to Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4 (SCR4) is without merit. The SCR4 lawsuit was filed in September 2017. It claimed the Missouri legislature failed to follow its state constitution when it passed the COS Article V Resolution in May 2017. SCR4 is the Missouri legislature’s application to Congress calling for a Convention of States for the sole purpose of proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Calling a Convention...

On his nationally syndicated radio show last Friday, host Mark Levin said that if a Convention of the States does not happen, children today won’t recognize America for what it is in 50 years. Speaking about the Convention of the States on his Friday show, Levin stated, “It’s certainly not gonna happen tomorrow, certainly not gonna happen next year, but if it doesn’t happen, I’m telling you, in 50 years, your children will not recognize this country.” “We had a few calls last night, as I do often, asking, ‘Mark, where do we go with this? Where are we headed?...

In the waning minutes of the Louisiana Legislature’s 2018 regular session on Friday evening, Louisiana legislators gave final passage to the Commissioner Selection resolution (HCR 4) offered by the Convention of States Louisiana team! The resolution provides for the selection and authority of commissioners representing the state when a convention is called to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution under Article V. This resolution (and other similar resolutions already passed in several other states) means a runaway convention is impossible. This resolution says Louisiana will send five commissioners (aka delegates) to the convention, all selected by the state legislature. Three...

Fox New’s Steve Hilton recently aired a segment on his show The Next Revolution about the Convention of States project, and it’s a great way to learn about this revolution that’s sweeping the nation. “The late Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis was famous for promoting the idea of federalism. He liked to refer to the states as ‘laboratories of democracy’ where individual states could pioneer their own ideas on issues like education and welfare. But, we seem to be heading in the exact opposite direction today. Government is getting more and more centralized in Washington D.C. Now, there’s a new...

The Convention of States Project, a national effort to call a convention under Article V of the United States Constitution, is pleased to announce an endorsement from Florida Congressman and Candidate for Governor, Ron DeSantis. Rep. DeSantis stated, “I’ve spent years fighting the DC Swamp, and as a candidate for Governor of Florida, I know the states need to use Article V to take the power away from D.C. The permanent bureaucracy will never voluntarily give up an ounce of its power. Florida was the third of twelve states that have already passed the Resolution, and I encourage all other...

Religion is not hostile to learning; Christianity has been the greatest patron learning has ever had. But Christians know that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" now just as it has been in the past, and they therefore oppose the teaching of guesses that encourage godlessness among the students. Do bad doctrines corrupt the morals of students? We have a case, Mr. Darrow, one of the most distinguished criminal lawyers in our land, was engaged about a year ago in defending two rich men's sons who were on trial for as dastardly a murder as was...

Many threads here on FreeRepublic use one of the images I've made in support of a Convention Of States (COS). I'm reaching out to the mass mind here for any ideas Freepers have for pro-Article V graphics. Better yet would be to post some graphics of your own. If you are part of the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) crowd please post somewhere else. I'm 100% behind the COS and you have little to zero chance of changing my mind.

What do the John Birch Society, Eagle Forum, Common Cause and Planned Parenthood have in common? They all oppose the states’ use of Article V of our Constitution to impose and enforce constitutional limits on Washington. While it is no surprise that Marxist-leaning groups would fight, tooth and nail, to resist any plan for breaking the federal government’s virtual monopoly on policy-making, all conservatives agree that this monopoly is a perversion of our federal system. But, sadly, the Left’s propaganda and junk history have brainwashed some conservatives into opposing the states’ use of constitutional power to check federal overreach. Having...

Subtitle: Cato’s Letter No. 62. On Liberty, January 20th, 1722. I closed a recent squib with, “They (the writings of Sidney, Locke, Tacitus) bolstered what liberty-loving Americans had experienced and looked forward to: happiness in a natural equality among self-governing, God-fearing men.” As for Locke, colonial Americans absorbed his philosophy and much more through Cato’s Letters: Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, a series of entertaining newspaper opinion pieces (1720-1723) by two Englishmen, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. The namesake of their work, Cato, sought to save the Roman Republic through his oratory. Similarly, Trenchard and Gordon’s pen and printing...

A Missouri teenager has been charged with child porn possession after his father found pictures of a nude toddler on his cellphone. According to KTVI, Paul Spensberger found the images after confiscating his son Andrew Spensberger's, cellphone. He had taken the device away as punishment. Advertisement He reported the images to police on Dec. 30. The O'Fallon Missouri Police Department says the images were of a 2-year-old girl, a relative of Paul Spensberger's girlfriend. Andrew Spensberger reportedly took the pictures while the child was asleep on the floor of his bedroom. Andrew told investigators he was planning to sell the...

In opposition to the Framers, late 19th century progressives promoted a new purpose, and a new foundation for the senate. Rather than block the will of the people, the new senate should facilitate their will. To facilitate their will, it follows that senators must, like representatives, stand for popular election. In 1891, Senator David Turpie (D-IN), said that direct election, “would serve the needs, wants, aims, and aspirations of the masses of men in our communities to be more faithfully reflected, more clearly imaged forth in the laws of the country and administration.” Self-interest led the House of Representatives to...

In continuance of the Senate of the States series, the next three squibs leave the Federal Convention and visit the decades leading to the destructive 17th Amendment (17A). The 17A triggered a cascade of stunning downwind consequences, perhaps only second in effect to the immediate post-Civil War amendments. As opposed to the 13th – 15th Amendments which reset society, the 17A reset our republican governing form. Overnight, the 17A transformed the Framers’ exquisite compound democratic/federal structure into a democratic form deadly to republics.1 Why the 17th Amendment? What enormous forces convinced the people, states, and congress to trade a proven,...

Up to now, the convention’s great divide was between the large and small states. Today, focus drifted toward the rift between north and south, non-slave vs. slave-holding states. The 3/5 rule and expected rapid population growth in the southwest disturbed some northern delegates. If slaves and whites filled new states as anticipated, southern states would soon dominate the House of Representatives. Abruptly, yet understandably, the aristocratic Gouverneur Morris (PA), who recently recommended doing away with the states, turned about in support of equal state suffrage in the senate as a counterbalance to a fast-growing south. Only a northern state senate...

Fox News announced on Tuesday that nationally syndicated radio talk show personality Mark Levin will join the network with a weekly, weekend primetime show titled, “Life, Liberty & Levin.” “Mark’s passion for the principles found in the Constitution and success in talk radio has made him a distinct figure in the media landscape. We look forward to adding this spirited program to our weekend lineup,” Fox News President of Programming Suzanne Scott said. A Message from Shutterfly Gifts like no other Make this Christmas magical with easy-to-create gifts that can be made with your favorite memories, photos and more. Levin’s...

Following passage of a joint State Senate resolution Tuesday, Wisconsin became the 28th state to call for a U.S. constitutional convention. Earlier this year, the Wisconsin State Assembly passed a similar resolution. As the resolutions have now passed both houses of the state Legislature, and as Governor Scott Walker’s approval is not needed, last night’s vote made Wisconsin’s call for a constitutional convention official. The convention was called in support of a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution which would require the federal government to operate under a balanced budget.

I’ve found the State Legislators Article V Caucus website to be an invaluable resource for keeping up with the latest goings-on in the Article V Convention of States movement. Anyone can join. Members receive a monthly email with links to timely articles on the progress of Article V across the states. Features from the October issue: • Phoenix Convention September 12th – 15th. Nineteen states sent delegates to develop parliamentary rules for a future Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) Article V COS. View the rules package here. • Phoenix Convention Drew Considerable Media Attention. US News & World Report and the...

(Hillary joins FreeRepublic Article V Opponents.) While making the rounds on her book tour, Hillary Clinton recently sat down with Vox’s Ezra Klein to discuss her failed presidential bid, President Trump, and the challenges currently faced by the Democrat minority. Among those challenges, Clinton warned, is a “radical change” being pursued by forces on the right: “There’s a big move for change coming from the right that I think would be disastrous for our country. They want radical, ‘pull ’em up by the roots’ change. They want to have a constitutional convention to rewrite our constitution, to make it friendlier...