Friday, April 18, 2014
Convention of the States?
Has anyone else been hearing about this?
I found this comment that I copy and pasted below on the blog post
"The Pig Trap"
most of you have read that BUT if you haven't you should here is the >LINK<.
Any way, is this possible to do? What would it take to have a convention of the states?
Does anyone have any info on this?
Here is the comment:
Hello friend,
Are you concerned about the abuses of the federal government? The government regulates things they have no business controlling, there’s a massive imbalance between federal and state power, and the spending and debt is out of control. But there’s hope!
For the first time in many years, the people and states have a chance to check the runaway train of the federal government. Article V of the Constitution provides a way for the states to call a convention for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution. Mark Levin has explained the Convention of States process in his bestselling book The Liberty Amendments, and now there’s an organization that can turn an Article V Convention of States into a reality. Citizens for Self-Governance (CSG) recently launched the Convention of States (COS) Project with the expressed purpose of urging and empowering state legislators to call a Convention of States.
Under the COS Project plan, this convention would be called “for the purpose of limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.” Only amendments that fall under this category would be germane and up for debate. I wholeheartedly support the COS Project’s plan, and I hope you will as well.
I believe a Convention of States is our last chance to halt the runaway power of the federal government and restore the Founder’s vision. This will be the most important project of this generation, and I hope you’ll consider getting involved!
ConventionOfStates.com
What Sorts of Amendments Could be Passed?
The following are examples of amendment topics that could be discussed at a convention of states:
◦A balanced budget amendment
◦A redefinition of the General Welfare Clause (the original view was the federal government could not spend money on any topic within the jurisdiction of the states)
◦A redefinition of the Commerce Clause (the original view was that Congress was granted a narrow and exclusive power to regulate shipments across state lines–not all the economic activity of the nation)
◦A prohibition of using international treaties and law to govern the domestic law of the United States
◦A limitation on using Executive Orders and federal regulations to enact laws (since Congress is supposed to be the exclusive agency to enact laws)
◦Imposing term limits on Congress and the Supreme Court
◦Placing an upper limit on federal taxation
◦Requiring the sunset of all existing federal taxes and a super-majority vote to replace them with new, fairer taxes
Of course, these are merely examples of what would be up for discussion. The convention of states itself would determine which ideas deserve serious consideration, and it will take a majority of votes from the states to formally propose any amendments.
The Founders gave us a legitimate path to save our liberty by using our state governments to impose binding restraints on the federal government. We must use the power granted to the states in the Constitution.
The Grassroots
The leadership of the COS Project believes the success of a convention of states depends to a large extent on the American citizens. Our plan is as follows:
1. We seek to have a viable political operation that is active in a minimum of 40 states.
2. Our goal is to have local leaders–District Captains–in at least 75% of the districts in these states.
3. District captains will organize at least 100 people in each of these districts to contact their legislator to support a convention of the states, and turn out at least 25 people per district at legislative hearings.
Legislators must know that our grassroots team will have their backs if they support a convention of the states. A widespread grassroots organization has been missing from the Article V movement. CSG’s President, Mark Meckler, was the co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots—one of the largest tea party groups in the country. Michael Farris is the founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association. As such, he brings with him over 30 years of grassroots leadership and activism in all 50 states. We are rapidly building not only a staff for this project, but networking with like-minded coalition members who will support this project once they see it up and running.
We believe that our unique application strategy combined with strong grassroots support will guarantee the success of this Project.
Only one question remains. Will you help us?
I'd be very wary of such a convention. I think the chances are high that it could be hijacked, sort of a frying pan into the fire idea. There are no guarantees that you won't come out of this with a worse deal than when you went in.
ReplyDeletePissed, I agree with Matt. Here is another point of view which I tend to believe.
Deletehttp://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/
I agree also. It won't be Jefferson, Madison, Franklin and Mason running it. It will be Alensky, Jerret, Carvil, and Ayers.
ReplyDeleteDon't like the idea of COS at all. Way too easy to be hijacked and leave us in a worse position.
ReplyDeleteLinked this post and linked to Taxicab Depression.
Agree with the above . Could be ugly. IN fact, I suspect that the lefties are pushing this in an attempt to change many things about the constitution. If they get their way, we will lose the 2nd and the tenth and likely the fourth.
ReplyDeleteBetter leave sleeping dogs lie. If there was a will to fix the issues that are enumerated in the article, then we could do it legislatively.
FYI, here's a link to the Convention of States website. Not saying it's good or bad, but something's got to change...
ReplyDeleteConvention of States
I think it would be difficult to get 38 states to agree on most anything.:)
DeleteThe last time it was tried, they trashed the Articles of Confederation completely and wrote the Constitution. Do we really want to risk it? I think NOT!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but a constitutional convention and an Article V Convention of States are two entirely different things.
DeleteI think based on the comments here, most everyone doesn't understand how an Article V convention is to work, and why it was written into the constitution to begin with. This, by the way, is NOT a constitutional convention. It is a gathering of delegates from the states to PURPOSE amendments. This is no different than the congress putting up an amendment to be voted on, which has happened hundreds of times. I don't understand why there is this illusion that congressmen and senators (whom we always complain about) are some how more virtuous than what convention of states delegates would be?
ReplyDeleteA convention of states for the purpose of proposing amendments is federalism at its finest. It is a banding together of the sovereign states to smack down the out of control federal government. The nay sayers always speak of a run away convention. What do you think is happening now, with business as usual? The federal government has been on a runaway for almost 100 years. "But we just need to elect the right people. Not have a convention of states." Like who?? John McCain? Mitt Romney? Chris Christy? Jen Bush? Give me a break! These main stream establishment types aren't going to change a THING. A convention of states delegate would exist for one purpose. To do the right thing and cast a vote. They aren't beholden to the establishment, re-election efforts, political correctness, the media, back door deals or a good ol' boys club. THIS is why nothing gets done.
I'm afraid it's up to us now, to turn things back around. Jefferson and Madison, etc, gave us this power through article V. They put that provision in the constitution for the very reason we are seeing today. In fact, we probably should have been exercising Article V conventions of states at the very beginning of this whole progressive movement.
Some also say this is dangerous to start this precedent, because we will lose the second, fourth, and tenth amendments. How? I challenge with that question. Does anyone actually think 3/4 of the states would vote to ratify eliminating amendments from the bill of rights?? Seriously? In a convention of states, each state gets one vote. I'm sorry, but New York and California do not equal 3/4. They equal 1/25.
It needs to be made clear that an Article V convention of States is for the purpose of PROPOSING amendments. It is literally impossible to have a convention of states, and have the constitution scrapped. Again, this is just for PROPOSING amendments. A proposed amendment would still require a separate 3/4 vote to be ratified.
ReplyDeleteEveryone keeps saying we'll hold this convention and it'll be hijacked. No, this is impossible. There is no hijacking of anything with a 3/4 vote. Just like how all 27 amendments were ratified.