The following was written by Minnesota volunteer Maynard LeFleur and originally published in the Winona Daily News.
There is something wrong with the structure of the federal government. Congress is not following the Constitution as written and adopted, but rather, is following the annotated Constitution that is more than 2,000 pages. I do not recall the Founders saying that court decisions equal law. I thought only the Congress was allowed to create and pass laws?
It seems that everything the federal government does these days revolves around a "solution" meant to control more aspects of the lives of the American people. Whether it is healthcare, immigration, bogus trade agreements, the endless cycle of backroom deals makes me inherently distrustful of Washington.
For the past several years, I have been educating myself on a real solution, a constitutional solution that will restore the authority of citizens and put teeth in the Tenth Amendment. That solution is the Convention of States. Article V of the Constitution is an emergency button the Founders included for exactly this time in our Nation's history when power, money and greed have so corrupted the political and policy process that citizens' voices are choked out of the discussion.
Immoral debt, a spending crisis of epic proportion and a broken federal structure require a dramatic reboot of the Republic's constitutional moorings and Article V is the cornerstone of saving America.
I learned that the Constitution provides a way for the citizens of a state, to rein in an out-of-control federal government through the amendments process. This is not a re-write, but rather a limited convention that allows the states to meet and discuss amendment proposals that would limit federal power. Finally a solution that is as big as the problem of Washington.
If two-thirds of the states call a "Convention of States", state delegates are allowed to amend the Constitution and rein in Washington, while making all of them stop and listen to we the people.
I am looking at a solution where I can participate in helping drain the swamp and return the power back to Minnesota.
