For the last 90 years, our Constitution has been under attack. Not from outside forces or foreign influences, but from progressive activists in academia and on the bench.
In a bid to increase the power of the federal government, these activists have warped the original meaning and intent of the Constitution to justify their own agenda.
But don't take our word for it.
Leading constitutional scholar Prof. Rob Natelson explained in a recent op-ed for Town Hall exactly how four portions of the Constitution have been twisted to meet leftists' political goals:
A good example is how “progressives” re-invented the Commerce Clause—the provision by which the Constitution grants Congress authority to “regulate Commerce . . . among the several States.” When the Constitution was adopted, the term “regulate commerce” meant regulation (1) of trade among merchants and (2) of certain incidental activities, such as payment methods and transportation. This is pretty much how the courts understood the Commerce Clause for the ensuing 150 years.
During the 1930s and 1940s, however, a “progressive” Supreme Court issued a series of opinions holding that the Commerce Clause (allegedly augmented by the Necessary and Proper Clause) enabled Congress to control the entire economy—including activities the Founders thought quite distinct from “commerce,” such as manufacturing and insurance. Liberal professors backed the court’s decisions with books marshaling cherry-picked materials to “prove” that Congress’s Commerce Power was almost unlimited.
In like manner, the Supreme Court turned the Taxation Clause into a license for unlimited congressional spending and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments into national abortion and marriage laws.
Advocates of federal power had partly gutted the Constitution while outwardly honoring it.
Unfortunately, these Supreme Court precedents are difficult to unravel. Only new constitutional amendments can trump Supreme Court rulings, and Congress is unlikely to roll back federal power in any of these areas.
If we want to reassert our right to self-governance among the people and the states, we have only one real solution: an Article V Convention of States.
A Convention of States can propose constitutional amendments that clarify portions of the Constitution like the Commerce Clause. These amendments can shore up the language with activist judges and politicians in mind -- not to change the principles in the Constitution but to reinforce them.
With these amendments in place, the federal government will no longer have the power to dictate policies on economics, healthcare, and the environment. Their power will be limited to the topics expressly mentioned in the Constitution, and no amount of judicial gymnastics will be able to overcome these new amendments.
Already, 15 states have signed on to support the Convention of States Project. We need 19 more to call a Convention. Will you join the team in your state? Sign the Convention of States Petition below to voice your support!
