The movie Snowden is set to be released later this year, igniting once again the controversy surrounding government surveillance and the NSA's apparent violation of Fourth Amendment rights.
This issue divides Americans not along party lines but along the lines of freedom and security. Some believe security is the higher good. They see Snowden as a traitor and the NSA’s practices as necessary to protect the homeland. Others believe freedom is more important than security, and they fear a country in which government intrusion becomes a part of daily life.
The problem is that, whatever the NSA has done or is doing, government intrusion has become a part of the daily lives of thousands of American citizens. Whether from the IRS, the EPA, or Obamacare, Americans find that more and more of their decisions are being made for them.
The Framers of the U.S. Constitution designed Article V with this kind of intrusion in mind. They included the Convention of States option because they knew an overreaching federal government would not enact the necessary changes to limit its own power.
A Convention of States is called by the people--acting through their state legislatures--for the purpose of proposing constitutional amendments that limit the power, scope, and jurisdiction of the federal government. These amendments can limit the ability of federal agencies to make decisions for American citizens as well as shrink the size of the agencies themselves.
Government intrusion has become commonplace, but it doesn’t have to be--the Founders made sure of that.
