All across the country, patriotic American companies are re-tooling to help respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Ford, General Motors, and Xerox are making ventilators. MyPillow and other textile producers are making face masks. We haven’t seen this level unity since World War II, and I’m inspired every time I hear about another company joining the fight.
The American grassroots are re-tooling as well. I helped found the national Convention of States organization in 2013, and we have active volunteer networks in all 50 states working to call an Article V amending convention to limit the power of the federal government.
Usually, these grassroots armies work to encourage their state legislatures to support the Convention of States movement. Now, our state teams are using their extensive network of grassroots activists to reach out to their local communities and coordinate relief efforts.
South Carolina is leading the charge. They helped launched an initiative soon after the COVID-19 outbreak called “COS Serves” to respond to the needs of their communities. Here’s how the team’s Legislative Liaison, Wendy Damron, put it in an email:
“We are people who believe in self-governance. We don't look to the federal government to solve all our problems, but look to ourselves to say, ‘What can I do to help?’”
Wendy soon received a response from an elderly woman named Jane whose husband had been hospitalized after falling in his home on March 26. He was in the intensive care unit for five days, and had to have a feeding tube surgically implanted because he wasn’t able to eat.
Due to COVID-19 fears, Jane wasn’t able to visit him.
“His morale is very low… and so is mine,” she said in an email to Wendy.
Jane asked if someone could deliver items to his room that would cheer him up—crossword puzzles, paperback books, flowers, his pajamas, and a cell phone.
South Carolina Convention of States volunteers sprang into action. Wendy contacted a volunteer who lived near Jane named Rick Moessner, who called Jane to ask what she needed. Rick also called the hospital to ask how he might safety deliver the items to Jane’s husband.
“I told her, whatever you want to get to your husband, put it in a bag, put his name on it, and put it on your porch so we can maintain social distancing,” Rick told me.
Rick and his wife picked up the package and delivered it to the hospital. Rick also followed up with Jane this week to makes sure she was being taken care of.
“I told her I’d get her anything she needs,” Rick said.
I’m proud of the team in South Carolina, but I can’t say I’m surprised. I’ve worked with the American grassroots since I helped found the Tea Party movement in 2009, and this is exactly what everyday Americans do in times of crisis. They work together to help their friends, families, and neighbors. They put aside political differences. Most importantly, they govern themselves.
I’ve been shocked and troubled by the edicts coming down from state governments in response to COVID-19. Many of these orders may be unconstitutional. All of them are potentially tyrannical. Worst of all, they prove that our leaders in state and national government do not trust the American people to govern themselves. In the face of a truly horrible crisis, these officials have abandoned the values and principles that have made our nation great.
Rick, Wendy, and the entire team in South Carolina prove that self-governance isn’t dead in the American grassroots—even if our political leaders believe it is. Without help from the government, the team reached out to their community, identified a need, and fulfilled that need while using their common sense to keep everybody safe and healthy.
Their work is a testament to the strength of the American people, and only by trusting that strength can we hope to get through this crisis.
Mark Meckler is a constitutional activist who co-founded several organizations to revolutionize American government, including Convention of States Action, Citizens for Self-Governance, and Tea Party Patriots.
