Joined by Convention of States Action senior advisor and co-founder Michael Farris, COS Challenge Coin winners Bob Strawder and Ben Terrill effectively and persuasively made the case to the Kansas House Committee on Federal and State Affairs for the COS resolution, Senate Concurrent Resolution 1604, on March 17.
Strawder recounted his "COS story" by discussing how the growing concern about the direction of the federal government among his friends and family motivated to become a grassroots volunteer.
Terrill followed him and pointed out that nearly 48,000 Kansans have signed the COS petition.
"All of us have come to the distressing conclusion that finding the best candidates and voting them into office in Washington doesn’t do the job," he said. "The government in Washington has become an enemy of our liberty and the vested interests there are not interested in changing course or letting us have our liberty back.”
Befitting his role as COS Kansas legislative liaison, Terrill explained why the states are duty-bound to take action when the federal government exceeds its bounds, and that any proposed amendments that are drafted by an Article V convention will return to the states for a yay or nay vote.
Terrill also calmly and cogently fielded questions from committee members about the mechanics of an Article V convention by saying “It’s not a mystery. The Founders knew what it meant. Congress shall call a convention, naming a date and a place. The states decide how many delegates to send, how they are qualified, and how they will vote."
The COS Kansas team members were followed by Farris, who briefly reviewed the history of George Mason's insistence that the states have the ability to amend the Constitution, and asked the members of the panel the key question: Is the federal government abusing its authority?
Farris pointed out that there are 50 books of laws that have been passed by Congress, but 250 such books generated by unelected bureaucrats. "This," said Farris, "is not how a republican form of government is supposed to work."
"Our volunteers did a fantastic job making the case for COS, and Michael Farris's testimony provided irrefutable evidence that the reason the Founders included the convention mechanism in Article V was to bypass Congress when it starts to abuse its power," said COSA senior vice president for legislative affairs Rita Peters.
"It's hard to see how anyone can deny that it is time for an Article V convention to rein in Washington."
The testimony clearly resonated with many of the members of the committee. They vigorously questioned the sole opponent who testified against the COS resolution regarding his citation of a Supreme Court case from nearly a century ago, in addition to some wildly illogical and self-contradictory arguments about whether Congress has any control whatsoever of an Article V convention.
If you missed the real-time coverage of this very encouraging hearing on COS LIVE, you can watch by clicking below:
The committee is scheduled to vote on SCR 1604 on March 18 at 10:00 a.m. ET/9:00 a.m. CT. Check out the blog and COS socials for coverage and breaking news as the resolution is on the brink of moving to the Kansas House for consideration.
