The following article originally appeared on The American Spectator.
To echo President Obama, we are indeed experiencing a time of “fundamental transformation” in America. Yet the vast majority in this country is not happy with the transformation and the growth of government into every aspect of our lives.
Last month, the Supreme Court made same sex marriage the law of the land, and put the very existence of religious liberty guaranteed in the First Amendment, directly in the crosshairs of radical ideologues on the left.
But the Supreme Court wasn’t finished. In addition to the narrow, 5-4 decision that redefined marriage and deprived We the People of the right to work this out among ourselves, they also rescued Obamacare (again), by rewriting the clear language of the statute to mean something it clearly didn’t mean.
This flurry of court activity was enough to cause many Americans to sit back and wonder what had happened to the country they knew and loved. Pundits lamented the breakdown of cultural mores and standards. Preachers spoke from the pulpit about maintaining Biblical standards after the cultural tide has turned. And the majority of us just wanted to know when the government would leave us alone to live our lives in peace.
Today, 62% of Americans say they believe there is too much government power and too little individual freedom in the United States today. Just 10% disagree. Finally, something most of us agree upon. That is, most of us except the government.
So is there anything we can do about the changes that seem to be beyond our control. Is there really a solution? Or is it all just so big and far away that there’s nothing that can be done?
For example, is there anything at all we can do about the Supreme Court’s disregard for the Constitution?
Justice Alito encapsulated it perfectly: “Today’s decision shows that decades of attempts to restrain this Court’s abuse of its authority have failed.” Even though Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution gives legislative power only to the Congress of the United States, the five justices completely ignored the popular vote of millions of Americans in one fell swoop.
This is an attack on self-governance and our republican form of government itself. And the Supreme Court is just the final straw. Presidents have long abused Executive Order power to legislate from the White House. Congress has abdicated its authority to unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats and refuses to use the power of the purse to provide appropriate checks and balances. In short, our structural system of governance has broken down.
So what to do? Constitutional scholar Michael Farris has some ideas, which he outlined in the Daily Caller:
1. “Term limits could be imposed on the justices.”
2. “We could add ‘deliberate failure to follow the original meaning of the Constitution’ as grounds for impeachment.”
3. “We could give the power of impeachment to state legislatures.”
4. “Every state should be allowed to appoint a member of the Supreme Court. They could serve for a brief term, perhaps eight years.”
But all of these proposed solutions require a Constitutional Amendment. That, of course, means none will happen if we leave it up to the government. The federal government does many things: it grows, expands, becomes more corrupt, and consumes more of our resources. But one thing it never does? It does not voluntarily restrict itself.
Thankfully, the Constitution has a built in “emergency cord” that gives citizens the final word, by calling for a Convention of States through Article V. The Founders, in their wisdom about human nature, knew that the federal government would one day grow so large that it would abuse its power. That’s why they gave the states the Constitutional ability to restrain the federal government, even against the federal government’s will. Already, four states have passed applications to call a convention to impose binding restraints on a federal government drunk on its own supremacy. In other words, there is a way to challenge the Supreme Court, and the movement is already underway.
We’ve had several weeks to appreciate how bad things have gotten. Now, let’s quit lamenting the fall of civilization and get to work. We are lucky to live in times such as this where the choice is clear. We have the opportunity and the privilege to achieve great and historic things. And thanks to the wisdom of the men who drafted the Constitution, we have the power under Article V to bypass the President, the Congress and the Supreme Court, and set things right.
In short, we’re talking about getting the government out of our lives, and putting the citizens back in charge. And we do have the power to do that using Article V to call a Convention of States. We the People, in charge. Now that’s “fundamental transformation” of the best kind.
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