The following was written by C. David Swanson.
Okay, I get it. There are people who are against a Convention of States for proposing amendments to the Constitution.
But a lot of people are for it, and even more would support it if Article V were better understood. An Article V convention is entirely appropriate and legal. Furthermore, it is prescribed by the U.S. Constitution itself.
The Framers saw it as the corrective measure to be used if, in the future, the federal government was found to be operating beyond its enumerated powers. Millions of citizens believe that time is now, and that a Convention of States is the opening gambit towards necessary federal reformation.
Granted, many in our community prefer instead the idea of “big government,” but that is not an American idea. It’s a European export. We can see by logical extension, as well as in actual fact, that progressivism (called socialism in Europe) often ends in various forms of totalitarianism.
Powerful central government leads to tyranny against the individual. When people rebel under the burdensome yoke, as they always do, they are suppressed with increasing violence. The individual is subjugated to the state.
We see this playing out in microcosm on some of our college campuses, where violent gangs try to shut down free speech, reminiscent of pre-war Germany. The permissive administrations look the other way, telling the college security to stand down, and let the destruction occur.
Governors mouth platitudes and do nothing, tacitly endorsing the criminal behavior that stifles free speech, number one in the Bill of Rights. Sure, you can say anything you want in college if you don’t mind being assaulted, your personal property destroyed, or a failing grade.
As the federal government itself has moved in the direction of centralized government since the days of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and a formidable cadre of their contemporaries, we have seen governmental expansion to the point where now numerous bureaus legislate, execute, and adjudicate regulatory law upon all areas of life.
This has resulted in significant loss of state sovereignty and individual liberty. Regularly, the executive and judicial branches reinforce this action, while the legislative branch keeps its head down and quietly acquiesces. After all, it is all “federal government,” and over time, like any power entity, it agglomerates power unto itself without regard to limitation.
Nonetheless, by a few well-chosen, legally-achieved amendments, the country might be returned to a more lawful form of governance as described originally in the Constitution and informed by the Declaration of Independence.
This is far preferable to the federal government's unauthorized “amending process” that goes on in Washington, continually by turns, through extra-constitutional techniques and averting their duty.
