COS Grassroots Team is Educating Delawareans

by Linda Ward 

Grassroot activists from Convention of States have been busy in neighborhoods and towns across Delaware, educating and empowering citizens to be active in our state’s political processes. The Convention of States movement is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that has been educating the public on Article V of the US Constitution.

We spoke with Doug Romaine, a volunteer and District Captain in Sussex County for COS, who explained that Article V of the U.S. Constitution gives states the authority to make an application to Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments. It takes 34 states to call the convention and 38 states to ratify any amendments that are proposed.

Doug further explained that the Federal Government, by the actions of Congress, have used Article V to call for a convention of states to propose amendments to the Constitution. But thus far the states have been unable to come together to obtain the needed number of states to propose a resolution to call for a convention. He added that the ratification process for any amendment proposed by either Congress or the states is the same. In both cases, 38 states are required to ratify any amendment proposed.

Historically, since 1789 there have been 33 amendments proposed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification, of which only 27 have been ratified. The ratification process requiring approval by 38 states was intentionally set high to eliminate any undesirable amendments.

Doug said the team in Delaware is currently focused on educating the public on Delaware Senate Concurrent Resolution 100, sponsored by Senators Richardson, Lawson, and Buckson. The resolution, if passed, would have Delaware join 19 other states nationwide calling for term limits on federal officials, fiscal responsibility for the federal government, and a reining in of the federal overreach into the jurisdiction of the states.

Every state in this process will select delegates to send to the convention. Regardless of the number of delegates chosen, each state will have just one vote on each of the proposed amendments. Only those amendments agreed upon at the convention would be sent back to the states to go through the same ratification process that has been used for hundreds of years requiring 38 states to ratify the amendment.

In his final speech as president, Barack Obama, speaking to a crowd in Chicago, said: "Our Constitution is a remarkable, beautiful gift; but it's really just a piece of parchment. It has no power on its own, We the people give it power." Obama’s sentiment, that our founding documents hold only as much weight as “We the People” allow, has been a basis of other constitutional democracies worldwide.

The construction of the government is dependent on “We the People” believing that the laws are legitimate and, when needed, we have the ability to propose changes. We are presently at such a time in our country when our Federal Government will not police itself nor propose changes to limit its own power.

A convention of states is the solution to the problems we face today. It is time for “We the People” to use our Constitutional authority under Article V to petition our state legislators to call for a convention to rein in the powers of the federal government.

To learn more about what Delaware Convention of States Delaware is doing and to sign the petition go to Convention of States Delaware.