I do solemnly swear to protect the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Never before have I felt these words so deeply as I do today. Domestically, we have a 24/7 bombardment of news aimed at instilling fear and compliance. While abroad, Putin and Xi have already finished this part of the tyranny playbook and have moved on to overt military action in the hopes of destroying global democracy.
While this is my first of what I hope to be a long series of blog posts for Convention of States, I will provide you with a summary of what I aim to bring to the conversation.
My commitment to democracy and freedom was instilled in me from the time I was a young child. From the time I could remember, I was fascinated with the stories my grandparents would tell me about the origins of our great country. And from the time I could read, I was fascinated with reading the daily letters my grandfather wrote while he was in the Pacific theatre in WWII.
As I continue to post, I will bring more of these letters and the firsthand accounts of history to light.
While I hold these letters dear, my own experiences in Ukraine throughout 2014 are what have solidified my passion towards preserving freedom and democracy. I went to Ukraine to bring my children home from an orphanage in Odessa. On my first trip in the winter of 2014, I witnessed firsthand a people’s revolution against a corrupt government in Kyiv.
What seemed to be an inspiring event quickly turned into something that Russia exploited in its unending quest to bring Ukraine back into the folds of the Soviet Empire. Quickly after the revolution in Kyiv, an ensuing 8-year heavy propaganda and kinetic war ensued against the people of Ukraine. After years of a largely avoidant country and world, Ukraine faces an imminent threat from Russia that may destroy democracy there and elsewhere, forever.
During my time there throughout 2014, I experienced the use of a vicious disinformation campaign that would have anyone questioning their own name. I quickly started to understand that this is exactly what tyrants like Hitler and Stalin did to confuse and scare the masses into a state of compliance.
What scares me the most though, is that within the past year or so, I have so quickly seen the most freedom loving country, America, resorting to this well-known tactic to transition a country to a state of tyranny. I firmly believe that, as with Ukraine, if we continue a mode of apathy and avoidance and do not play offense, we will very soon be at the point of where we will have no moves left either.
Fresh off the heels of some big wins in Wisconsin and Nebraska, now is the time for all of us in the Convention of States Army to build on that momentum.
We are at the halfway point and it’s all downhill from here if we use this to our advantage! We will soon be able to call an Article V convention of states and propose amendments that will limit federal spending and power and set term limits for federal officials.
Calling to limit the powers of the federal government will re-enable our checks and balances and promote transparency and accountability. This will directly counteract the ability of the government to use harmful propaganda campaigns. Without this ability to make the masses comply, the game is over and we win!
In a letter from my grandfather to my grandmother, dated March 2, 1945, my grandfather wrote of a ‘second-guessing’ American general’ who ‘went on to criticize the moves of a group of men in the Pacific Theatre.'
However, these same men, who came forward 2500 miles in 15 months, with the little the Pacific theatre was often given, went on to lead in the defeat of the Japanese in the battles of Luzon and Manila.
These smaller yet more determined forces are often the ones that fight the most strategic of battles. It is no different than what we are doing with the Convention of States. While it may take many miles and many months, we will see victory, we will fight the tyranny playbook, and we will preserve the freedom and democracy that so many have already brilliantly and successfully preserved!
