Sunday, September 15, begins Constitution Week. It also happens to be our favorite day of the year -- Article V Day!
It was of course on September 15, 1787, in Philadelphia that Constitutional Convention delegate George Mason insisted that the process for amending the Constitution include a clause that enabled the people through their state legislatures to amend their governing document without interference from a Congress.
Most prominently among the delegates, Mason acutely anticipated that Congress and the federal government itself could become -- as both have -- overbearing and unwilling to stop accumulating more and more power.
The motion made to the delegates that Article V of the Constitution include a requirement that a convention on application of two-thirds of the states was adopted "nem: con." -- the Latin abbreviation for no one contradicting.
That not a single one of some of the most talented and intelligent political and legal minds who have walked the planet had an objection to giving the American people a path to improve their governing document makes contemporary arguments against an Article V convention seem a tad strange.
After all, what is wrong with convening a conversation to discuss using the Constitution to save America for our children and grandchildren?
As has been demonstrated in several states via academic inquiry, legislative testimony, COS volunteer-led meetings and events, letters to editors and op-eds, an Article V convention is essentially a conversation among states -- a national conversation, if you will.
It will be a limited-purpose gathering to discuss and propose amendments to the Constitution that limit the power and scope of the federal government.
Those discussions and debates will likely include topics such as term-limiting individuals in the U.S. Congress, setting budget boundaries, shrinking the gargantuan federal bureaucracy, and perhaps even how to reform a federal judiciary that has exceeded its constitutional charge.
Think of all of the talented, dynamic, and innovative individuals who will have a greater opportunity to seek and win seats in the House and Senate should the states ratify a term limits amendment. Term limits will eject the entrenched individuals who have come to see their seats not as a gift of the people, but a birthright that often expires only with the end of their lives.
What about the possibility of an amendment that will restore fiscal sanity and responsibility to the federal government? The Congressional Budget Office also estimates that our debt will be nearly $54.4 trillion in ten years. That is 116 percent of GDP. By 2054, the debt will be 166% of GDP. The budget deficit alone is projected to be 8.5 percent by 2054.
Career politicians and bureaucrats who spend nearly the whole of their professional lives in government posts do not have to worry about those figures. But your children do. Your grandchildren do.
Imagine an amendment that requires Congress to balance the federal budget every year. Imagine a Congress full of term-limited representatives and senators who will likely be more concerned about doing the business of the people rather than enjoying Potomac Fever for half a century.
The discussions and debates about these and other possible amendments at an Article V convention will likely be robust. As in any honest discussion of significance, there will be disagreement.
The back-and-forth may yield a raft of proposed amendments to the Constitution, or a just a few. Any amendments that do emerge will have two characteristics: They will be crafted and written to limit the federal government in some way, and they will be sent to the several states for more discussion and possible ratification.
An Article V convention is incapable of altering the Constitution of the United States in any way, shape, or form. The Constitution cannot be amended unless 38 states agree to do so.
A convention of the states is not a constitutional convention. It is a conversation about the Constitution and the course of this Republic. This design was the genius of Mason and the delegates who labored in the sweltering summer of 1787, and whose work we commemorate and celebrate.
Even if only one amendment proposal that emerges from an Article V convention is eventually ratified by the states -- term limits or a balanced budget amendment just to name two -- it will be a significant course correction and promise a brighter day for future generations.
So, Happy Article V Day! Celebrate what George Mason and his colleagues in Philadelphia gave to us -- the power to amend the Constitution to make it, and the union, more perfect without interference from Congress.
To join the movement -- or remain in the fight -- and give of your time and talent to put Article V into action and save America for future generations, sign the petition below:
