COSA PA has the momentum necessary to overcome all of the opposition's taradiddles and exert the strongest impact on legislators in Harrisburg as we near 100,000 petition signers.
Last week our message reached another 23 patriots who declared, “I am a Keeper…” by signing the petition to ask their state representatives to bolster their resolve to restrain the recalcitrant Congress and force them to restore the written Constitution's checks and balances that have been eradicated by judicial fiat.
Presently we have 95,291 Keepers who have signed petitions.
COSA PA is pleased to introduce you to another low-key individual who supports this team in the background desperately trying to avoid the spotlight.
Please meet the State's Communication Coordinator, Jim O'Connor, who in May of 2019, signed the petition, volunteered his stoic tutelage, and became the 44,459th petition signer.
In his own words...
I am a retired professional land surveyor. But the Convention of States Action Is the true calling of my life.
From an early age, I instinctively knew self-governance was the key to success in life and this great nation.
For example, at age six, I was already a head taller and 30 lbs heavier than my older brother. Our neighborhood was filled with elderly widows who no longer could properly maintain their yards. Because of my size and strength, I was able to help them with yard work they no longer could do themselves and began earning my own money.
This was my first lesson in self-reliance. It freed me from having to ask my father for spending money while I watched my siblings endure the money lecture every time they needed something for school. I loved that independence and decided then I would always take action and work to determine my destiny.
Later, I went on to become a self-governing activist long before I even knew what the definition of that term meant. I have been active in politics since 1976. I have witnessed firsthand the bloating of government and the negative impact on American society as a whole.
In my land surveying business, I learned that unchecked regulations have made developing property and building houses ever more expensive because the cost of ‘the rules", as always, is passed on to the consumer.
I watched progressives in action using the same tactics time after time to force the debate. Frustrated at first, I realized I could learn their strategy and turn their playbook right back on them to stop them from enacting harsh restrictions on the development process. Saul Alinsky’s "Rules for Radicals" taught me what to expect from the progressive movement, so I was prepared to counter the narrative with history to lessen the impact of their message.
I love to read and enjoy reading other volunteers' My-COS-Story. For me, the best are the descriptions of when and why they realized the federal government was a broken, corrupt, and power-hungry cesspool.
As for me, I am very fortunate to have been afforded an educational opportunity and insights that very few in this country can access, alerting me early on to the realities of our government.
As a young man, I spent a great deal of my free time in Virginia Beach hanging out with my older brother, a Tier One Special Warfare operator. I listened as he and his mates discussed various events of the day or assignments they were working on. I thought I was pretty up on current events because I followed the news closely. However, I soon understood that the version of any story I (and the rest of the public) heard on the news was "crafted" by experts to elicit a response, not report the truth.
I often asked my brother, “What IS the truth?”. He would reply that I needed to forget everything I thought I knew. He advised me to read books written from every perspective. He gave me a reading list to get me started. Here are those recommendations to me, the neophyte:
The Commanders by Robert Woodward is where he suggested I start.
After reading the book, I peppered him with questions about what I had read. He had physically been on the ground- personally present and involved in the acts described in the book- and he told me the truth.
He explained that the system has many layers and ‘After-Action Reports’ are continually edited as they flow up the chain of command. Everyone along the chain has the opportunity to change the report, so it's no wonder that by the end, the narrative often bears no resemblance to actual events at all.
This is the first book to open my eyes to our broken and dysfunctional system. I learned quickly that I needed to do my research, not believe a word I see or hear in the media and take nothing at face value.
About Face by Col. David Hackworth. The second of my brother’s recommendations.
He wanted me to read this so I would understand just how deep the corruption in our entire system of government truly is. After reading this book, my faith in government was shattered. I had lived in the delusion we were the "good guys". But what I found out was that our government expects us to join the club and tell the "approved" lie or be destroyed by the machine. I decided I would fight till my dying breath to stop tyranny wherever I found it.
MiG Pilot” by John Barron was the third in that early trio.
This book was important in helping me truly understand the horrors of "Big Government", teaching me how a centralized government destroys freedom and opportunity.
I think this book should be required reading in every high school in the nation. It wouldn't hurt for all COS volunteers to read it as well.
As much as these books have been invaluable to me, the greatest gift ever bestowed upon me came in 1982.
I was visiting my brother, and he sat me down for a deadly serious talk.
Until then, I knew he had been on a Tier 2 Assignment. He needed to tell me our agreed-upon rules of conduct had changed. I had plenty of suspicions that he had switched to a Tier 1 role, but I didn’t confirm that until ten years later - in 1992.
He told me, “I know you go through my stuff in the ‘war room’” (his library and collection of mementos collected during his assignments). I know you read the documents in my briefcase every chance you get.”
He continued, “That never bothered me because there truly was nothing sensitive in there. But things are very different now; you have to promise me you will never touch my briefcase ever again. I’m serious. If you try to open my briefcase it will explode. You will be killed or very seriously injured.” I thought, Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.
Then he dropped the real bombshell. He said, “Don’t ever do anything that you wouldn’t want to read on the front page of every newspaper in this country; the government will be keeping an eye on you, and you will never know when or where it is happening.”
I was shocked. “That’s illegal!” I said.
His reply was, no it’s not. The government wasn’t going to spy on me because of me; they were going to watch me to keep tabs on him. They were making sure he wasn’t teaching me things I wasn’t supposed to know. My brother had, in short, volunteered to live by a set of rules that restricted many of his inalienable rights.
He warned me to live my life at the highest level of honesty and integrity that was in me.
I learned about the government’s “big brother” abilities in 1982, and trust me, in the 40 years since it has expanded to include every one of us. There is no such thing as privacy anymore!
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Why the Convention of States? This project is the most important thing happening in this country. For far too long folks have abdicated their responsibility of holding elected representatives accountable. If this trend continues unabated, we will most certainly lose our freedoms. I, for one, have no intention of being a slave to the government; I will work as long as it takes to educate people to accept the responsibility the framers gave us to be self-governing.
I aim to lead by example, educate, and eliminate ignorance and misunderstanding with anyone that asks.
Being a leader means identifying a problem occurring in your life and interjecting yourself to correct it through education and understanding. For example, I started teaching land surveying at a local community college because the kids learning the profession were depending too much on technology and losing the principles of why we made the decisions we made.
Right now, the next generation is actively being indoctrinated by the government in schools today. Big Brother is hoping they lose the principles this country was founded upon.
I will do whatever I can to get this Article V Convention called and help build grassroots support across this country by setting an example of integrity and hard work. “Big brother” be damned!
Wow, that is truly eye-opening.
