This Time It’s Different? (Part 1)
November 18, 2024
The grassroots reawakening began in 2008. It was a result of the profligate spending and a pledge by President Barack Obama to “fundamentally transform” the United States of America. This was a shocking and confusing statement. Many people didn’t quite understand what it meant. Even though America had made mistakes and experienced dark periods in its past, most people were proud of this country. In fact, the majority loved their country. So, why would you want to “fundamentally transform” something you loved – unless you actually didn’t love it?
Given the national temper, Republicans were motivated to push back. In 2010, they led a wave election with the Republican Party gaining a majority in the House. The Republican class ran on a platform of stopping President Obama’s agenda. When they received criticism for not following through on their promises, Speaker John Boehner said, “We’re only one-half of one-third of the federal government. We need a majority in the Senate as well.”
So in the 2014 election the people gave Republicans majority control of the Senate as well. With control of both chambers of Congress, the people thought this would really make a difference. They found out differently. What was the Republican Party’s excuse this time? Their message: “Sure, we now have Congress but we need control of the White House as well. Otherwise, all the good legislation we can pass will never be signed by a Democrat President.” That makes sense, but this time much of the American populace had had enough excuses from the Republicans.
Enter the 2016 Presidential election season. The Republican primary featured 17 candidates while the Democrat Party fielded six. The Democrat field was quickly whittled down to Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. tThe Republican field took more time to cull. It was a mix of current and former governors, congresspeople and other officials. But, the common denominator was that all the candidates were politicians – all except one – Donald Trump.
The American people evaluated the field. Much of the electorate had grown tired of the inaction of the Republican Party and the conventional political narrative of politics in general. People were upset with the continued growth of the federal government. With this frustration in mind, Donald Trump’s unconventional messaging slowly gained traction. The electorate ultimately decided to send Donald Trump to the White House. He was sent there to tear down the system – even though some good aspects of government would likely be collateral damage. Given the frustration with DC, it was a risk the electorate thought was worth taking.
And then, the grassroots that supported Trump mistakenly relaxed. The opinion of too many people was that President Trump was going to “drain The Swamp” and all would be good with the world. We at Convention of States Action cautioned our volunteers about relying too much on President Trump’s rage against the machine. We dubbed this being “Trump Drunk.”
It turns out The Swamp really is pretty ‘swampy’. President Trump surrounded himself with some good people, but far too many bad ones as well. The Republican-controlled Congress continued to send President Trump bloated budgets that he signed. Instead of focusing on building the southern border wall, he spent political capital on Paul Ryan’s Obamacare “repeal.” He was under constant assault and investigations by Congress – especially after the Democrat Party took control of the House again in 2018. He was impeached for an innocuous phone call with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. And then, there was the 2020 pandemic. Most of President Trump’s accomplishments in his first term were in areas where he could act alone.
So now we have Trump 2.0. It‘s obviously too early to know if or how this second term will differ from his first. Yet, there are signs this time his approach will be drastically different.
First up, let’s look at personnel. In his first term President Trump surrounded himself with lobbyists, donors and political insiders. This time, we have Elon Musk, RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, none of whom I had on my Bingo card. Look at this list of COS supporters chosen for his cabinet so far:
· JD Vance – Vice President – COS Supporter
· Marco Rubio – Secretary of State – COS National Endorser
· Pete Hegseth – Secretary of Defense – COS National Endorser and Headliner
· Vivek Ramaswamy – Dept. of Government Efficiency – COS National Endorser
· Mike Huckabee – Ambassador to Israel – COS National Endorser
· Mike Johnson* – Speaker of the House – COS Supporter
(*Of course, Mike Johnson is not a member of the Administration) There may be more to come. Think about the exposure Convention of States Action has at the upper levels of our government!
“Only constitutional amendments can provide the generational change that is necessary. Our resolution provides the means to restore the original intent of our Constitution.”
What does this mean for us? Only time will tell. So, let me present a scenario.
Common themes for the incoming administration are: decentralizing the federal government, eliminating (unconstitutional) federal departments, streamlining the federal bureaucracy, cutting federal spending, imposing term limits….Does any of this sound familiar? These are the three subject matter areas of Convention of States Action’s resolution.
What if in the process of acting on the Administration’s priorities it’s realized the best path is not through Congress? What if administrative action is not possible to eliminate unconstitutional agencies. I am sure it is not lost on President-elect Trump or his administration that many of his Executive Orders from his first term were immediately reversed by Joe Biden. Other policies were neutered through legislative action. The federal bureaucracy is implementing regulations as we speak to insulate themselves from Trump enacting policies a majority of the electorate voted for.
What other solutions do you think they will pursue?
An Article V convention of states is an obvious answer. Seeing that COSA has so many supporters at the top levels of government and that the goals of our resolution align with many of the goals of the incoming administration, it is reasonable to assume they will turn to our organization. Only constitutional amendments can provide the generational change that’s necessary and our resolution provides the means to restore the original intent of our Constitution.
Frankly, we do not have the number of active volunteers we need. Our activity in state-level elections this November helped flip dozens of seats from COSA opponents to COSA supporters. These legislative wins have dramatically improved our chances of passing in several states in 2025. The political climate is ripe. A majority of citizens regardless of political affiliation support the aims of our Convention of States resolution. Momentum is on our side.
Passed States Activities
Legislative outreach
Grassroots education
Get Out the Vote Efforts
Assisting non-passed states to pass their resolutions
Just because Missouri is a passed state, does not mean our work is finished. We have approximately 70 new legislators who will be sworn into office this coming January. We have already developed relationships with some of them. We need to expand upon this effort and help educate these new legislators. This educational need applies to our fellow Missourians as well. If COSA receives the rocket fuel I think we will in the next four years, the need for education will only increase. As we near the first of many conventions, the grassroots must understand the process to be commissioners to represent Missouri and move proposals through the ratification process. We will be involved in selected School Board elections. We also have a team actively praying for our legislators and their staffs.
The bottom line is – WE NEED YOU! This effort will not succeed due to just our President Mark Mecker’s efforts. We will not succeed solely on my efforts or any other volunteer. We will only succeed because of our team. If you are not a volunteer, please consider becoming one. If you are and feel you are not being utilized effectively, please contact me. We are in this fight together. As John Quincy Adams said, “Duty is ours.The results belong to God.”
In liberty,
Brett
Editor's Note: Sign up to become a volunteer HERE.
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