Free Republic

I almost hate to say this, but this is a very progressive synagogue, openly calling for a “change of government” in the midterms. Not looking good...

"Maybe he’s sending a message to Mulehead to do the right thing. End the investigation."

Nail... meet hammer.

Fear is a good thing, Jersey, as long as we don't let it overrule our reason.

Sure, there could be some unintended consequences to amending the Constitution, and some of them might even be bad... all of that is possible.

But what's a dead-cinch guarantee is that doing nothing will result in deliberate and intended consequences, ALL of which will be bad.

The best way to protect the Constitution is to amend it! Although our Constitution has stood the test of time, the Framers knew that it wasn't perfect… that's why they wrote Article V, the amendment process, into the original draft. They had the foresight and the wisdom to provide us a remedy… now all we need is the will, the faith, and the courage to use it.

Be informed. Sign the petition. Get involved. #AZLeg #COSProject

I thought you might appreciate that! I usually that closer with, “As someone most famously said...” especially when I know you’re going to see it.

Awesome, Jacquerie... as always!

At a time when the Dept of Education orders schools to allow students to use restrooms irrespective of their biological gender, and the IRS targets political and religious groups...

At a time when the Dept of Defense tells our soldiers that citizens who follow our founding virtues and fundamental Christian teachings are extremists, when the Department of the Interior takes private property to re-develop for its chosen “winners”…

At a time when the Dept of Homeland Security orders tech companies to scan our private eMail using “national security” as justification, and the NSA spies on innocent civilians... When the FCC seeks to control or even abolish “conservative” news sources…

At a time when Executive Orders are used to kill Americans with drone strikes, to ignore immigration laws, and to mandate that some purchase health insurance while others do not… when the national debt is increased more in 8 years than the total sum of all debt incurred since our founding...

When, in short, the federal government has run amuck, don’t you think that it’s finally time to reduce its size, its scope, and its jurisdiction?

Just as the Second Amendment secures the right of the individual to defend himself against an intruder, so does Article V secure the right of society to defend itself against an intrusive government.

Join the Convention of States Project, a nationwide effort to curb federal overreach, and sign this petition ==> http://www.cosaction.com/?recruiter_id=2348

It will be sent directly to your state representatives… they hear from Big Government lobbyists every day, now let them hear from you. Be informed. Get involved. #AZLeg #COSProject

The only person I see talking about “trashing the Bill of Rights” here is you, which kinda fits the definition of a strawman.

Come up with a real argument, and maybe we’ll engage.

You wrote: "A very good friend once made the comparison to the Ten Commandments. When God saw his children having trouble living the ten, did he then issue the eleventh?"

I have to ask you, wita... how'd that work out for us?

Look around you... this is what you get when you do nothing.

Thanks!

As always, Jacquerie, an excellent treatise.

I would only add the following, that the Founders gave the Senate the exclusive power to approve US Supreme Court appointments.

Thus, in the Framers’ vision, the states, through their Senators, were the final arbiters of who was to determine which laws were constitutional and which ones were not. Removing the check of the state legislatures from the votes of their Senators during SCOTUS confirmation hearings stripped the states of their power to have a voice in the process and left it entirely in the hands of one branch of the federal government, the U.S. Senate.

The Seventeenth Amendment has not only taken from the people in the states and their legislators the power to immediately determine and control their own representation in the Senate, but it provides a wall of separation and protection from redress to a branch of the federal government, the U.S. Senate, one a privilege and the other a power, neither of which the Founders ever intended nor would consent to today.

Congress will never repeal the Seventeenth... it’s left to us, the people in the states. To add your voice to the call for a Convention of States, sign this petition ==> http://www.cosaction.com/?recruiter_id=2348
#COSProject

Ignore him... he’s a troll... once the threshold is met, Congress has the responsibility to call the convention, to name the date, time and place, but not the duration. Should they try such a tactic, a quickly-formed COS Executive Committee could open the proceedings when and where specified, then just as quickly adjourn to a more fitting time and location.

You know I appreciate and share your passion on this issue, brother, but I just can't help but believe that Congress would be much less likely to successfully rebuff 34 identical applications... without generating a backlash from which it would not survive.

The "Identical Application" requirement is not a poison pill... it's a bright red line in the sand that, once crossed, leaves Congress no alternative. We just have to keep our heads down and get 'er done.

You wrote: "You seem to have a healthy skepticism about politics until the subject is an Article V convention. Then it's suddenly all founding fathers and unicorns."

It's not a fantasy to imagine that it will be serious believers who draft the proposals at the state level, who sponsor and shepherd the bill through the local legislative process, who help to select and even participate as the attendees / commissioners at the convention itself, thus rendering these individuals the least susceptible possible to the corruption some seem to believe is irresistible. You see, that's the whole point.

You wrote: "It’s a shame some people try to persuade others by using insults."

You insulted yourself... I simply seconded the motion.

OK... I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and retract that remark, and I apologize for any aspersions that I may have cast on your patriotism. You may, indeed, believe that your actions (or the lack thereof) are those of a true patriot. I'll leave that for others to decide.

But I stand by every other word.

When someone uses the word "probably" to deride or reject another's opinion and doesn't even bother to take the time to investigate what it is that he is about to dismiss, then he deserves to be called lazy.

As a matter of fact, for your future benefit, I would recommend using the word "prolly," which is the now popular abbreviation for the word "probably"... it's fewer keystrokes, meaning it takes even less effort on your part.

I'll revise my earlier closing statement as follows: America certainly DOES NOT need any more uneducated, unmotivated, un-involved patriots like you.

You wrote: "I truly can’t imagine why you guys think SCOTUS will honor these amendments. You admit they’re lawless right?"

The meme that the Federal government does not follow the Constitution is demonstrably false. I submit to you that even our current "lawless" government adheres to virtually every modern day amendment to the Constitution. It's more the Articles that they've raped and plundered. On average, amendments to the Constitution are followed VERY closely for about 100 years after they are ratified by the states and made part of the Constitution. Some have endured even longer. When an amendment has been debated, drafted, proposed and ratified by the requisite number of state legislatures, the federal government has little choice but to sit up and pay attention. For example, it’s been almost 225 years since the First Amendment was ratified, and only recently have the federal courts dared to trespass on religious freedom, and even at that, only on the margins and in the service of a small but influential political special interest group.

Similar things can be said of the government’s nipping at the edges of the Second Amendment… private ownership of firearms went virtually unchallenged until New York passed the first “gun control” law in 1911… that’s 120 years. And even though the Fourth and Fifth Amendments (Search & Seizure, Privacy, Due Process, etc.) have been held virtually sacrosanct since the nation’s inception, no serious discussion about loss of liberty can avoid acknowledging the impact that September 11, 2001 and consequent federal legislation has had on them, but that’s only over the last decade.

Although these are all liberties that are currently under attack, we have enjoyed most of them for almost 2¼ centuries, and all were achieved by AMENDING the Constitution.

The problem is that these liberties are being changed by legislative fiat without benefit of the amendment process, and when challenged, the Supreme Court has enabled the infringement.

So, in response to your charge that the government doesn’t follow the Constitution now, it’s more than fair to say that the Constitution as a whole is, by and large, followed by government at all levels, all the time, and fairly closely… but here I need to clarify that I’m not talking about the Constitution as it was written, but as it has been interpreted by the Supreme Court.

It's the "Interpreted Constitution" that brings us to what many believe is the crux of the matter, and the single-most important reason to support an amendment convention - it's the beautifully written but vague and ambiguous language of the Founders that allows "constitutional scholars" like our current president (and liberal justices) to find the wiggle room that they need to subvert the original intent of the Founders.

If we were to close the loopholes that civil rights lawyers, activist judges and an enabling U.S. Supreme Court have used to “create” new powers and authority for the federal government that the framers never anticipated nor intended, if those loosely written phrases were amended to reflect the narrow scope intended by the authors of that great document, it’s completely conceivable that the legacy we could leave to the next several generations of Americans would be living free of the overwhelming burdens, constraints and regulations of hundreds and hundreds of ever-expanding federal bureaucracies.

IMHO

Look... I'm with you if and when all else fails, but we haven't tried "all else."

Once we've exhausted all legal, peaceful means, then you and I can meet shoulder to shoulder at the ramparts, but until then you're just picking a fight that you're going to lose, and you're gonna take us all down with you. I can't support that.

The logical progression of your approach leads to the destruction of the nation. So does Obama's, by the way. I choose differently.

Similar experiences here in Arizona, except for one... I believe you’re familiar with our “conservative” senate president Andy Biggs... He’s a Birch Pod, paralyzed by his own fear. He’s a little different than the typical fear-monger in that he has written a book about the “Con-Con” and is using his position to hawk it. Don’t you just love the smell of free-market corruption in the morning? This guy is an abomination to the party and to the pursuit of liberty.

Love your sig, BTW... wasn’t that Reagan... If not now, when... if not us, who?

You wrote: "Bircher’s are probably right"

Do you know what your use of the word "probably" tells me and everyone else here...? It's a shameful confession that you don't know. You didn't bother to do the research for yourself. You've simply decided that the John Birch Society is "probably" right.

America certainly needs more uneducated, unmotivated, uninvolved Pretend Patriots like you.

You wrote: "Caution: ANYBODY that disses The John Birch Society is probably A TRAITOR... covertly HERE.."

My response: You're an ass. In case you hadn't noticed, you're doing an excellent impersonation of a Leftist. Here... let me help you with that:

"Anyone who disses Obama is a racist."

See what I did there? You're an ass.

To DemshateGod - You wrote, "...and the court just arbitrarily throws it out..."

This is a perfect example of misinformation. Whoever told you that the Supreme Court can throw out a ratified Amendment, arbitrarily or otherwise, did you a great disservice.

If you are a young product of today's public school system, I suppose I should give you a pass. If, on the other hand, you are simply one of the willingly uneducated regurgitators of ignorance fed to you by the JBS, then you need to be told how embarrassingly wrong you are.

Begun last year by Citizens for Self-Governance, this Convention of States Project is expected to take at least five years to reach the 32-state threshold. The greatest hurdle is re-educating our elected officials, disabusing them of the false notions they hold, many of whom are victims themselves of the liars and fear-mongers of the John Birch Society.

And we beg at no one's feet. Article V was deliberately written into the Constitution by the Framers as an Article, not added as an amendment after the fact. George Mason (and others) stated that its specific purpose was to give the people in the states the method and the authority to circumvent the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial should the need arise, and that need arose a long time ago. Article V is only 143 words, and I suggest that you take two minutes and read them... it's a whole lot shorter than Patrick Henry's beautiful monologue, and it makes his point precisely. We adhere to the notions of The Founders, not the JBS.

Lastly, although I am a supporter of certain, limited applications of nullification at the state level, I laughed out loud when I read your frivolous invitation for me to join you "in simply nullifying unconstitutional rulings." Besides being unconstitutional and an engraved invitation for violent federal intervention, if it's really that "simple," I challenge you to provide one instance where it has been upheld in any court of competent jurisdiction or even minimally effective on a national scale, for that is what we're talking about here... the nation. You let me know when Publius Huldah or anyone else at the John Birch Society figures out how we can nullify our way out of undeclared wars or invasive United Nations treaties, or a way to nullify us into a balanced budget or mandatory term limits for all federal officials.