Is It Pruning Time?
Under the provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United States, a convention of the several states may be called for the expressed purpose of proposing amendments to that same Constitution. A Resolution must be proposed in the Legislature of the several States with the same or very similar language. Once two-thirds of the several State Legislatures pass the Resolution, Congress must call the convention for the express and explicit purpose of considering amendments to the existing Constitution. Any amendments that are passed out of the convention must then be ratified by three-fourths of the several State Legislatures before becoming legal amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Our Resolution contains three elements. In the convention, delegates may only propose amendments that are within the confines of these three elements. The elements are (1) imposing fiscal restraints on the federal government, (2) limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and (3) limiting the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress.
Despite the naysayers and political “Chicken Littles” who prophesy anarchy and a possible end to the Republic, the Framers set the bar very high.
A Convention of States will not take away your constitutional rights because the resolution limits what can be debated to only these three items.
It is an extremely difficult task to undertake, but it is a legal, ethical, and moral response from We the People to an intransigent and irresponsible Congress that has become hostile to the nation’s best interests.
When I speak about Convention of States, I am often asked a very similar set of questions. What does “impose fiscal restraints on the federal government” mean? How do we intend to “limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government” that makes the laws and controls our money? How is it even possible for the average citizen to do anything about Washington DC?
To answer those and other questions, let’s look at how we came to be in this situation.
The history books all agree that the Framers intended to form a limited government; a federal republic based upon democratic principles. The word “federal” means having a system of government in which several states form a unity but remain independent in their internal affairs. A “republic” is a nation in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected president rather than a monarch. The People wield their power by voting for their government representatives in an open, honest, and “democratic” process where every eligible person gets one vote, the majority wins, and everyone accepts the outcome.
So how did we get to where we are today?
In September of 1789, just a few months after taking office, President George Washington sent his first nominations to the Senate. They were—Alexander Hamilton for Secretary of the Treasury, Thomas Jefferson for Secretary of State, Henry Knox for Secretary of War, and Edmund Randolph for Attorney General. Since Randolph worked only part-time for the government, he was allowed to retain his private law practice.
Today, the President’s Cabinet consists of the vice-president, plus the heads of the 15 executive departments. Seven additional positions are currently considered “cabinet-rank,” including the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and the White House Chief of Staff.
These Cabinet heads act as key advisors to the President and are responsible for running their executive departments to further the President’s agenda for the nation.
Together, these agencies employ more than 4 million people and have combined budgets totaling over $3.5 Trillion dollars.
That's 4,000,000 bureaucrats with a budget of $3,500,000,000,000!
The heads of numerous executive agencies are not formally members of the Cabinet, but they do fall under the president’s authority. The executive branch also includes more than 50 independent federal commissions. Some examples are Amtrak, the United States Postal Service, and NASA. They account for another one million federal employees under the Executive Branch of the federal government.
That’s an estimated 5 million people – at a minimum – that draw a paycheck and fabulous benefits from the federal government as employees of the Executive branch.
In comparison, the Legislative branch of the U.S. Federal government employs only about 34,000 people and has an annual budget of $6.4 billion.
The Judicial branch has about 30,000 full-time employees and has an annual budget of about $7.8 billion.
What are we citizens getting for our tax payments?
Washington DC has inserted itself into every single aspect of our lives through the pervasive expansion of the Executive branch and its willing facilitators in Congress.
It is blatantly obvious that the United States of America has evolved from a federal republic based upon democratic principles to an oligarchy.
From the Greek word oligarkhes, meaning “few governing,” an oligarchy is any power structure controlled by a small number of people called oligarchs. Oligarchs may be distinguished and related by their wealth, family ties, nobility, corporate interests, religion, politics, or military power.
Unless we unite to make some serious structural changes, the United State of 2023 may end up resembling Italy in the 1930s under Fascist Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, who once summarized the basis of totalitarianism as, “Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”
If you think that I am exaggerating, here are some examples that Mussolini described as characteristics of a totalitarian state:
· Rule enforced by a single dictator, political party, or group of politicians
· Control or manipulation of the press
· Constant dissemination of pro-government propaganda
· Prohibition of certain religious or political groups and practices
· Prohibition of any form of public criticism of the government
· Laws enforced by secret police forces or the military
· People living their lives in fear of their government to some extent.
Sound familiar?
I don’t believe that this is what the Framers of the Constitution had in mind. We have reached a point in our history where the very act of writing this blog may well cause someone in some federal agency to open a file with my name on it.
I don’t care. I happen to know that it is a very thick file that has been in existence since 1970 when I was detained for participating in a civil rights protest in downtown Flint, Michigan.
If somebody must point out the fact that the Emperor is dressed in filthy rags, it might as well be me.
The Convention of States movement is aimed at restoring this nation to the principles of government that made it a shining example to the rest of the world. The question for you is this: now that you know, what are you going to do about it?
Join the movement. Start by signing the PETITION today.
