Once the COS Resolution Passes… Then What?

The Convention of States (COS) Resolution has three elements. These are:

(1)  impose fiscal restraints on the federal government

(2)  limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and

(3)  limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress. 

We are often asked what these three points would look like when manifested in the real world. The sage advice has been that we should not pose conjecture as it might deter some people from supporting our cause. I followed that reasoning when I first began advocating for the Resolution; but after many months of listening to and talking with people from all walks of life and both sides of the political spectrum, I have come to two realize two important facts.  

First, people from both sides of the political aisle know there is something very wrong in Washington DC. The federal government is no longer pretending to serve the People but is in fact moving closer and closer to imposing a top-down regime that seems bent on taking away the fundamental freedoms and liberties afforded us under the U.S. Constitution. The current administration openly talks about disarming the people “for the greater good.” Spokespeople for the teacher’s union make statements espousing the primacy of the classroom for educating children on sexual practices and morality. In the proverbial Court of Public Opinion, it seems that the inmates from the mental asylum have seized the narrative. 

The second revelation is that people will invent the most improbable, most unlikely, and most frightening probabilities if you don’t give them some theoretical guardrails.  

·      The COS Resolution will NOT bring about the shredding of the Constitution. Delegates to the convention will be charged to only consider amendments to the Constitution that fall within the direct purview of the Resolution. 

·      The COS Resolution will NOT usher in the downfall of the Republic and loose anarchy across the land! If anything, passage of the Resolution will strengthen the Republic by putting some much-needed restraints on the bloated and self-serving executive branch of the federal government. 

Here are a few suggestions that I personally hope will emerge from the passage of the COS Resolution.  

The 16th and 17th Amendments could be repealed. The 16th Amendment imposes an income tax. In a 5–4 decision on April 8, 1895, the Supreme Court declared that a tax on income was unconstitutional. The Court decided that the income tax was forbidden by Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution. This prohibits direct taxes on individuals unless apportioned on the basis of the population of each state. 

The income tax could be replaced with a federal sales tax on purchases of new items with exemptions for food and medicine. Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder did a great job of clearly explaining this concept in their 2005 book “The FairTax Book” (2005, Regan). 

The 17th Amendment changed the selection of senators from legislative selection to popular vote. Before the 17th Amendment, the role of Senators was to represent the business of their individual States before the federal government. After the passage of the 17th Amendment, Senators became a de facto House of Lords advising the President and accountable to nobody.  

Section 1 of the 22nd Amendment could be changed to read: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than three terms…” Other than a knee-jerk reaction to the sweeping societal transformation that took place under Franklin D. Roosevelt, I see no logical justification for the 22nd Amendment. 

What would make more sense would be an amendment which simply said “No person shall hold any federal elective office or serve in an administrative capacity for same for more than twelve years, either consecutively or cumulatively.” THAT would solve a lot of our problems at the national level by restoring the concept of “public service” and rid us of the plague of professional politicians and entrenched bureaucrats. 

In the area of reducing the scope and jurisdiction of the federal government, many of the departments that have been created in the executive branch of the federal government should be returned to the states for their administration. These would include:

·      The Department of the Interior - which is responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans This could be turned over to the Native Americans from whom the lands were misappropriated in the first place.

·      The Department of Agriculture - so that farming would be handled at the local level with state oversight. One major side benefit of this would be the total elimination of entire “factory farm” concept which has led to an overall degradation of the nutritional quality of food and resulted in higher medical expenses.

·      The Department of Commerce - works with businesses, universities, communities, and the Nation's workers to promote job creation, economic growth, sustainable development, and improved standards of living for Americans.” So, apparently, the Department of Commerce is redundant and doesn’t really do anything. They have an $11.7 BILLION budget and employs 47,000 people to do what is already being done more effectively at the state and local levels.

·      The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) - was created to protect the health of all Americans and provides over 100 programs that focus on health, science, care, social services, prevention, and wellness which are all aimed at ensuring the well-being of the American people. They have a budget of $1.7 trillion and employs 80,000 people. This should be done at the local level to force States to provide a healthier environment for their citizens.

·      The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - which administers federal housing and urban development laws; something that should never have been federalized beyond policy-making and development of standards. They have an annual budget of $71.9-billion and employs about 7,240 employees. Nothing this agency does makes it easier or better for the American people to have decent housing.

·      The Department of Education - it has become glaringly obvious that this agency has totally diluted the quality of education across the nation and removed parents from the equation. The result is that you have people working the takeout window at a fast-food establishment who can’t figure out the change for a $6.57 meal when you give them a ten-dollar bill and 17 cents.

The combined budgets of these six Departments equals 1.7 Trillion Dollars or $1,700,000,000,000. That’s $5,051 for every man, woman, and child in America!

When responsibility for overseeing the administration of any aspect of our society has been kicked up to the federal level, there has invariably been a disconnect. Regulations get homogenized, quality suffers, and the original issue is rarely, if ever, resolved for the better.

I hope that every red-white-and-blue-blooded patriot has their own wish list of ways to reduce the bloated bureaucracy and stem the heavy-handed overreach of the federal government.  

Take YOUR first step now and SIGN THE PETITION. We will send letters to your local legislators showing your support for the Convention of States Resolution. Then become a VOLUNTEER. Convention of States has a variety of roles to fit your skill sets and availability.