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Cutting Off Congress and Saving Our Country
Watching the floundering and fecklessness of our Congress, observing their throwing fiscal responsibility to the wind, and realizing that the most important agenda they have is to be re-elected, I wanted to help find a way to help transform Congress and its effects on this country. And I think I’ve found a way.
For months, I have been struggling with a decision. It’s about getting involved with an organization, and I am not a joiner. Nor do I like to make commitments that I might not be able to keep. I also want there to be a likelihood of the organization’s success.
I’ve written a bit before about the Convention of States. Initially I was skeptical about their goals, and their chances of success. But the more I read about them, the more impressed I was with not only their plans, but also with their anticipation of roadblocks and ways to overcome them.
If you haven’t heard of them, the organization was formed based on Article V of the Constitution:
Article V of the U.S. Constitution gives states the power to call a convention to propose amendments. It takes 34 states to call the convention and 38 to ratify any amendments that are proposed. Our convention would only allow the states to discuss amendments that, ‘limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, impose fiscal restraints, and place term limits on federal officials.’
I was especially impressed with their strategies for keeping the COS from going off the rails. They’ve designed an orderly and practical process for initiating, conducting and completing the process.
But in spite of my initial enthusiasm, I began to have questions that weren’t being answered by the FAQ’s of the organization. So instead of continuing to dither around, I decided to ask about the questions I was struggling with.
One of my biggest concerns was that Congress would simply ignore or table the application completed for a COS. I learned that Article V has already been addressed in the courts, including United States v. Sprague, 282 U.S. 716 (1931), so if Congress tries to sabotage or ignore the process, it will be sued.
When I asked how a lawsuit would be pursued, I was told the following by COS staff:
This is settled law and that quote came from Michael Farris who is one of our co-founders and a constitutional attorney who practices before the Supreme Court. In fact, he is the only living attorney who has argued Article V case law before the court and is an authority in such matters. Generally, a state attorney general would file suit and the other 33 states would then join the suit, but that is highly unlikely that Congress would act in such a way because too many members know this and are endorsers of our project. The current Speaker of the House is a supporter and was in the LA state legislature when we passed our application there.
To date, 19 states have approved the Convention of States, and at the beginning of 2024, at least 11 more states have presented the resolution to their state legislatures.
* * * *
So, I’ve made my decision, in spite of my reservations about group-joining, and I officially joined. I crossed over the finish line when I saw the jobs they offer volunteers—they needed writers! I felt I was a good fit for the kinds of writers they needed.
I hope they agree.
Published in Politics
It’s still the building of socialism. Two steps forward, one step back.
And it might be argued that government DIDN’T have that power, but they asserted it anyway, and if you weren’t in a position to maybe sit in jail and/or go bankrupt taking it to court, you went along.
I think we may have drifted off track. I’m not sure what covid payments or socialism have to do with setting term limits, spending limits (which is one reason our taxes are so high) and limit the power of the federal government. The last could stop the feds from the obscene lockdowns and therefore the spending that followed.
Since the federal government didn’t order everyone to close and it was largely states that did it, it was my argument that states needed to pay out, not the federal government.
but that’s so far and away from how America 2.0 operates, it was always a pipe dream.
This relates to my comment #33; they had no right to do it.
The Process Is The Punishment.
How else do you expect to build socialism? You think it’s going to be labeled socialism, and that we’re going to vote on it?
See my comment #9.
True. It was the payments to businesses more than individuals that did the most to take control of the means of production.
I think the topic of socialism should be part of the school curriculum, and not in the way they’ve been teaching it, but rather the debilitating and disempowering effect it has on our schools and society. The current teachers may be resistant, but we need to get this started and soon!
I hope the COS can get enough applications that Congress has to call an Article V Convention. As I said before, I’m skeptical that Congress can be forced to act, but the States need to use their powers under the Constitution to restrain the Federal government. If it works, I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong.
I remember our discussing the COS and our concerns, MWD. After communicating with them, I was sufficiently satisfied that it could happen. Maybe not in my lifetime, but I believe it will happen.
The Presidential Electors, as a slate, are picked by a popular vote statewide in each state. So are Senators when on the ballot. This is where major fraud in high density urban areas happens. I doubt seriously if the Republican state government in Georgia has a very firm grip on election integrity in Fulton County and that can easily shift the state’s popular vote preference for Electors. The rest of the state may be fine in vote integrity but the damage is done in Fulton County.
While it will take a repeal of a Constitutional Amendment to put Senator selection back where it should be, the popular vote to pick Presidential Electors can be stopped by state legislators just reserving that duty to themselves again. That can be done this year before November if the state legislature meets.
I remember as well, Susan. I hope you’ll update us on successes. Who knows, I may end up joining as well.
If the Fed runs with *** d e f l a t I o n ***, nobody needs anything from the government except basic public goods.
The COS process is rigorous enough that even if going off the rails was possible, states would refuse to ratify bad amendments and they would fail. However, the cry of “They’ll go crazy!” has been used to falsely portray the process as dangerous . . .
Update: The other way to attack the COS process is to say, “But it’s never been done before!” True, but there’s always a first time . . .
True! And I’m all for giving it a go!
I see a difference. During Covid, the government made it illegal for people to earn a living so it tried to replace the income of workers.
In our government socialism, the payments to “lift people up” and to have a “liveable wage” discourage work and productivity.
One could argue that on incompetent government trying to do the former increased the latter. That would be fair. We should never again allow the government to shut down productivity, no matter the reason.
We have drifted in this direction because of the 17th.
Unfortunately, I have a hard time imagining that will be revoked.
The difference doesn’t matter. It’s all building socialism. If people didn’t want shutdowns, they shouldn’t have undermined their own message by throwing in untrue, lazy nonsense about the virus and vaccines. They’ll probably do it again next time.
Isn’t it funny… all those amendments to the Constitution and now we think it is impossible to amend it. Why do you suppose that is? Could it be the 50/50 country? With half of it altering the Constitution through other means already? Our country barely operates now as designed by it.
She didn’t say impossible. But have you polled the public on this issue lately?
I’m not saying it’s impossible to amend, RH. Just very difficult. What rationale would we use to persuade the people that they should give up their right to directly elect Senators? I agree that we are violating the Constitution, left and right, but doing it officially will be a challenge.
The framer’s intentionally made it difficult to amend. People must be convinced.
Polled what? Having a convention to amend how many years a senator can serve? All the discussion is over whether we should have a convention. No, states should draft a specific amendment, get other states to sign on to having a convention to debate pros and cons, then vote.
If COS is successful and an Article V Amendment Convention is called, I suspect the repeal of the 17th would be one proposed amendment coming out of the Convention and sent to the States.
You think people’s opinions won’t influence what happens?
Public opinion would have to be taken into account, as any proposed Amendments coming out of an Article V Convention would still need to be sent to the States for ratification.
No, I think you have a point known only to you.