IS IT TIME?
Over the past two months we have explored various problems we face as a nation. The solution always comes back to our senators and representatives. We have reminded them of campaign promises; we have written, called, faxed, e-mailed, and twittered. We have asked nicely. And we hope we haven't been duped again. Meanwhile, every day Congress spends $2 billion dollars just in interest on the national debt. Worse, every day $8 billion dollars in new debt is put on our backs to generate even more interest. Every day. Is it time?
Both political parties are framing issues for 2012. We, the People need to frame issues as well. I have asked you to tell Congress to start the process to put term limits in the Constitution. Not all of you agree with me on this. Term limits would cost us Ron Paul as well as Nancy Pelosi. But for me and for many, it is the answer. Members of Congress ride in first class for the rest of their lives unless they really screw up. Can we really believe they are going to act in our interest over theirs? Is it time?
We need a balanced budget amendment to the US Constitution. Without it, our representatives run hog wild, consuming, spending, and feeding the beast of re-election by bloating entitlements. Again, not all of you agree with me on this. Every State except Vermont has a constitutional requirement to balance their budget. Yet California faces a $25 billion deficit and New York a $10 billion deficit. Nancy Pelosi, when questioned about the constitutionality of ObamaCare, responded "Are you serious?" The argument against a constitutional amendment is why bother, they will just ignore it anyway. To that I respond when they ignore the Constitution, recall them, impeach them, vote them out of office, but one way or another, fire them. Yet most voters are still apathetic and unengaged, so politicians get re-elected. Is it time?
Congress will never fix these two problems (career politicians and the lack of a balanced budget) because it is not in their interest. But there is another way. Article V provides that the legislatures of two-thirds of the States can call a Constitutional Convention. That is thirty-four states to be safe, and twenty states have already issued a call. Is your state one of them?
Our grandparents knew fifty years ago the only way to undo the damage done under FDR was a Constitutional Convention. They were told not to go that direction because "the commies will take over." Thirty years ago our parents were told not to convene a convention to undo the damage done by Lyndon Johnson. "Don't do it, or the commies will take over." In fact, every generation since 1789 has been told not to do it or something really bad will happen. Just on March 8th, the Heritage Foundation, for which I have a great deal of respect, blogged that calling a Convention would be "both imprudent and potentially dangerous." A quick trip through Google "constitutional convention" reveals that the Washington Post, US News, and the John Birch Society all oppose a Convention. We have adopted twenty-seven Amendments to the Constitution, but never has there been another Constitutional Convention.
Meanwhile, those our grandparents feared have already taken over. They have done it under the existing Constitution, despite our Founder's warnings. We are in a real mess. Do you disagree? We are well into the largest and most sustained transfer of wealth in the history of the world. More than half of our land is under government -aka- socialist control. We are becoming a criminalized society where minor infractions get you in trouble with The Man, and this with almost no violence. Marx must be smiling. Is it time?
Is it time to fix the issues the Founders left to us? They must have known that once elected, our leaders never would pursue term limits or a balanced budget amendment.We, the People are wider awake, better educated, and more determined than any time in the past hundred years. Is it time to call a Constitutional Convention? If not us, who? If not now, when? If we don't finish the work the Founders started, the greatest experiment in freedom, the greatest engine for economic development in the history of the world will be gone. Is it time?
