Our Founding Fathers actually said to not rewrite the Constitution to enforce it. Convention of States (COS) Founder Mark Meckler’s Freudian slip July 6, 2017 on the Red Eye Radio Show revealed the truth. He was asked if an Article V convention, or anything, could keep these constitutional violations from happening again and again. Meckler said, “You know, I think that’s one of the best questions there is. And I’m going to give you the short and blunt answer which is NO!”
COS attorney Robert Kelly taught about COS February 5th, 2018, in Boise, Idaho. An attendee asked, “What happens when you change the Constitution and they do not follow it?” Kelly answered that millions of activists will need to pressure legislators and litigation will be required to enforce the changes. The same man asked, “Why not skip amending the Constitution and enforce it now?” Kelly got agitated and had no answer.
Yes, the federal debt has ballooned to $22 Trillion. Yes, the feds regularly reach outside their cage, usurping constitutional limits and encroaching on state powers, but they are aided and abetted by state legislators negligent in the performance of their oaths of office. State legislators take an oath under Article VI of the Constitution to support the Constitution and that includes resisting unconstitutional federal acts.
Yes Mr. Davidson, The Founding Fathers “foresaw the risk of a federal government taking excessive power unto itself at the expense of the states,” however, amending the Constitution to stop that violation was never discussed. Col. Mason did highlight the need for states to be able to petition for amendments to correct defects in the Constitution. The Article V convention option was not designed to, nor is there any way it can, compel obedience.
It is quite deceptive to claim Article V was unanimously ratified, without debate as COS does. This neglects the fact that seven motions that were voted on immediately after the section’s initial adoption on September 15, 1787. Col. Mason made one of those motions and seconded another. One of the motions seconded and voted on was to delete the Article V section entirely. Article V’s convention option was not passed unanimously and not without debate.
An Article V convention may not be topic limited. Three top-tier Article V convention-advocating attorneys are on record as saying there will be significant litigation if the 34 state requirement is reached, and a convention is called by Congress. Advocates are pushing to resolve constitutional usurpation we all agree is aided and abetted by the Judiciary, yet their own experts tell them the Judiciary will be intimately involved in the process as a result of significant litigation once a convention is called. This effectively means they are advocating inmates to guard the prison. The Judiciary should recuse themselves of several important questions due to the Political Question Doctrine they have already ruled applies to Article V. Massive litigation with courts refusing to hear the lawsuits? How could that possibly help?
COS advocates say that historical precedent will ensure that the convention stays within its limits. This is balderdash as the Constitution itself is the Supreme Law of the Land and is being regularly distorted, so why would a convention derived from it follow the rules? It is insane to think that a convention called in our modern toxic political climate, with ignorant people, and powerfully-influential PAC money, would stay within its limits.
Our 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia also had safeguards in place. Nine states and Congress itself specifically put language into the delegate commissions that amendments from the Convention had to be ratified by Congress and all 13 states. We know that Article VII of the Constitution required only nine states for ratification. The Founders appealed to The People for ratification to get around this, just as another convention could. August 31, 1787, in convention, James Madison said, “The people were in fact the fountain of all power, and by resorting to them, all difficulties were got over. They could alter constitutions as they pleased.”
When the Supreme Law of the Land is being distorted, it is fundamentally invalid for COS to claim any convention will stay within boundaries. Congress will define the convention. Dr. Natelson, a legal advisor for COS claims publicly, when promoting the convention, that it is one state, one vote. However, he also admits this can be changed by the convention.
Convention advocates are promoting what they are being told without checking facts. Debate on the Federal Convention Act of 1973 showed Congress will work to assert an Electoral College delegate allocation model and with few delegates, small state’s input to a convention will be ignored. The intense debate on the National Popular Vote issue currently flowing in America shows that all states being equal is not understood, taught, or embraced in America.
Mr. Davidson’s advice, “If we are to continue to be a government of, by and for the people, the people must play their role,” is quite correct, but grossly misapplied. The Founders let us know that We The People must be involved in our government. The Constitution is just a piece of paper that cannot enforce itself. They told us what to do:
“I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.” –Thomas Jefferson to William C. Jarvis, Sep 28, 1820
“it must be done by the states themselves, erecting such barriers at the constitutional line as cannot be surmounted either by themselves or by the general government. The only barrier in their power is a wise government….” — Thomas Jefferson To Archibald Stuart written December 23, 1791
We don’t follow the Constitution, so the Constitution isn’t the problem. Our not following the Constitution is the problem. So, changing the Constitution is not the solution.
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Shawn Meehan, MSgt, USAF, RetiredFounder, Guard The Constitutionfunja@thneqgurpbafgvghgvba.pbz
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