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Congress won’t fix itself. Its time for an Article V convention.

We can’t rely on Congress. The states must take action.

Have you had enough?

Enough of seeing another trillion dollars added to our national debt?
Enough of the president using executive orders to enact laws he couldn’t pass in the legislature?
Enough of Congress and the Supreme Court stretching and twisting the “commerce” clause and the “general welfare” clause to mean just about anything?

Well, I’ve had enough. We are witnessing the decline of our great nation before our eyes.

Our founders created a miracle, and crafted our Constitution as its backbone. It’s creation was genius, but it wasn’t perfect. Many changes have been made to it through amendments over 220 years, of course. The Bill of Rights were the first 10 amendments enacted, ensuring many of the liberties we take for granted every day.

Now we need to make further amendments to rein in the federal government.

By design, it is a difficult to amend the Constitution. A simple majority vote doesn’t cut it. The founders knew they couldn’t trust the whims of future majorities not to dismantle the foundation they created.

You need a 2/3 super majority of both the House and the Senate just to propose a new amendment. Then you need 3/4 of the states to ratify it. It takes years to accomplish.

But what if Congress IS the problem?

How can we expect Congress to rein itself in? It’s like the fox guarding the henhouse. They aren’t exactly itching to enact changes that decrease their power.

Sure, you have some good Congressmen, like Jim Jordan, who truly want to balance the budget and has proposed legislation to do so. But you’re never going to get 2/3 of them to go along.

Fortunately, the founders anticipated that also. They included in the Constitution another way to propose amendments to the states.

A convention of the states

We don’t need Congress to propose amendments. A convention can be called when 2/3 of the states agree to it for a specific cause.

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..

There is a new national project called Convention of States. It’s mission is to create a grassroots army to contact their state legislators towards one goal. Convening a convention to consider amendments related to limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.

Such amendments might include:

  • 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

You can sign the petition here, but don’t stop at that. Study the materials on the website and then contact your state rep and state senator.

The ball is already rolling in Ohio. We need your involvement to get the bipartisan resolution passed.

There is already a bipartisan joint resolution that has been proposed in the Ohio House. Sponsored by Republican Christina Hagan and Democrat Bill Patmon, House Joint Resolution 3 would officially be Ohio’s call for a convention.

Unlike a regular bill, a joint resolution does not need the governor’s signature. It only needs to pass the Ohio House and Senate with majority votes.

We will be writing more about this in the coming weeks, hopefully with interviews with State Reps Hagan and Patmon.

In the meantime, study the information at ConventionOfStates.com, sign up to volunteer and contact your representatives in both houses of the Ohio General Assembly.



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Third Base Politics is an Ohio-centric conservative blog that has been featured at Hot Air, National Review, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and others.

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