Heroes of COS: The Mark Meckler I Know

As Convention of States celebrates ten years of grassroots activism, we’re examining the lives of ten figures crucial to the Article V movement, including our president and leader, Mark Meckler. Read parts one and two of this series here.

I love studying the lives of great men. My bookshelves are lined with volumes about history’s greatest heroes, from George Washington to Ronald Reagan. I’m the kind of guy who daydreams about sharing a meal with Madison or Franklin and what I’d say if Lincoln walked into the room.

But I am convinced I have enjoyed an almost equal privilege in personally knowing one man: Mark Meckler.

As far as I am aware, no books about his life have been written yet (a grave injustice that must soon be remedied). He founded the Tea Party in 2009 and is the president of Convention of States Action, but his real work is more significant—more extraordinary—than either of those titles might suggest.

Mark Meckler is a great man. He’s a leader on par with America’s most brilliant, most respected Founding Fathers, the sort of man millions might follow into battle; the sort who might lead a revolution, save his country, and divert all the credit to those around him.

Mark Meckler is a humble man. He claims only to be a byproduct of the grassroots army he helps lead. Those who know Mark know he couldn’t care less about advancing his own name—advancing the grassroots, supporting them, telling their stories, that’s his real life’s work.

Of all Mark’s friends—Mark Levin, Tucker Carlson, Michael Farris, and Sen. Rick Santorum, to name a few—who am I to write this piece? I’m just a former Convention of States intern. Yet, I believe I can tell a part of Mark’s story that does not receive nearly enough attention. Sure, I’m only a former intern; but I’ve spent hours in his home, shooting guns, talking about God and politics. He made me feel like someone important—and I know, to him, I am.

This is the side of Mark that the media will never see. The way he has poured into me is only indicative of how he has poured into thousands, if not millions, of Americans. The grassroots, everyday people, are the irreplaceable center of his work.

Every day, he’s out changing history (literally), and yet, he’s never too busy for those who he knows are the real world changers—veterans, truck drivers, homeschool moms, volunteer activists, blue-collar workers, even protesters. They’ve all found personal audiences with Mark Meckler.

He’s made them all feel important.

Who are these people that such an “important” man would come alongside them, devoid of pretension, and fight with them, not as a general, but as an equal? As far as the world is concerned, nobodies. But to Mark, they’re the true heroes of the Republic, the patriots who will—by God’s grace—save this great nation.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Mark has our backs. He has your back. He would jump into the foxhole for you. When he says he pledges his life, fortune, and sacred honor to you, he really does mean you, personally. That’s just what great leaders do.

Great leaders are men like Ulysses S. Grant, who mingled among his troops so casually it became easy to forget that, beneath his modest appearance, rested more than the common allotment of courage, brilliance, and distinction (not to mention humility). He felt no need to flaunt it; he knew his life would speak for itself. His legacy was one not of bombast or self-congratulation but of thousands following, almost inexplicably, this common man.

Great leaders are men like George Washington, who as John C. Maxwell tells it, “rode up to a group of soldiers trying to raise a beam to a high position. The corporal who was overseeing the work kept shouting words of encouragement, but they couldn’t manage to do it. After watching their lack of success, Washington asked the corporal why he didn’t join in and help. The corporal replied quickly, ‘Do you realize that I am the corporal?’ Washington very politely replied, ‘I beg your pardon, Mr. Corporal, I did.’ Washington dismounted his horse and went to work with the soldiers until the beam was put into place. Wiping the perspiration from his face, he said, ‘If you should need help again, call on Washington, your commander in chief, and I will come.’”

No doubt, Mark Meckler would do the same.

Mark Meckler is a great leader: genuine, committed, self-effacing, sacrificial, and courageous. Truly great men are men you’d follow into battle, and that’s exactly how I feel about Mark. That’s exactly how thousands feel about him. In any fight, he’s the kind of man you want in your corner.

I’ll admit: Mark will probably hate that I’m writing this. Praise really does make him uncomfortable. So why am I doing it? Because America needs men like him. We need heroes. Great men are few and far between. We cannot let them go to waste.

I may never meet Washington or Lincoln, but Mark Meckler has locked shields with me in the fight for liberty, and future historians, I am certain, will count that a great privilege.