Why has our country drifted so far from the Founders' original vision?
When the Framers drafted the Constitution, they imagined a collection of sovereign states united around a limited list of shared concerns. Defense, trade, and other relationships with foreign powers would be handled by the federal government. Everything else was left up to the states.
Today, the situation is almost reversed. The federal government maintains dictatorial control over all domestic affairs while the states are left to secure our southern border. Washington has grown to be an all-powerful force in our national life, and each federal election feels like a life-or-death situation.
Modern technology has made centralization possible, of course, but as COS Senior Advisor Sen. Rick Santorum explains in the interview below, the expansion of federal power is due mostly to power-hungry federal politicians.
A Convention of States is long past overdue. The Founders gave us the Article V solution if the federal government ever refused to propose amendments "of the proper kind." Those amendments would limit federal power, restrict federal spending, and place term limits on federal officials.
Our federal politicians will never propose these amendments, but we can do it for them at a Convention of States.
A Convention of States is called and controlled by the states and has the power to propose constitutional amendments. It takes 34 states to call a Convention, and 15 have done so already. To get involved with the effort in your state, sign the petition below!