The Epoch Times: Someone Has to Cut the Budget... With COS

The following letter to the editor was written by Convention of States grassroots activist Michael Tedeschi in response to “Someone Has to Cut the Budget” by Jeffrey A. Tucker and published on The Epoch Times. Read the original article here.

I find myself reading the same examples of the same obvious problems that are continually discussed in the news media outlets, The Epoch Times included, pointing out all the problems we face.

Not being discussed is the fact that the federal government’s problems are not going to be fixed by the federal government, Congress, or the establishment in Washington.

That point has passed. They are too far invested in retaining what they have to go back now. Mr. Tucker hits all the right points in proving there is a problem. Many other sound-minded people have been speaking out about the debt and the numerous other federal level problems that are currently out of control.

Still, we don’t see federal power able to turn a corner on finally dealing with these mounting problems. They just want to add to them. The Founders of this country knew this day might come. They placed a tool in the Constitution, in Article 5, to allow the states to call a Convention of States to propose corrective amendments to the Constitution to check federal power when federal power will not, cannot, or has no interest in doing so.

Again, we are now at that point. The Article 5 Convention of States is a process in which Congress, federal agencies, and all of the Washington establishment have no say. The states and the people are given the ability to step in and do what needs to be done. By going around the source of the engine of problems, the States can propose corrective amendments to specifically fix the problems of federal operation as an outside party, not influenced by any involvement as a federal operation. It’s the combined states that make up the Republic, not the other way around.

The federal government was only designed to serve as a collective center to anchor the states in its part as the whole of the Republic. The entire system is now out of balance. As a volunteer for the Convention of States action movement, I and millions of others truly see this as the only lawful and best method for returning balance back to America and returning governing control back to the states and the people.

The proposed corrective amendments, with 19 states of the 34 needed on board to call a convention, address most of all the problems we face today, such as term limits for Congress, fiscal restraints, and limiting federal overreach. On the first proposed, those currently elected to Congress will not make the required hard choices if worried about the next election. Facing a term ending point will give clarity and provide strength to do the right thing.

As Mr. Tucker pointed out, the budget is out of control and unsustainable. Proposing an amendment that is finally designed to force a balanced budget can insure future generations are not on the hook for large debt. The last, limiting federal overreach, will force the lawmaking process back into Congress and away from unelected federal agencies.

These are simple examples of the proposed amendments effect. The scope and detail of each proposed amendment could be debated for months during the convention to finalize its form and to understand what effect it would have on its outcome.

There are many who will see a Convention of States as a threat to the established norm. They will tell you everything from it will rewrite the Constitution, to State Delegates are too inferior to make these large decisions regarding the country as a whole.

There are many safeguards already in place to rebut the doomsayers. First, it’s an operation as allowed in the Constitution to only propose amendments. The biggest safeguard is that it takes 38 states to approve any proposed amendment (each state gets one voting delegate) and then the amendment has to return back to the individual state legislatures and pass in the House and Senate to become law. Also, being the first time this process is being used, the public scrutiny would be great. Outlandish or contentious proposed amendments could never survive.

Others against a Convention of States are the outside sources hell-bent on America’s downfall, the globalists and foreign powers, who don’t want to see a properly functioning America, so they will try to influence against a Convention of States by any means they can muster.

One method is paying for professional influencers to send a flood of emails to legislature delegates trying to influence a vote against the movement during state legislative sessions, at the same time Convention of States advocates are present and trying to get applications passed. This is a favorite tactic one certain globalist entity is big on using. In the end, the choice is ours and ours alone. The process has been waiting for 248 years to use. It’s a high bar, but an achievable one, the one for the times we are in now.