Is It Time For A CON –
CON?
By de Andréa
Opinion Editorialist for
‘THE BOTTOM LINE’:
A Constitution Convention could halt Federal bureaucracies from illegally
interfering in state business, as well as set up procedures to overturn the Supreme
Court’s illegal legislation.
For years, states have overruled, or nullified, Washington’s actions, sometimes more successfully than
others.
Some states have for
example ignored Washington’s requirement for smart technology in driver’s
licenses, and a multitude of states have tried various ways to exempt
themselves and their citizens from Obamacare, there has been pushback against
Washington on immigration, federal gun limits and more.
Lately,
there’s been open rebellion among the states to the U.S. Supreme Court’s illegal
extraordinary creation of so-called “same-sex marriage” across the
states in a decision critics have described as disconnected from the
Constitution. No court can make law or overturn a legally legislated law. Legally
Federal DOMA is still in effect because it has not been abolished by Federal legislation.
On Friday, Texas
Gov. Greg Abbot not only joined that movement, but he proposed a specific list
of changes immediately that he says should be made.
Under the “Texas
Plan,” he would propose the following:
1.
Prohibit Congress from regulating activity that occurs wholly
within one state.
2.
Require Congress to balance its budget.
3.
Prohibit administrative agencies, and their unelected
bureaucrats, from creating federal law.
4.
Prohibit administrative agencies – and the unelected bureaucrats
that staff them – from preempting state law.
5.
Allow a two-thirds majority of the states to override a U.S.
Supreme Court decision.
6.
Require a seven-justice super-majority vote for U.S. Supreme
Court decisions that invalidate a democratically enacted law.
7.
Restore the balance of power between the federal and state
governments by limiting the former to the powers expressly delegated to it in
the Constitution.
8.
Give state officials the power to sue in federal court when
federal officials overstep their bounds.
9.
Allow a two-thirds majority of the states to override a federal
law or regulation.
His call for action
came during the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s annual policy orientation.
A similar call to
action was issued by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., just a few weeks ago.
“Gov. Abbott
should be commended for his willingness to endorse an Article V convention and
realizing that Washington, D.C., is not able to fix our problems. A state-led
constitutional reform effort is the only way to prevent another slow economic
recovery from ever happening again,”
commented Kyle Miachle, project manager at Constitutional Reform in the
Heartland Institute.
And Peter Ferrera, a
senior fellow for Entitlement and Budget Policy in the same group, said, “I
applaud Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in supporting the states acting under Article V
of the U.S. Constitution to call for a Convention of the States to propose
Constitutional amendments to be ratified by the states that would restrict the
increasingly oppressive runaway powers seized by the federal government. Such amendments are badly needed to restore
the original concept of the rule of law to America. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
previously served as the longest running attorney general in the history of
Texas, where he learned of the problems he is addressing first hand.”
The most abused and
violated Amendment in the Bill of Rights is the Tenth Amendment. It is already in the U.S Constitution and it
is long past the time that it should come into play. Fundamentally it states
that all the rights not specifically given to the Federal Government in the
Constitution are reserved to the states and the people.
“These
increasingly frequent departures from constitutional principles are destroying
the rule of law foundation on which this country was built,” Abbott said. “We are succumbing to the caprice of man
that our founders fought to escape. The cure to these problems will not come
from Washington, D.C. They must come from the states.”
A
group called Convention of States,
a project of the Citizens for Self-Government, already has been working on
getting the necessary states to agree to such a convention.
An Article V convention can be set up by Congress, or in the face of a
recalcitrant and unwilling Congress, by a vote of two-thirds of the states.
Any amendment proposed
would ultimately be adopted after a positive vote from three-fourths of the
states, or 38 states.
Article 5 of the U.S.
Constitution provides for a Convention of States which can amend the U.S.
Constitution – for example, by demanding a balanced budget. Or simply removing
the issue of marriage from the jurisdiction of the courts. Or how about eliminating
the illegal federal Department of Indoctrination/Education entirely?
The article is an
alternative to having Congress proposed amendments.
The Convention of
States website explains that the Founders provided the alternative, through
which the states “can stop the federal spending and debt spree, the power grabs of the
federal courts, and other misuses of federal power.”
“The current situation is precisely what the
Founders feared, and they gave us a solution we have a duty to use,” organizers explain.
Sen. Tom Coburn, who
represented Oklahoma in the U.S. Senate before leaving, said the convention has
become a necessity, because of Washington’s perpetual overreach.
“We won’t fix it
any other way,” he said “Washington
will never give up its power. It takes more every year, either through the
bureaucratic branch, or through the courts.”
While he was in
Washington, he said, he identified $400 billion in unnecessary spending every
year, but could not eliminate it because of those in Congress who were not about
to deprive their own constituencies.
Mark Meckler,
president of the Citizens for Self-Governance, said, “We clearly have a runaway
presidency, and a Supreme Court that enables that. … Congress has no spine.”
The convention, he
said, is the only mechanism for Americans to regain religious and moral freedom,
empower states with the rights given to them in the Constitution and more.
Some two-dozen states
have approved the idea at one point or another, but the goal is to have the
requisite number approve the same wording, giving a clear focus for the event.
The project was
launched by Meckler and Michael Farris, who is also the chancellor of Patrick
Henry College and chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association.
Sarah Palin has
endorsed the move, pointing out that it is “the tool that people have to rein in
government.”
And then you might consider:
Thanks for listening - de
Andréa
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