Believe it or not, our Founding Fathers, during the time of Louis XVI’s Versailles and having just lived under the domination of King George III and an English Parliament in London almost 6000 miles away, anticipated there may come a time when the political elite, all living together in a far off capital city, might become detached from those they are supposed to serve and may need to be reigned in. For just this eventuality, the Founders slipped a mechanism into the Constitution, which allows The States (specifically the State Legislatures) to overrule the power-drunk tyrants living as permanent residents in the capital and return the power of our Constitutional Republic back to The States and We the People.
This fail safe is called The Convention of the States (COS). Mark Levin has discussed the need for The Convention of the States in an excellent description of the process.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
Article V of the US Constitution
Article V of the U.S. Constitution allows legislatures of two thirds of The States (34) to call for a convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Three quarters of The States (38) would need to ratify the amendments, but this would allow citizens to bypass Washington D.C. and state governors altogether.
15 states have already passed COS resolutions, 8 more States have passed a COS resolution through 1 state legislative chamber, another 12 states have active legislation pending this year. So a total of 35 states are already inclined to support the COS, and that doesn’t even include states like Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania with Republican state legislatures that could easily be persuaded to join in given all the election and other chaos seen in 2020. Surely additional state legislatures could be persuaded to join either through political pressure or future elections. If the amendments passed were the type with broad 70 to 80% public support, there is a real chance some or all of the amendments could see ratification.
This can all be done outside of the sphere of Washington D.C. The States do not need a single vote in Congress, the President cannot veto it, and the Supreme Court cannot rule ratification of a constitutional amendment to be unconstitutional. Not even the Associated Press gets a say.
- Balance Budget Amendment – Require the federal government to do what almost every state and local government as well as American family household needs to do, balance their budget. Have an exception only under a Declaration of War from Congress. Make sure entitlement spending is not exempted and include strong language to avoid accounting tricks.
- Congressional Term Limits – Harken back to the days of a citizen legislature. No person should be able to serve in Congress for longer than 18 years (9 terms as a U.S. Congressmen, 3 terms as a U.S. Senator, or any combination thereof). If a person is really so valuable to the U.S. Government, they can go on to run for President, Vice President, become a cabinet secretary, or run a major U.S. Government agency. This will not deprive the government of any person’s talents for a single minute, but it will dramatically reduce the amount of corruption in the legislative branch.
- Set The Number of U.S. Supreme Court Justices at Nine – End threats of court-packing forever. The number has been set at nine for over a hundred and fifty years and is widely accepted as the correct equilibrium. This would take the “Nuclear Option” of packing the court off the table and avoid setting off a never-ending cycle of court packing every time one party managed to capture the White House and both houses of Congress at the same time.
- Federal Election Integrity Reform – Same day, in-person voting with Voter ID (limited exceptions for absentee), require paper ballots, ban ballot harvesting, etc. Also require state legislatures meet post-election and certify the results of their state’s election results before the Electoral College meets.
- Move Major Government Agencies Out of Washington D.C. and “Break up the Swamp” – Why do all major functions of the federal government exist all together in a single location? Residents of “Permanent Washington” move in and out of government between the bureaucracies, government contractors, lobbyists, think tanks, the media, etc. All these people have lived and worked together for so long in a single city, they’ve formed a collective identity. An “understanding” now exists between them to the point they’ve effectively merged into a single political force. This is what people call “the Establishment” or “the Swamp”.
It is long past time to break this dynamic up and begin to headquarter major agencies outside of Washington D.C. Why not move the Dept. of the Interior into the interior in a city such as Topeka, Kansas? Get the “7th Floor” of the FBI as far away from Washington D.C. as reasonably possible in a place like San Diego, California. Move an agency like the Dept. of Health and Human Services to Atlanta, Georgia where its Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is already located.
What sense is there to have the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), an agency that up until recently was strictly forbidden to operate on U.S. soil or collect information on Americans headquartered inside the nation’s capital along with over 90% of its agents located and living inside The Beltway? It is a recipe for disaster. Why not relocate CIA headquarters to someplace like Guam and get those agents out into the field as intended, not spying on Americans and political opponents.
- Repeal the 17th Amendment (Direct Election of U.S. Senators) – This would be the toughest sell because it seems counterintuitive. Why would anyone not want to vote directly for their own U.S. Senators?
The U.S. Senate was designed to be the voice of The States in Congress with each house of the State Legislature (assuming they have 2) appointing a Senator to represent them. The 17th amendment has become “one of the worst modifications to the U.S. Constitution”. This amendment was passed because the appointment process was viewed as having become too corrupt.
It has removed much of the impetus for voters to change politics at the local level, instead federalizing even more power in Washington D.C.
Quote from The Burning Platform article “Fix The Senate The Right Way – Repeal The 17th Amendment“
Ironically, it’s now even far more corrupt with Senators effectively becoming life-tenured Washington D.C. residents and only having to come back to their state once every 6 years to campaign for a short period of time. Under the original design, Senators were held far more accountable. The average term for a U.S. Senator in the 19th Century was about 4 years.
If citizens of a state were unhappy with their Senator, voters could flip the chamber in their State Legislature and have them recalled. You would not have situations like Mitt Romney who was a dead man walking politically in the Republican Party with another 5.5 years left on his term in office.
- End To Gerrymandering – Congressional districts can be drawn using non-partisan modeling to make sure geographic and regional demographics are used in drawing congressional district lines. Get rid of the majority of “safe districts” (which is the overwhelming majority now) and extremist, partisan hack lifers in Congress who can spew non-stop, outlandish rhetoric without any fear of facing a serious general election challenge.
These are just a few of the amendments that could be considered and would have wide popular and bipartisan support among the vast majority of voters. Recent events have clearly demonstrated the federal government has become far too tyrannical. Average, everyday citizens are shocked and frightened by government overreach. They are looking for a peaceful means to reign in the totalitarian impulses of those currently in charge of the federal government and fight back. The Convention of the States provision was placed into Article V by the Founders just for this moment.
The system knows The People have the power through actions like The Convention of the States. Make no mistake, the recent overreaches by The Establishment, Big Tech, and major corporations to crush, marginalize, and silence opposition voices is being done because the system is scared. They fear a populist uprising and are panicking. These are actions taken from a position of weakness, not of strength.
They only win by convincing enough of us we don’t have the power. They win by making us feel isolated and alone, but we’re not alone. If enough citizens keep the faith in the Constitutional Republic and band together to put political pressure on state legislators right now, this is a very realistic possibility. The Convention of the States is only a few states away from occurring and just a few more beyond that from enacting real change to peacefully reign in the tyrannical forces in the federal government. We just need enough patriots to stand up and be heard.
If you’re not going to stand up, be heard, and ‘fight’ now, when in God’s name would you ever?
Please go to the Convention of the States website and sign the petition now.
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