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, or by conventions in three fourths thereof...
Article V’s second provision (in bold text) is scarcely mentioned— and has never been used.
This is inexplicable given this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call ‘balance of power’ between the states and the federal government. This is also known as the principle of federalism. Federalism runs parallel with separation of powers and checks and balances.
Each branch of the federal government has tools to check the others; the convention mechanism is the states' tool to check abuse of power whether from one or all three branches of the federal government.
When the people, the creators of the federal government, are deprived of their "consent" then they not only possess the right, they have the duty to turn to the Constitution's prescribed means of redress to provide sufficient barriers in protecting their sovereign authority.
All members of Congress and all members of the State Legislatures swear their support to the whole Constitution—to this provision as much as to any other. So, why the relinquishment of such an important provision for reestablishing the constitutional balance of power?
The State Legislatures clearly derive the authority to propose and ratify amendments from Article V's grants of power -- which the States and the people have assented to.
The great news is that 15 of the 34 state legislatures required to call a convention, to discuss amendments to restrain the federal government, have passed the Convention of States Resolution.
The perplexing news is: Where are the other 19 state legislatures? Why are they not coming forth to perform their federal functions?
The need for an Article V Convention of States is undeniable. The balance of government has shifted to the point that we are no longer a nation governed by the unique system created by our Framers, but by the very form of government they sought to prohibit from ever overthrowing or superseding the ultimate authority: the people.
Everyone sees the "untouchables": the taunting, in-your-face corruption, zero accountability, the two-tiered justice system, the cover-ups, the backroom schemes, slush funds, quid pro quos, the propaganda, and the subversive intention behind it all. Everyone can also see that we've done little in taking the necessary actions to stop the ensuing iron fist.
Under the circumstances, there is no justification, whatsoever, for states to surrender the Article V process.
There is ample historical evidence that our Framers expected the States to use their provision in Article V, as illustrated at the end of this blog post.
And an honest appraisal of the ratification debates provides no worthy reason, whatsoever, for legislators to fear a convention.
For if, as some excuse, the people feared a "runaway" convention, why is it that out of the 210 recommendatory alterations to the Constitution made by the ratification conventions, not one was made to alter Article V?
The answer is that the ratifiers, federalists and antifederalists, sought to restrain the federal government, not the states or the people. They did not fear Article V; in fact, they advocated its use to acquire further restrictions on the federal government in order to protect their sacred inalienable rights.
That is precisely the same mission that the Convention of States Project seeks to achieve today: imposing more restraints on the federal government in order to reclaim our sovereign authority and the blessings of liberty.
Evidence from the state ratifying conventions aforementioned can be found here.
"When we shall have made a fair trial [of the Constitution], and found the whole, or any part of it, pernicious; the very same authority, which made, can, at any time undo, or improve it. If ever, after the adoption, a convention shall be proposed to amend it, in the way, pointed out by itself, I have the most perfect confidence, that the appointment will take place, and that neither the president, nor the congress, nor any other department will dare to oppose it . . . The very attempt to restrain, would operate most powerfully to promote it." ~Charles Carroll (represented Maryland at the Constitutional Convention)
The inexplicable surrendering of the States' Article V convention provision has only assisted the federal government's subversion of our constitutional system. We are allowing the usurpers to transform America into a unitary system in which the central government is supreme authority, not the people. Or even worse, allowing them to surrender our national sovereignty to their esoteric corporate global governing body.
If the deceit and abject failure of the federal government's response to the release of lethal BSL-4 lab-altered bat viruses into the world didn't wake legislators up to the advancing soulless apathetic dominion of "global governance," then nothing will.
There is no denying that we are facing a group of incompatible foes who seek America's collapse.
There is no mystery as to the kind of restrictions imposed on human beings under authoritarian rule.
Never has the people of America made the federal government their master.
We are the masters of our fate.
I trust the American people. That they will, for their own family, and for the good of all, eventually join in the COS mission to preserve our inheritance: the right to govern ourselves, to think independently, speak our minds, to worship freely, to succeed by our merits, to learn from our failures, to never give up, to believe in possibilities, to purchase property, to acquire virtues in the midst of life struggles, to become strong yet tenderhearted with the grace of forgiveness and redemption, to seek the truth and fight for freedom.
Because we believe in our fellow Americans
