Great political blog
Posted by: Chuck - 16th April 2012Tags: Constitution, libertarian, politics
http://www.postlibertarian.com
Leave a commentChange.org Petition
Posted by: Chuck - 26th March 2012Below is a copy of a petition I placed on Change.org, a website where anybody can post a petition. I would appreciate any support…
The United States Congress is supposed to be the agent of the people, our representative in Washington, D.C. It is supposed to synthesize the vastly diverse political beliefs into workable federal law that best serves the interests of the American people. Regardless of one’s political beliefs, a Congress that works as it was designed by the Founders is in everybody’s interest. In fact, that is the kind of Congress we had for well over the first century of the republic’s history.
Now, because of careerism that has led to monopolization of the congressional electoral system, Congress is no more than an arena for a two-party political war for incumbency. It is about the self-interests of the politicians. It is no longer accountable to the people. How could it be, when more than 80% of non-retiring incumbents are returned to office every election? If we could break the monopoly over the congressional electoral system, we could force reforms that would return Congress to the citizen’s legislature it once was. But the only way to do that is through Congress itself. But this violates the self-interests of the members, so they will never reform Congress themselves. After all, who would ever fire or demote themselves?
The Founders predicted this kind of federal tyranny and wrote the convention clause specifically to give the states and the people the means to go around Congress and force reform.
Ignore the myths and rumors about a convention, they serve the needs of those in power. Instead, trust the Founders, they knew what they were doing when they wrote Article V. Do not allow the most important power we have in the Constitution to be denied us. The convention has one power only, to propose amendments. It is not a “constitutional convention” such as what we had in 1787. That body was extralegal and its proposed Constitution required approval from Congress and ratification of the states. This convention is legally empowered and limited to, according to the language of the Constitution, only propose amendments to “THIS Constitution.” The 1787 convnetion had no legal power, it was charged to make suggestions to repair the Articles of Confederation. The American revolution could not end until we had a working government, which the Articles did not create. They were a failure. The 1787 convnetion, comprised of the leading figures of the Revolution (Washington, Franklin, Madison, etc.), quickly concluded that the Articles were irrepairable, and instead proposed one of the most brilliant documents in history.
For a convention to occur, 2/3 of the states (34) must apply for a convention. Any amendments it proposes would then require ratification by 3/4 (38) of the states, a daunting task. Some, such as The Friends of an Article V Convention (FOAVC.org), make a convincing argument that Congress is violationg the Constitution because these requirements have already been met. Also see www.itsmycongress.com for more information about using Article V to force congressional reforms.
This petition calls on the legislators of the several states to apply for a convention to propose amendments to Article I of the Constitution (the section that empowers Congress). Possible amendments include term limits, limiting campaign donations to individual persons only and altering the congressional electoral system to end gerrymandering and unfair ballot access rules.
Leave a commentTom Mast
Posted by: Chuck - 15th March 2012I would like to introduce Tom Mast, author of Over a Barrell: A Simple Guide to the Oil Shortage and proponent of an Article V convention to propose a 28th Amendment. Here’s a link to his site:
http://www.amendment28tofixcongress.com/the-constitution/
His book can be found here:
Tom will share some of his insights on this blog, so stay tuned…
Leave a commentArticle V article
Posted by: Chuck - 15th March 2012Here’s a link to a great article about Article V from Rachel Alexander on March 11, 2012
http://rightwingnews.com/constitution/whos-afraid-of-an-article-v-amendments-convention/
Leave a commentLaunching a revolution…
Posted by: Chuck - 8th March 2012Hello, the presidential race clouds over Congressional elections. Presidents are term limited, Congress is not. Because over 90% of non-retiring incumbents will be re-elected, the legislative branch will only seize-up even further. That’s not a good thing…Congress is our agent in the federal government, that’s why it’s also known as “The First Branch.”
My discussion forum is as good a place as any to sound off about how to fix Congress. My ideas are only those of one person, but I did what I could. My solution calls for a nonpartisan (a properly functioing Congress, like the ones we had the first 130 years or so, will help everybody) revolutionary-scale effort to call for a convention of the states under Article V of the Constitution specifically to reform Congress. I wrote a book explaining why I think this convention is the best, and only way, the people can constitutionally bypass Congress and propose amendments to the Constitution. In The Next American Revolution: How to Demand Congressional Reform NOW, I reiterate the Founders intent for the convention clause. They knew Congress could become tyrannical, and gave the states the power to call a convention for proposing amendments. The book suggests that congressional careerism has fuels the two-party monopoly over a rigged congressional electoral system. How to make a convention happen and suggested amendments that would break the monopoly are outlined.
That’s all a convention can or will do, by the way. The language of Article V is clear, the convention has only one power, it can ”propose amendments to this Constitution…” An Article V convention is in no way, shape or form the same as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. That was an extralegal body that presented its proposed to Congress, which approved it and sent it to the states for ratification. The Constitution would be binding when any nine of the thirteen colonies ratified it by state conventions. it would become the law of the land only in those states that ratified it.
More to come…
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