Free Republic

As the Article V movement grows, we COS volunteers are asked ever-more questions about Article V. While the COS website has a fine Q&A about the amendment process and safeguards, I wish to delve a little deeper here in support of a successful COS convention and subsequent state ratification debates. To the point, we will never make our goal, the return to free government, unless we are firmly grounded in America’s first principles and can explain them to others. Our nation is searching for its soul. Few are aware of the Natural Law basis of our founding and governing system....

A despotism in our midst no one can do anything about, evidently. Could Congress create a fourth branch of government? Maybe break off a piece of what the executive branch handles now — commerce, say, or agriculture, or maybe even defense — and create a new office supported by its own dedicated tax stream and the authority to levy penalties? The president could still appoint this officer — I think prince-bishop has a nice ring to it — but wouldn’t be able to remove His Excellency absent extraordinary factual circumstances. Maybe we could expect the prince-bishop to decree exile for...

Often people can only take so much pressure before they seek to release it in rash and sudden ways, throwing caution and a careful consideration of consequences to the wind. There were good signs when President Trump was elected that many Americans were entering into that kind of moment. And now, with millions realizing just how widespread and deeply rooted are the problems cool-and-collected President Obama had helped us emotionally paper over, the urge to find release in rash words and deeds is kicking into overdrive. There’s talk of a “cold civil war,” a bitter longing for “national divorce,” and...

The fast-growing, grassroots Convention of States movement has been joined by former senator and head of the Heritage Foundation, Jim DeMint, a constitutional conservative who has been one of the leading champions of limited government and individual liberty in America the past two decades. “The Tea Party needs a new mission,” DeMint told USA TODAY on Monday. “They realize that all the work they did in 2010 has not resulted in all the things they hoped for. Many of them are turning to Article V.” Article V of the U.S. Constitution, often referred to as a “safety valve” provided by...

Former Sen. Tom Coburn reiterated his calls for an Article V Convention to rein in the federal government. Mr. Coburn first proposed the Article V convention idea when he was still in the Senate, but the idea has started to get traction with 12 states signing on to be part of it. The proposal aims to re-balance the branches of government and the federal and state governments as well. An Article V Convention can be invoked when two-thirds of state legislatures call to change the Constitution.

Saying that Washington, D.C., is irrevocably broken and is structurally incapable of fixing itself, former Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has long advocated for an Article V Convention of States to propose new amendments to the Constitution. Now, Senator Coburn has written a book about it. In Smashing the DC Monopoly: Using Article V to Restore Freedom and Stop Runaway Government, Coburn explains how an Amendments Convention would bypass a corrupt Congress to return the federal government to the control of We The People as it was intended. According to Coburn, there are lots of symptoms, but the disease is a...

Published on May 12, 2017 On May 12, 2017, the Show Me State became the 12th to successfully adopt the Convention of States Article V application to impose fiscal restraints, term limits, and other limits on federal overreach. Thank you to the thousands of COS Missouri warriors! http://www.cosaction.com

It's a camel's nose

The enduring crime of scotus is the enshrinement of social justice feel-good nostrums as rights. Over the course of two posts, I will differentiate between justice and scotus-derived concoctions, social justice that assault our senses and society. To this end, my attention is drawn to the Declaration of Independence and Preamble of our Constitution. I will connect the ‘just’ of the Declaration and ‘Justice’ of the Constitution’s Preamble, and their mutual reliance on Natural Law. We will find that no court decision can legitimately harm the societal foundation of our republic. Equivalently, if a newly discovered 'right' from scotus harms...

On his nationally syndicated radio talk show Thursday, host Mark Levin suggested that the biggest news yesterday was not about Obamacare but was instead the fact that Texas joined the Convention of the States movement, and “this is going to be an earthquake.” “You wanna hear the biggest news today, the very biggest news today?” asked Levin. “The Texas House just passed Article V Convention of States resolution. The Senate already passed it. So, Texas is state number 11, state number 11 out of 34 needed. ... “I am telling you, this is going to be an earthquake as we...

The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature passed a Convention of States Resolution, becoming the eleventh. Article V of the U.S. Constitution allows for a Convention of States to restrict the power of the federal government. Texas State Representative Rick Miller (R-Sugar Land), one of the authors of the measure, told Breitbart Texas there were 12 other states in the country waiting to see what Texas was going to do. He says North Carolina is poised to be the next state to pass a resolution. Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted after the House vote, “BOOM. Texas has now passed a Convention of States...

Under the Obama administration, non-elected bureaucrats worked to expand their power over the daily lives of the American people. Now they have a new target: President Trump. The Washington Free Beacon reported today that a White House security analyst had his top-secret clearance revoked as retribution for Trump’s appointees and policies. That analyst will no longer be permitted to work for the White House, and the Trump administration will have to find someone to replace him. This incident is part of a potentially larger move by D.C. bureaucrats to politicize security clearances to punish President Trump for appointing conservative aids...

It’s blatantly obvious Trump voters have been betrayed. I’m not blaming President Trump, I’m blaming Congress who just passed a boondoggle pork budget that goes counter to everything we voted for. It has the usual programs intact, plus several funding increases, the EPA, Planned Parenthood, Sanctuary Cities and not one cent towards The Wall. President Trump must be furious, as are we. Their excuse is "It's just part of the 2017 budget process, Trump will do 'his stuff' in the 2018 budget." I don't buy it. How many times have they kicked the can down the road before? It’s blatantly...

Subtitle: Recollections from Pre-Politically Correct America. A welcomed respite from the drudgery of learning multiplication tables in my third grade was Thursday lunch at the school cafeteria . . . sloppy joes! Forget today’s lean beef craze; this delicacy was wonderfully greasy and delicious. Notwithstanding Michelle O’s national lunch menus, I don’t recall a single fat kid in my homeroom class. The working-class neighborhood of my youth was multi-ethnic. In Leftist terms, it was diverse. My friends were mostly second and third generation Italian, Irish, and Polish. Of course, we called each other Dagos, Micks and Pollacks and somehow never...

Among the features of the ideal republic is the absence of factions and political parties. As per James Madison, a faction is a group of citizens, either a majority or minority, united and actuated by some common passion or interest adverse to the rights of other citizens or the aggregate interests of the community. A political party is typically a collection of factions. Imagine if every representative, senator, president, and bureaucrat took the Preamble of our Constitution to heart, and selflessly dedicated themselves to secure the Blessings of Liberty to themselves and their posterity. This is the public virtue hoped...

You can tell a lot about a man by his enemies, and I’d say the same thing is true about an organization. The Convention of States Project is using Article V of the Constitution to save the Constitution, because our Founders predicted the federal government might grow so large, corrupt, and unwieldy that it would never voluntarily restrain itself. They realized the citizens would need to reel it all back, so they gave us a tool in Article V to do just that.  Though we are just a grassroots organization, we are animated by the spirit of our founders –...

Full Title: As the anti-constitutionalists mount their opposition, be sure to stay informed with our Article V resources. The anti-constitutionalists are getting nervous. Radical activists on both the left and the right who support the status quo have realized that the Article V movement is taking off, and they're beginning to mount an opposition. Don't get caught flat-footed. Get informed. Be prepared to defend the Founder's solution to federal overreach with the resources located on the Responses to Opposition page on our website. Here you'll find clear, concise answers to all the most common objections to an Article V Convention...

Hillary Clinton ignited a firestorm a few months ago when she publicly called half of Trump supporters a “basket of deplorables.” Hillary’s saggy speech was on September 9th, and is worth watching again, both for her hubris, and for the reminder of what our nation and the world avoided. Recognizing a hanging curveball when they saw one, Team Trump jumped at the opportunity, and hit a grand slam, Deplorables Unite (Do you hear the people sing) one week later. ‘Welcome to all of you deplorables!’ Trump boomed as thousands screamed ‘Trump! Trump! Trump!’ and ‘We love you!’ Trumpsters embraced the...

A quick blurb. It is flashing red siren alert time for the Convention of States movement. Hopefully everyone who is signed up with COS received an email to contact six Nebraska senators who are filibustering LR6, the Convention of States Resolution. Should the single house legislature pass this resolution, Nebraska will be the eleventh state to apply for an Article V convention. For what it is worth, below is my email to these senators: Senator Lydia Brasch: lbrasch@leg.ne.gov Senator Matt Hansen: mhansen@leg.ne.gov Senator Tony Vargas: tvargas@leg.ne.gov Senator Bob Krist: bkrist@leg.ne.gov Senator Sue Crawford: scrawford@leg.ne.gov Senator Adam Morfeld: amorfeld@leg.ne.gov Dear Senator,...

The pizza gestapo are coming, according to a new report from the National Review. A little-known provision in the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”) is about to come into effect, and it could sink pizza franchises nationwide. The regulation would require restaurant chains with twenty or more locations to post nutritional information for every item on the menu and every variation of item on the menu. Domino’s executives figured out that there are over 34 million different combinations of toppings for their pizzas. That’s a big sign -- and an expensive one. Domino’s are owned and operated by individual businesspeople,...