Earlier this week we were pleased to announce that the Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania had decided to endorse our efforts to call the first-ever Article V Convention of States. They recently published their reasoning for their decision, and we wanted to share that with our volunteers and supporters.
The idea of a Convention of States, or Article V Convention, first popped up on our radar in 2013. In September of that year Mark Levin’s Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic was released. Initially, we were skeptical of the idea of a Convention of the States (COS) because changes to the US Constitution are not something to be undertaken lightly. We have conducted a significant amount of legal and historical research on the subject and considered both sides of the issue. We concluded that the enabling legislation for a COS and the ratification process for amendments contain enough safeguards to ensure our essential liberties are protected. Furthermore, this is the only recourse available to the people to wrest authority from a federal government unwilling to reform itself.
After a great deal of internal discussion, CAP decided to endorse The Convention of States Project and their efforts in the Commonwealth. The Convention of States Project is a nationwide grassroots effort to activate an Article V Convention to propose constitutional amendments that would impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and set term limits for federal officials. Twelve state legislatures have already passed resolutions to convene such a meeting. A total of 34 state legislatures must do so before the convention may begin its work. In endorsing an Article V, CAP is joining some of the brightest minds in the national conservative movement. Previous endorsements have come from Jim DeMint, Senator Rand Paul, Ben Shapiro, and of course Mark Levin, to name a few.
In Pennsylvania our joint focus will be on the General Assembly’s actions relative to the Pennsylvania COS resolutions (SR 133 and HR 187).
Convention of States Action has compiled an incredible list of resources on the subject of an Article V convention. If you want to learn more about a Convention of States, please visit their resource page.
