Conservative writer Jen Kuznicki spoke with attendees of a Convention of States rally in Michigan earlier this month and recorded their responses to two simple questions: “Why do you think an Article V Convention of States is so important?” and “What made you get involved?”
Here are their responses:
Ron and Linda P. of Grand Blanc/Burton area, Michigan:
I see the federal government as being way out of control. Primarily what drove me to the Convention of States is that I’m a fiscal conservative, I always have been, and balancing our budget is very important. They really don’t want to balance the budget, it’s not politically what they want to do, because then they’ll have to cut. The federal government is never going to put controls on itself, they’re never going to limit their power, in fact, they’re forever trying to increase their power. With the Convention of States, the people get a chance to tell Washington how it has to be, and get us back to the fundamentals that our founders actually created back when they hammered out the Constitution. I think the Constitution has been perverted, especially over the past hundred years, through court rulings and bureaucratic rules that have really perverted the Constitution and we need to get back to the foundation, which was very successful, in fact, is why we became so successful. The thing is, the federal government is a house of cards, and we have three children and five grandchildren, it’s going to collapse on them.
Chuck A. of Lansing, Michigan:
I’ve always been interested in the history of our country’s founding, and over the past few years I’ve been enlightened by certain people, Mark Levin, for instance, who are sounding the alarms about how over the past hundred years ago, our government has moved away from its founding principles. There is something we can do about it, meaning an Article V Convention of States. I’ve never been a political activist, of any kind, although I’ve had an interest in history, so I thought that now is the time that this be done, because frankly I fear that if we don’t change course it’s going to get a lot harder.
Betty S. of Cadillac, Michigan:
First of all, I love my country, I’m a patriot, and I hate seeing what’s going on in our country, and this is a small way I can to you know, a small part in helping out. I think this is the only thing that’s going to save our country, it’s not going to be through President Trump’s efforts, because one man can’t do it alone. I think this is a good way to help get that swamp drained, and so I’m completely on board with what the Convention of States is trying to do.
Phyllis E. of Vicksburg, Michigan:
I’m very concerned with this country, the way it’s going, we have no say in things we need to have a say in, Washington tells us everything and the bureaucrats aren’t even elected. So what can we do? This, we’ve got to do something. The federal government has been advocating socialism, and I can’t imagine anyone wanting socialism. If it were up to me, of the subjects discussed for this application for a Convention of States, I would want the federal officials term limited. They can make us obey any law and they are not even elected, we don’t have a say. And the judges too, they stopped Trump from enacting his immigration policy and that’s not fair. They say the annotated constitution weighs thirty pounds now, they’ve made all these laws without Congress and the voice of the people.
Mary S. of Mattawan, Michigan:
The overreach that they’ve taken in the Obama administration has really gotten me frightened for the first time in my life. We’ve been borrowing from Peter to pay Paul and we risk collapse. The entitlements just went wild during the last administration, this can’t go on. How many benefits can we give out before we run out? Margaret Thatcher said that socialism is great until you run out of other people’s money. Where are we on that? The federal government is just too much in our pockets and too much in our lives. We don’t want government deciding our healthcare.
Doug L. Wayland, Michigan:
My main motivator is term limits. The federal government is completely out of whack.
Denise L. Wayland, Michigan:
I feel like the political elite control everything and the common man doesn’t have any input. I’m concerned too with their control of the education of our children, they control what goes in the history books. I have a friend who teaches high school history who said they took out the Revolution in the history books he was teaching with. History is so important, yet they want to wipe it away, and there are things you can learn from history, even not making the same mistakes. But I don’t want our children brainwashed. They should be given all the facts and they can decide for themselves.
Lance L. of Williamston, Michigan:
It comes from years of frustration with Washington not doing its job. They don’t listen to the people, we elect a bunch of Republicans who say they’re going to do the right thing, and then they don’t. And why not? If you look at where their money comes from, like the Chamber of Commerce who are for open borders, so they’re not going to fix the borders. If you elect Democrats, their money comes from the unions, so they spend like crazy to keep that going, and neither party is listening to what the people want. I think our first attempt at an Article V Convention is something that both sides probably would want, some restraints and some responsibility, not listening to the power structure anymore, but listening to the people. So if you have term limits, and you have some type of balanced budget process that was reasonable, I think that would rein in a lot of power, and more correct decisions would be made instead of self-serving stuff that’s being done in Washington. There’s a lot of healthcare issues that affect me and my profession as well, and those issues have not been any better since Obamacare. They said they were going to repeal that, and now they’re kinda weak on that effort, and that hurts healthcare and it affects so many things. When people have deductibles that are through the roof, they don’t want to come in to see a physician, especially early in the year. Care decisions are affected by that. When they have thousands of dollars to pay out of pocket, it takes them a while to get where things are covered, and a lot of times, that means they waited too long, or don’t get something done that they should. It hurts the physicians too, because they don’t get paid until after the service and it hurts their bottom line. If people had their old plans back, with more competitive pricing, it would work out better. There is no perfect system, but their attempt to fix it actually made it worse for everybody.
Rob W. of Newaygo County, Michigan:
I first heard of the Convention of States through Mike Farris. He was a man I knew and respected so I was interested, but I heard about similar ideas and I had some concerns about it. So I signed up to get whatever mailings I could, I just listened to what they had to say for about a year until I had time to sit down and then I read what the opposition had to say. So I compared the two until I was sure I understood the issues and what the Convention of States is all about. Now, I did not want to get involved with something that was going to be taking all the screws out of the Constitution, and opening everything up, and doing whatever we wanted to it. When I learned that the Convention of States was a limited scope arrangement dealing with an out-of-control federal government, then I was willing to come on board. So, now I’m a wholehearted supporter of the Convention of States project.
Kat D. of Freeland, Michigan:
I support the Convention of States because it’s the only thing we have left to do. It’s time that the federal government has some limitations. They’ve overreached and overreached for how many years now? I read Mark Levin’s book The Liberty Amendments when it first came out and he started pushing for an Article V Convention, and it made sense to me. So, since then I’ve tried to read up on it as much as I could and I think the citizens of this country need to hear about it, because I think the more people that hear about it, they would be on board. I know how difficult it is to get the word out when you’re swimming upstream against the powers that be, but the more we get the word out, more citizens of this nation are going to be on board.
Jim D. of Clarkston, Michigan:
I think what really pushed me to get involved with the Convention of States is the dysfunction in Washington. There’s zero adherence to the Constitution, and what they pander to is whatever is going to get them elected again, and then they get there and ignore what their constituencies want. We are trying to use a grassroots process in order to get back to the intent of the Constitution. I think people are open to the idea of using this grassroots process, but they are skeptical just because the media distorts things and politics is just so divisive right now. And the fault of a lot of that is Washington itself. I think the more we talk to one another we can strip away those fears, and talk about what our rights are, and how we can regain control. Once you explain what it is we are trying to do, people are more open to going back to the Constitution. Kids today are not being taught what the Constitution says anymore, particularly in higher learning, if you look at some of the videos where kids are holding protests in classrooms because they don’t have a “safe space?” College is supposed to uncomfortable, you are supposed to discuss things you don’t know about and weigh their merits. We have kids that range from 9 to 15, and I don’t want them just getting a left-wing viewpoint in school. That’s why I try listen to people like Ben Shapiro and watch Prager U videos, to help them understand. I want them to challenge what’s in the classroom.
Click here to read Kuznicki's original post.
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