- If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed. Thomas Jefferson
- Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people. John Adams
- A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins. Benjamin Franklin
- If it be asked, what is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, an inviolable respect for the Constitution and laws. Alexander Hamilton
- I don’t see a single flaw in the constitution, all I see are failures to obey the constitution. Bill Whittle
I would guess that not one of the politicians promoting a Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) has actually studied the document or its history. All of them should take the Hillsdale College course on our Constitution. If they had, they certainly would be more cautious about opening another convention.
Here is a list of politicians and pundits who favor a new Constitutional Convention. You can add Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance to that list.
Too few Americans are even aware that a constitutional convention can be called, let alone that there would be no checks on its scope and further that the process to call one is well underway and being underwritten by some of the nation’s richest individuals. American schools have long ago eliminated civics, the study of the rights and obligations of citizens, and how local governments function.
Many people tell me that none of our so-called leaders are paying attention to the words of the document, so why shouldn’t we have another convention. With this reasoning, shall we change the Ten Commandments to suit the people who don’t follow the Lord’s commands?
Conservatives who advocate for a Con-Con fail to understand that once Congress convenes a convention, it cannot be undone, and no predetermined rules or limitations, adopted by either Congress or the states will have any bearing on what the convention delegates may choose to do or propose. Link The delegates would have free latitude to propose any changes they see fit, including the writing of an entirely new constitution, along with changes to the mode of ratification, so as to guarantee the adoption of their amendments. It would be a runaway convention and it is not without historical precedent.
Imagine the delegates appointed by state legislatures like California, New York or Illinois. Every God given freedom would be eliminated and every leftwing socialist program would be enforced.
Throughout American history there have been those who wish to rewrite our U.S. Constitution. In 1943, it was a Chicago lawyer for Marshall Fields and Time, in the 1960s it was Senator Everett Dirksen, and we came close to a convention in the late 1980s. Now in the 21st century we are again faced with those on the left and right advocating for another convention.
Money and a campaign structure by the Mercer family and Koch funded conservative organizations, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are promoting the new Con-Con. Heritage Foundation has long been for a new convention. Both Heritage and ALEC were founded by Paul Weyrich.
In 1987, Weyrich wrote an article in The Washington Post, A Conservative’s Lament, which virtually recommended a new Constitution and parliamentary form of government for the U.S. He stated, “If we are going to be a serious nation, we need a serious system for selecting our leaders and advisors. We need some type of shadow government, in which leaders and top advisors can be identified and developed, and through which our politics can be better focused on policy choices. The world is a professional league, and we cannot win fielding amateur teams.”
Let’s review a little history as to how Mark Meckler ended up promoting the Convention of States. In September of 2011, Meckler, who was co-founder of Tea Party Patriots (TPP) with Jenny Beth Martin, got together with a group of people at Harvard Law School and met in Austin Hall. Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig and Meckler’s TPP co-sponsored the event. The end result was a majority of attendees agreeing we needed a new convention. Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum, and the John Birch Society, both staunchly against another convention, were not involved.
On the board of Meckler’s Convention of States sits Robert George, globalist Council on Foreign Relations member, and a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. During the George W. Bush administration, AEI was regarded “as the intellectual command post of the neoconservative campaign for regime change in Iraq.”
Robert George has already rewritten the Second Amendment of the Constitution which will be changed when Meckler gets his convention.
Our House Speaker, Mike Johnson is also for a Convention of States (CoS). He advocated for Meckler’s CoS while in the Louisiana legislature and now promotes it as House Speaker. But the CoS actually disregards Article V. The groups who can call for a convention are Congress and the state legislatures. You cannot open, convene or call a convention and bypass Congress. Congress may propose a Convention, and it must call the Convention if two-thirds of the states apply for a convention.
The people who have bought into this, are disregarding the fact that every amendment we’ve ever had has been done without calling a new convention. Unfortunately, the politicians and pundits who have signed onto Meckler’s CoS, without checking what our Constitution states and comparing it to what Meckler is selling, seem to forget that fact.
The first and only method used for 27 amendments thus far empowers Congress to propose an amendment, “whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary.”
Why then, the push to open the entire document and risk losing our founders’ hopes for true freedom and liberty for America’s people? In 1787, they had just suffered through eight years of war for independence. They knew what Godly freedom for Americans meant.
Once 34 states approve a call, and the Constitution is opened with delegates from every state legislature, the same thing can and will happen as happened to the Articles of Confederation. Our founders were sent to update and revise the Articles, but they tossed them out and started anew. On March 4, 1789, the articles were replaced by the United States Constitution. That is likely what will happen again as there are several new documents waiting in the wings that were written years ago.
One of those is The New States Constitution which was written over a period of ten years at a cost of $25 million by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. It is written in an “obverse” style which means “forming a counterpart.” As an example, Article I, Section 11 states, “Education shall be provided at public expense for those who meet appropriate test of eligibility.” The “obverse” of this statement is just as important as the statement itself and means, “All education shall be at public expense.” In other words, all education will be government controlled and funded by taxpayer dollars, there will be no private schools that are not controlled by the federal government.
Section V of Article I states, “There shall be no discrimination because of race, creed, color, origin or sex.” This opens the door to every perverse group.
Section X of Article I states, “Those who cannot contribute to the productivity shall be entitled to a share of the national product. But distribution shall be fair, and the total may not exceed the amount for this purpose held in the National Sharing Fund.”
Talk about a communist government!
Rexford Tugwell wrote The Emerging Constitution copyright 1974. Tugwell is another fellow from Columbia University…home of cultural Marxist, Herbert Marcuse. Rexford Guy Tugwell was an American economist who became part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first “Brain Trust,” a group of Columbia University academics who helped develop policy recommendations leading up to Roosevelt’s New Deal. Tugwell served in FDR’s administration until he was forced out in 1936.
Henry Hazlitt wrote, A New Constitution Now, copyright 1942 and 1974. Hazlitt was a journalist who wrote about business and economics for the WSJ, The Nation, Newsweek and the New York Times. Few write about his Constitution book as it exposes the truth about his so-called conservatism.
Since the late 70s and long before we had computers, we have been fighting this. In the early 80s, before personal computers, we spent four and five hundred dollars a month sending faxes to the legislatures to recall their calls for a convention. There were 32 states who had called for a convention, two more and a new convention would have happened. We succeeded in convincing ten states to rescind their calls. We are at that point again and every year we fight the legislature calls. It is less costly now, but time consuming, and the legislators are far more dumbed down than they were in the 80s.
Mark Meckler says the convention can be controlled, but it cannot. As stated above, there are no predetermined rules or limitations adopted by congress. And today,
we are bereft of brilliant lettered statesmen, like those who wrote our original document, who would be delegates to a new convention.
If we can pass amendments the way all 27 of our previous amendments were passed, without opening a new Constitutional Convention, ask yourselves why these groups want to risk opening and losing America’s founding document.
I know politicians trample our 1787 Constitution, but once it’s gone, liberty and freedom will be fully destroyed and everything will become a privilege granted by the federal government rather than God given freedoms.
Donald John Trump has never been for a new Constitutional Convention. Let us pray that J.D. Vance doesn’t succeed in convincing him otherwise.
