Much is being made in the U.S. media of outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's "legacy" in her leadership position.
Like anything else, Pelosi's legacy will mean different things to different people, all of which depend upon the lens through which one views politics.
Some will deem her speakership consequential simply because she is the first woman to be Speaker. Some may point to her strength as she wielded significant power and influence in and among the Democratic Party members of the House.
Yet beyond anything she may have accomplished, Nancy Pelosi should be forever remembered as the Speaker of the House who built a fence to keep American citizens out of their Capitol.
In the wake of January 6, 2021, Pelosi used her authority to seize the opportunity to prevent American citizens from accessing the Capitol by ordering the construction of non-scalable fencing around the entire Capitol grounds.
That fencing remained long after any threat to the Capitol -- real or perceived -- had ceased.
One of the more frustrating traits of contemporary members of Congress -- particularly concerning the events of January 6, 2021 -- is a near-total lack of historical perspective mixed with a near-total lack of physical and moral courage.
During the German blitz of London in World War II, Buckingham Palace absorbed nine direct hits from the bombers of the German Luftwaffe.
In one such instance, a low-flying bomber scored a hit squarely over the Royal Family's living quarters, leaving the King and Queen in their drawing room covered in glass shards.
In the aftermath, the Queen was said to have remarked: "I'm almost glad we've been bombed. Now we can look the East End in the face."
No such desire to look the American people in the face exists among most members of Congress. No oath or sense of duty compels them to look us in the face.
Speaker Pelosi could be confident in leaving that ghastly fence in place well beyond any usefulness or contingency because she knew that the opposition party in Congress would put up little or no resistance.
In fact, one of the more vociferous voices in Congress against the fence was Washington, D.C., Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat. She introduced a bill entitled "No Fencing at the Capitol."
Otherwise, however, the Uniparty was seemingly all too happy to keep the riff-raff out of their clubhouse.
Never mind the constituents who traveled to Washington to perhaps visit with the representative that they sent to the halls of Congress; never mind the students who were interning or studying who may have wished to roam underneath the magnificent Capitol dome to study the exquisite works of art; never mind the tourists from here and abroad who wanted merely to see and touch the "Citadel of Democracy."
Never mind any of that. The message was clear: The Capitol does not belong to you. We do not want you here. You do not count. There is nothing you can do about it.
They are completely mistaken.
George Mason and the Framers of the Constitution inserted Article V into the United States Constitution to answer the arrogance of outsized power.
An Article V Convention of States can begin the process of circumventing Congress and power-mad career politicians to whom partisan gain is paramount, and who scoff at the plebes.
Once 34 state legislatures pass the COS Resolution, the only thing that Congress can do about it is call the convention.
Article V is the mechanism to scale any fence -- literal or metaphorical -- erected to keep the people from our houses of government and to avoid having to look us in the face.
Article V is the answer to Speaker Pelosi's legacy and that of the whole of Congress. We hold the power and will circumvent Congress to begin the process of placing it and its members in their proper place.
Whose legacy will be longer remembered in history?
