Free Republic

Hundreds of articles and blog posts since the COS movement emerged a few years ago deal with the impossibility of reform emerging from those who profit so well from DC corruption. Other posts, like those scattered about this ArticleVBlog, examined the historic foundations of free government from the 17th century English philosophers down to our Revolution and Constitution. When taken together, all the events and ideas which shaped the American psyche since publication of the King James Bible in 1611 may be grouped together by the term, ‘Tradition’. Today, I appeal to that which gets so little attention, but is...

DENVER — Jim DeMint brought bad news from Washington. Republicans run every branch of the government, but it was “no longer possible for the federal government to avoid a disaster.” “We have accomplished little more than to slow the growth of spending, debt, and regulations,” the former senator from South Carolina told a breakfast audience at the American Legislative Exchange Council’s policy conference on Thursday. “It’s very unlikely, after all the promises, that we’re going to repeal Obamacare and eliminate the federal control of health care.” For members of ALEC, a 45-year-old think tank that helps state legislators craft libertarian-leaning...

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...

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

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...

I cast my first vote in 1972. I was four months into my eighteenth year, and pulled those levers with pride. Unlike republican Rome, America doesn’t have a formal coming of age ceremony in which teenagers leave adolescence, don a toga, and are recognized as men worthy of self-government. When I voted for Richard Nixon, I felt the rush of being a citizen, of one burdened yet privileged to partake in the civil society and having a say in local, state, and national affairs. Since then, I never missed a congressional election . . . until 2016. While I voted...

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...

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,...

From a study of the debates at the 1787 Federal Convention and contemporary discussion in the States, our Framers anticipated Article V would be employed far more often than has proved to be the case. A fundamental part of our Constitution is the provision for future changes. Since all earthly creations suffer from decay and corruption, our Constitution is likewise in need of maintenance and repair. Defects accumulate in our governing form. Unless corrected and reversed in the reserved setting of a convention of states, errors and contradictions will accelerate until a divided society erupts in revolution. We must accept...

Subtitle: The Federalist No. 40 Recall from the Introduction to this series, Brent Dunklau, COS District Captain (HD 33 Texas), noted James Madison' seemingly contradictory stances in The Federalist No. 40. Is the Constitution an amended version of the Articles of Confederation (AC) or is it an unauthorized and radical departure? Brent regularly encounters this question, and it is one which Article V opponents use to delegitimize the Constitution. James Madison opened No. 40 with a quick reference to No. 39, in which he distinguishes between national and federal systems. A national system is democratic. A majority of the people...

Subtitle: The New Jersey Plan.In this post, we’ll see why continuance under the Articles of Confederation (AC) was certain to destroy the Union. The commissions for delegates to the convention were, at most, slight variations of the wording of the report from the 1786 Annapolis convention, “to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union.” It is on this clause that Article V opponents hang their collective hats. To them, entire state delegations intentionally disregarded their instructions to strictly stand by improvements to...

As Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington knew like no other man of the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation (AC). From the despair at Valley Forge in 1777-78, and a congressional recommendation that he plunder the Pennsylvania countryside for supplies, George Washington and his men felt the full measure of inadequate government. On March 15th 1783, Washington prevented a mutiny of his army encamped at Newburgh NY that would have changed the course of American history. The Revolutionary War did not end with victory at Yorktown; British troops still held New York, Charleston, Savannah, and western outposts. Ironically,...

Without a formal league until just a few months before the climactic battle of Yorktown in October 1781, the fledgling independent republics of the Revolutionary War somehow managed to frustrate the most powerful nation on earth. On March 1st, Maryland, under threat of invasion by General Cornwallis, joined twelve other states in confederation. As Maryland illustrated, the first purpose of the confederation was common defense from the English Army and Royal Navy. The Articles of Confederation (AC) formalized the powers of a pre-existing congress of the states. With one vote each, Rhode Island had as much influence as Virginia. Congress...

Subtitle: The Question of Sovereignty. Didn’t the Framers violate the Articles of Confederation (AC) when they drafted the Constitution? Weren’t the AC the supreme law of the land? This is the view of many Article V opponents. From Article VI of the confederation, “No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation or alliance whatever between them, without the consent of the united States in congress assembled . . . “ Furthermore, from Article XIII, “Every State shall abide by the determination of the united States in congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted...

“Why just do what you can overdo?” is an insider joke in my family when one of us unnecessarily complicates an otherwise simple task. Over the next few posts, I’ll look at the Articles of Confederation. Brent Dunklau, Convention of States District Captain, (HD 33 Texas) provided the spark for this series. Like many in the COS movement, he has encountered pushback from Article V opponents who fear an Article V convention will replace the Constitution, just as the events of 1787-1788 replaced the Articles of Confederation (AC) with the Constitution. To opponents, these events were like a hostile takeover,...

A Letter from a Convention of States Volunteer. The election has brought lots of thought and opinions to me. Even the need to exhale after holding my breath for a long time. The need to see and have a change in my country has overtaken me in the last year. The thought as to what kind of country I would pass along to my grandchildren has been at the foremost part of my mind for a long time. Trump’s election to the presidency put a lot of Americans at ease, even the feeling of relief and there seem to me...

My copy of Congressman X* arrived in yesterday’s mail. Since the identity of congressman X is anonymous, I should be hesitant to accept anything inside. But, since nothing I read contradicts my personal beliefs which took decades to form, I admit my bias in accepting his accusations against congress, party leadership, the president, and the typical voter. Simply put, government is a lie. Voters are too ignorant see through the gauze, the hype, the smoke, the deceptions to realize that everyone in Washington, DC looks out for themselves first, last and always. Money is everything. Worry about the country? Don’t...

Did you ever wonder why unsuccessful candidates merely “suspend” their campaigns after losing a key primary, instead of terminating them? Surely all those candidates knew that it’s impossible to restart a presidential campaign once it’s been suspended. In the famous words of Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter Alice Longworth, “You can’t make a soufflé rise twice.”