by Frank Mazur
We must curb the federal government’s abuse of power. Our constitution is ignored by the President and courts. O’Care focuses on redistributing wealth and the IRS is used as a weapon for political reprisal against those who dissent. Our judiciary can’t be relied on to follow the constitution and often legislates rather than interprets the laws.
The Democratic Party is driving an agenda where nearly 50% of our society is entitlement driven. The Republican Party is too afraid to fight for their principals. The three branches of government act as one: rather than checking and balancing each other, they are reinforcing each other.
Our elected officials ignore us and cater to lobbyists’ money. What can we do? Our founding fathers gave us an option in Article V of the Constitution: “Convention of the States” (COS).
Article V allows state legislators to call a COS in order to limit federal power in the event of their overreach. Once 34 states request a COS any constitutional changes adopted by 2/3 present would require approval by ¾ of the states.
A COS could address a federal balanced budget amendment, states’ overrides of burdensome regulations as well as impose Congressional and Supreme Court term limits.
The call for this COS is gaining steam with ~25 states expected to file application during 2015. Constitutional expert Mark Levin indicated without change our “economic system and society will collapse.” Only state legislatures can provide a check on Washington and restore power where it belongs: the states.
– Frank Mazur is former chair of the Vermont House Transportation Committee, and a former member of the Ethan Allen Institute board of directors.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Very well summarized. The Article V process for proposing amendments to the Constitution is the emergency escape valve, the “break glass in case of fire” process the Founders gave us to rein in tyrannical government. The same Washington masterminds that got us into this mess cannot possibly be trusted to fix it. Mark Levin’s “The Liberty Amendments”, his regular weekday show, and the conventionofstates.com website are all superb references to learn more. I was initially a skeptic but now agree it’s the only way out. The behavior of our Zombie Congress this week truly removed all doubt. Michelle Marceau
No one holds Obama accountable, and no one holds Shumlin accountabe so why should anyone expect the folks to obey the laws. This is a very sad state of affairs. Hopefully, the pendulum will start swinging back to the point where our elected officials abide by their oath of office an obey and enforce the laws of the land.
Caution should be used in proposing an Article V Convention. It has never been used although it has been proposed over 700 times throughout our history. Conservatives are looking toward it to cure some of the ills we perceive, but once opened there is no guarantee that liberal amendments wouldn’t find their way into it (i.e. repeal the 2nd amendment).
The Congressional Research Service has a 40 page document that is distributed to Congress telling them what they can and can’t do. You can find that information at https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42592.pdf . The very fact that an Article V Convention could open up all the Constitution should give you pause, but relying on Congress to set the rules for how it will work is downright frightening.