Convention of States gets pummeled regularly over its mission for the states to implement Article V of the US Constitution to put the federal government back in its box of limited enumerated powers. The opposing arguments range from a runaway convention (addressed in this link to an article by Michael Farris) to the lack of the individual states’ willpower to fix the problem through nullification (addressed here). Surprisingly, a good deal of the opposition comes from conservative groups who say they support the Constitution.
My thought on the will of our Idaho legislature is that unless there is a comprehensive resolution in front of our state legislature with overwhelming grassroots pressure, they’re not going to focus on the big-picture problem of federal malfeasance or have the fortitude to address a problem they believe is too big to solve. And why would they? Grabbing the golden ring on the merry-go-round of politics means grabbing more political power and centralizing it federally. Little fish in little swamps envy the big fish in big swamps and are always working the waters to increase power and grow larger. Not only that, but in Washington, DC, and to some extent in the states, a savvy politician can make officialdom a lucrative life-long career, if they do as they’re told by their party, favored wealthy businesses, and supporters. This makes it very tempting for most common politicians to do their time and to appear to represent the public’s interest, while serving the establishment.
Convention of States, on the other hand, is working to educate the public and remind politicians that the American government was established to serve its people, not to be served by its citizens, and was limited in political power by the U.S. Constitution. Article V, the provision given to us by the Founders in the event of too many attempts and successes at absolute tyranny, is the teeth in that reminder. Good governance is not rocket science and it's not intended to be a career. If it were, then why does command and control authority meddle in our affairs and always claim to have answers until the economy mysteriously falters and we are told that we are to blame, or that the economic anomalies are acts of God?
Idaho has more than 26,000 petition signers in support of the Convention of States Resolution. Nationally, we have over 5.2 million. Nineteen states have passed the uniform Resolution, four of them just this year. Another two have active legislation, which will very likely pass by the end of the year.
So why is Idaho, a conservative state, not on that list? There are several reasons, including: 1) fear of an errant convention wrongly conflated with runaway congressional, executive, bureaucratic, and judicial collusion to contort the meaning of the Constitution’s Article V and its high bar to success; 2) misunderstanding of parliamentary rules controlling formal meetings and delegate selection and constraints; 3) a history of ill-informed and dishonest opinions by leftist constitutional law “scholars” with an agenda to manipulate the public perception by subverting the intent of the Constitution and limiting individual and state sovereignty; and 4) the lack of knowledge by the general public about the commitment, investment of time, resources, and passion of COS supporters, volunteers, and leadership who love this country and are grateful for the liberty our Founders proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, defended in the subsequent Revolutionary War, and codified in the Constitution of the United States.
If it weren’t for the confusion surrounding our founding document, I would view Americans’ rejection of the use of Article V as ungrateful. Most Americans are unaware that George Mason stood up before the assembly at the 1787 Convention, two days before its conclusion, and proposed a process for “We the People” to wrest power back from a federal government that they knew one day could grow tyrannical — a proposal that was unanimously approved. Has the day not come? I know you know the answer.
