Patriotism runs deep in my family. Born at the end of World War II, I saw many examples during my childhood. Though my father served a total of seven years in the military in two branches, first the Army and then the Marines, he always regretted that he didn’t get to serve in wartime. When World War I ended on Nov 11, 1918, my Dad was only 15, turning 16 on Nov 22. Shortly before the United States entered World War II, Dad turned 39 on Nov 22, 1941. The cut-off age for service at the time was 35 years of age, and for years my Dad kept at the ready his letter of rejection from the Selective Service Board due to age, showing it with pride to anyone who commented about military service or lack thereof. This made a huge impression on my two younger brothers and me.
When I was young, the one thing I was least interested in was ‘politics.’ Hearing ‘politics isn’t a spectator sport’ in Civics class only made me think, ‘it’s a necessary evil.’ That is how I felt about it for a long time. I was more into math and science, oh, and baseball. As time went on, however, even to the casual observer, politics seemed to go from being a ‘necessary evil’ to being ‘way more evil than necessary.’
For me, there seemed to be a sudden change that began shortly before the general election of 2008. However, at that time, my attention was diverted to a more personal situation. I was laid off from a job I’d held for five years that I planned on working for three years more and then retiring from.
Finding a job during ‘the great recession of 2008’ at age 63 turned out to be “Mission Impossible.” So, I filed for unemployment and, at the suggestion of my late wife, Mary Jane, applied to the “No Worker Left Behind” program to further my education. I started at Baker College at age 64, and, during the first three weeks, I had times when I wondered what I had gotten myself into. The second half of the first quarter, fall 2009, went better, and I managed to bring my grades up to where I was eligible for the work-study program, an eligibility I maintained till my graduation in June 2013. Through it all, my wife was my constant support and motivation. Sadly, she became ill and died unexpectedly during the first quarter of my senior year. Losing her was difficult, but I opted to finish the remaining two quarters as she would have wanted me to do. Though it was much harder to concentrate, my determination was strong – and I graduated in June 2013 - one month before my 68th birthday!
Today I have a keener awareness of what is going on in our country. I had quickly realized after our wedding that Mary Jane was far more political than I was, and I became more aware through hearing stories about her children and grandchildren. It was a wake-up call for me! Listening to my wife talk about what was being taught to her grandchildren in school made me aware that the changes were even greater than I thought. Born at the end of World War II, I grew up during the Civil Rights movement and remember the Civil Rights Act being passed in 1964, the year I turned 19. As time went on the country was moving toward real racial equality. Then, after the terrorist attack of 9/11, there was increasing hatred of Muslims in the country and shortly after meeting my wife, I started hearing her describe things such as ‘white privilege,’ ‘systemic racism,’ and ‘gender identity.’
At about the same time, the issue of illegal immigration had become a focus in politics in the USA, and it was a mind-boggler to me that a political party could be in favor of it. There was an increasing number of things dividing the country because of differing political beliefs. Globalization and ‘the new world order’ seemed to be putting American Patriotism in the background.
Meanwhile, since I had obtained a “Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Science” degree, I worked as an IT support specialist, trouble-shooting IT issues over the phone. I did not particularly care for the work. After three years of this, in my early 70s, I decided to go part-time and move into a senior apartment, where I now live and am ‘semi-retired.’
I got to leave a few things behind that I no longer wanted to be part of my life. What I could not leave behind, however, was the notion of ‘what is happening to our country?!’ Things seemed so much simpler when I was young. We said the “Pledge of Allegiance’ before classes in school and stood for the National Anthem, without question. Seeing the daily news and hearing about ‘critical race theory,’ ‘white privilege,’ ‘gender identity,’ ‘white rage,’ and the ‘woke movement’ in schools and the military were alien to me. People are more divided than ever, and it is only getting worse. People can no longer ‘agree to disagree.’
Indeed, the time may never return when people can put their differences aside. The Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem are no longer honored in this country. Millionaire athletes kneeling to protest racial oppression just does not make sense when the situation has been improving! This is not to say there are not valid arguments either way because there are. However, there seem to be no ground rules. Something always seems to come to the forefront from behind the scenes such as ‘mega billionaires’ funding the left, ‘stolen elections’ and what seems like ‘endless intrigue’ intended to confuse. It very much confuses me!
It is hard to accept much of what I see and hear on the media, in social media, and in the mainstream news. For me there are two genders and critical race theory goes against everything I believe and stood for in serving in the military for nine years. The United States became a country in 1776 declaring its independence from England due to lack of religious and individual freedoms. This is the base for what makes sense to me. What does not make sense is a country becoming even more divided than it has already been. It is indeed time to choose a side, but not necessarily democrat or republican: I choose the one that respects the beliefs expressed by our Founders!
Left unchecked, the USA cannot hope to remain a democratic republic. Neither do I believe the officials in Congress are willing or able to put a check on their out-of-control spending and their movement in the direction of total control and tyranny. Our Founders wrote Article V into the US Constitution for a time such as the present. Convention of States Action, “COS” for short, is based on Article V of the Constitution. Article V succinctly describes the process by which the US Constitution may be amended. Instead of 2/3 of Congress agreeing on a topic to amend with the Constitution, 2/3 of the state legislatures can agree on topics and then create an “amending” Convention. Discussion has to be limited to the framework in each’s states resolution; the resolutions must be identical to create a convention. All suggested amendments, regardless of where they originated, require agreement and approval of three-quarters of the states, or 38 states, before they can become part of the Constitution.
The focus of the COS movement - as indicated in the online petition – is limited to the following three topics:
1. Impose fiscal restraints on the federal government,
2. Limit its power and jurisdiction, and
3. Impose term limits on its officials and members of Congress.
Each state’s resolution calling for a Convention of States must contain the three topics listed in “Section 1,” neither more nor less. Resolutions containing other topics would not be allowed to be part of the same convention.
This makes sense and is the reason I joined the COS movement. Politics still is not my favorite topic, but the current situation in the USA does not allow for it to be ignored. Being less than a hand of fingers away from my eightieth birthday, the road has been long and filled with memories of what my family and my ancestors stood for. It is imperative that ‘We the People’ finally hold Congress accountable. Without the states calling for a Convention of States, we may never be able to hold Congress accountable and ‘The Great American Experiment’ could yet end in failure!
Thomas Powers, III is a veteran of the US Army and he volunteers as a State Content Writer for Convention of States Michigan.
