Charlottesville WCHV 107.5 radio host Joe Thomas has kept his finger on the pulse of Convention of States for years, to the extent that Thomas was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award for Journalistic Excellence by Mark Meckler in 2018.
As soon as Joe Thomas heard that COS Virginia's Rally day was slated for January 9 in Richmond with Rick Santorum as guest speaker, Thomas organized an interview for that very day.
Thomas opened his interview with an anecdote of his friendship with Santorum, dating back to 2006 in Pennsylavania.
Joe Thomas: My wife and I were very sure we'd live out our lives in Pennsylvania and one of our dear friends at the time was one of the great representatives of the US Senate, co-hosted my morning show when we were paying tribute, to those who lost their lives on Flight 93, on September 11, 2006. It was a great loss for America at the time he lost his senate re-election bid...he's moved on. He's everywhere. He's with our General Assembly talking about Convention of States. He is the great Rick Santorum. Rick it's so great to catch up with you. How have you been?
Rick Santorum: I'm doing great, Joe, thank you for that very flattering introduction. I remember that very well and appreciate you giving me the opportunity to join up with you again to talk about this issue.
Joe Thomas: Talk about your journey to the Convention of States because the past few years every time it would come up on the program I would get emails from listeners saying, "Runaway convention, or what happens if democrats get involved, and that kind of thing. And each time slowly go through each of the different reasons they were being fed incomplete information about it. Tell me about your journey about supporting Convention of States.
Rick Santorum: I actually had a similar journey when the idea was first posited to me...eventually when I got so frustrated with Washington and how things were going there and seeing how both parties would engage with ignoring the Constitution, spending money like there is no tomorrow, usurping more and more power...that I started to look, what can we do to stop this...there is something structurally wrong with Washington. That's when I came upon this Article V Convention. I was very skeptical; I started to do the homework. I would suggest that most of the people who are calling the show and expressing concern about this just like I did just haven't done the homework. If you do the homework and actually see what the Founders' intent was...the people say I love the Constitution, the Founders' were great except this! That doesn't really wash very well. The Founders put this in there because they knew a time would come that the people would have to rise up to their state legislatures and fight tyranny. Why? Because it always happens. Every republic has ended in a tyranny of centralization of power and authority and returned to authoritarianism. We are on our way here in America and the Founders have provided us a remedy...for those who say, "I agree with you, we are on our way to a horrible end but we shouldn't do anything about it because that might be dangerous," well, when you are looking over the abyss it's probably best to try something that at least gives the Founders their due and give the opportunity for something like this to be used. Then the people say, "but it could be abused." Well, what abuse could there be? The people who come to this convention, even if they got off the rails, the rails would be they'd take power away from the federal government. Even their argument doesn't make sense.
Joe Thomas: I looked and Article V specifically lists how to do it and the process, very similar to how you would amend when you were in the US Senate, Rick...and unlike the convention that gave us the Constitution, the exemplar, they say, "Look at that! They were supposed to fix the Articles of Confederation! Not invent a whole new..."
Rick Santorum: That's a lie! Again, do the history, do the work. If you look at the original convention, the convention that was called in 1787 was called by the states. They always point and say, "Congress called the convention." Congress called the convention after the states already called it. So they were just trying to piggy back on what the states were already doing so they could try to control it...boy does that sound familar?
Joe Thomas: Absolutely!
Rick Santorum: It was the states that called it. If you look at the commissions that the states passed, they do whatever is necessary for a republic. It was a wide open convention. That is not an Article V Convention. Article V Convention of States under the Constitution is for the purpose of proposing amendments and then has to go to the state legislatures for ratification. It can only propose amendments and it is limited to what the scope of the resolution that calls the convention to do. Again, the idea that you would besmirch the Founders and say they ran an illegal convention to create the United States, what side are they on? That's not what happened, number one. And we know that. There was a convention that was called earlier, the Annapolis Convention and it failed. Why, because the scope wasn't broad enough. It was talking about interstate commerce. So they called one that was a broader attempt. Again, go back and look at the history. Look at the facts that there have been Convention of States in the past. People are familar with the Colorado River and the water problems in the West. Six states out in the West called a Convention of States, not under Article V but it was a convention. Every state got one vote. Those were the rules put in place and used by Convention of States since prior to the founding. We all know how they work. In the Constitution it says "trial by jury"...you didn't need to define it in the Constitution because everybody knew what it was and the same thing with the Convention of States. Everybody knows what it is. All you have to do is look back in the history and you follow the history.
