Federal and state governments have taken extreme measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. These measures -- blocking the freedom of assembly, forcing businesses to close -- are unconstitutional in any normal setting, and many argue are even unconstitutional in this crisis.
These measures are unlikely to be repealed before we get the virus under control, but we absolutely cannot allow them to continue beyond that point. As Judge Andrew Napolitano explained in a recent op-ed, "power once possessed is rarely voluntarily relinquished":
Justice George Sutherland was prescient in 1934. When the Constitution pinches the government, he warned, the government abandons it.
If constitutional abandonment is not challenged by those most affected by it, a future generation of public officials will argue that the current generation acquiesced. That might happen as soon as the present crisis has passed. The government loves power and power once possessed is rarely voluntarily relinquished.
When President George W. Bush argued after 9/11 that he needed temporary mass suspicionless surveillance powers to find the terrorists hiding among us, and Congress gave it to him, that power remained in the government. What started as listening to phone calls and monitoring bank accounts has now become following the movements, in real time, of all persons with mobile devices and capturing every keystroke on every computer.
Unless we follow the Constitution, crisis produces fear, and fear produces madness, and madness produces those who become a law unto themselves.
Historically, governments expand power after some kind of national emergency. In the worst cases, this results in outright tyranny. In our case, this has resulted in a massive expansion of federal power.
We have to stop that expansion from happening following the coronavirus pandemic, and the best way to do that is to call the first-ever Article V Convention of States.
A Convention of States can propose constitutional amendments that limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government. Whatever expansion of federal power occurs during this crisis can be immediately and permanently reversed by these amendments.
Thirty-four states are necessary to call the convention, and 38 states must ratify any amendment proposals. These amendments can narrowly define the limits of federal power to ensure that our federal officials stay within their constitutional bounds. They can also impose fiscal restraints on Congress to keep them from permanently establishing the welfare state instituted by the last coronavirus relief package.
The COVID-19 crisis necessitates aggressive action, but we must remain vigilant to ensure that Washington does not expand its power. A Convention of States is the best way to do that, and millions of Americans have already signed on board.
