34 Reasons We Need Convention of States: Federal Tyranny

Thus far in this series, we have looked at 20 reasons to use an Article V convention to crack down on federal spending and career politicians. Read parts one and two here. Now, we must consider a third area of concern: federal tyranny. Resuming our list of 34 reasons we need Convention of States (one for each state necessary to call a convention), here are seven pressing case studies of government overreach.

1. The federal government has ignored Article I Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, which plainly states, “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.” This is vital because it prohibits “the administrative state” or any other appendage of Washington, D.C., from making law. As constitutional scholar Michael Farris pointed out, “This means that the President can’t make law. The bureaucracy can’t make law. The courts can’t make law. And, for heaven’s sake, the UN can’t make law. In a Republic, only elected legislators can make law.” We must fight to restore this delicate balance.

2. Speaking of balance, the Founders’ brilliant system of federalism — a painstaking dance, if you will, between the states and national government — has fallen out of tune. That is to say, the federal government has effectively suppressed the states, dismantling the prearranged tension between the two. As Ronald Reagan reminded us, “the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government.” An Article V convention would reassert state power over federal dominance.

3. So much for “enumerated powers”!

The Founders believed in a very simple equation: limited government = greater freedom. Therefore, they carefully specified (or enumerated) what the government can do on the federal level. Needless to say, that list is brief.

Today, however, Washington does not hesitate to involve itself in anything and everything. As the late Rush Limbaugh once suggested, Uncle Sam has metamorphosed into Santa Claus (i.e., he gives you whatever you want!). Certainly, that may sound fine on paper. But the government is not benevolent. And as the old proverb goes, “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”

4. The federal government has become a cudgel, an instrument of terror wielded against everyday American citizens. Between the Department of Justice sentencing 75-year-old pro-life protestors to two years in prison to investigating moms at schools boards like the Ku Klux Klan, terrorists, and Nazis, the Founders would be horrified at how repressive their government of, by, and for the people has become.

5. The letter of the First Amendment notwithstanding, Washington has become increasingly adept at censorship via proxy. Read several examples here.

As social media mogul Mark Zuckerberg recently confessed in a letter to Congress, “In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree. Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure. I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.”

5. The Department of Education, one of many government agencies plodding the thin ice of a disenchanted public’s fading goodwill, has made it increasingly difficult for parents to exercise their rights to direct the education and upbringing of their children. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, for example, has helped normalize transgenderism and other LGBTQ+ lifestyles in public education, even fighting against state laws that protect minor students from sexually explicit materials. This top-heavy approach to education is not only unconstitutional, but it also pits the federal government against everyday moms and dads who oppose “woke” Washington elites telling them how to raise their kids.

6. The corruption within Washington runs too deeply for treatment by fiscal responsibility or term limits alone. While, as we’ve seen in parts one and two, amendments targeting federal spending and terms of office are necessary, they cannot address even more systemic concerns: the federal government, quite simply, has too much power, flaunted by too many intrusive branches and agencies. While term limits and spending restraints would help, they would not go far enough in ensuring that Washington is cut down to size, permanently. That’s why Convention of States seeks to impose fiscal restraints, place term limits on federal officials, and limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government for a perfect, devastating blow to the heart of federal tyranny.

In part four of this series, we will examine eight final reasons why we need Convention of States… now!

Until then, please sign the Convention of States petition below to show your support for the grassroots Article V movement!