Let’s talk the future of politics in California. A change is quickly approaching in the form of a groundswell of thousands of Californians, who are fed up with the status quo, business-as-usual approach to public policy.
What is that change? Convention of States traces its roots to August 2013, when citizens banded together to assert their rights enshrined in Article V of the United States Constitution. At that time, just 29 Californians had signed on to the plan.
Today, that Convention of States movement has grown to hundreds of thousands of Californians and over 4.3 million people nationally. Unprecedented progress has been made in the efforts of the citizens to fix their broken government:
- 48 states have filed Convention of States resolutions
- 28 states have passed a resolution through one committee or more
- 22 states have passed a resolution in at least one chamber
- Most importantly, 15 states have achieved final passage
While the emphasis for the people who support Convention of States is to fix the federal government, do not be surprised when this effort bleeds over into California state government.
This should be a welcome and natural occurrence, as citizens become more connected to their government. It is well understood that frustration with an unresponsive government--no matter what level--inevitably leads to change.
One California example is the lack of will on the part of legislators to effectively deal with the homeless problem. While Governor Newsome recently announced that he will throw more money at the issue, it is a non-strategy that is doomed to fail.
A multi-faceted problem such as homelessness needs a broad understanding with specific actions to resolve each aspect of the problem. It does not appear that California government has the ability to develop a comprehensive approach to the homeless issue.
Through a large grassroots effort such as Convention of States, the citizens will present their own solutions, with or without the help of those they send to Sacramento.
In other words Convention of States is not just a solution for a burdensome, corrupt, out-of-control federal government. It is what the Framers hoped for the citizenry: to manage all of our representatives with an informed citizenry holding them accountable.
By building a grassroots army intent on first getting the federal government back in check, Convention of States is essentially the movement that will ultimately bring constitutional sanity back to our local governments as well.
It is through the power of the citizens that change will occur, and that time is quickly approaching.
