Every Candidate Wants You to Stay Ignorant of the Best Kept Political Secret - Ever
Virtually all Americans do not know what all the
Democratic and Republican presidential candidates know. It is one of the best
kept secrets - ever.
There is a piece of the U.S. Constitution that has been consistently disobeyed
by the federal government during the entire history of the country. This is it
in a nutshell: Article V says that if two-thirds of state legislatures request
Congress for a convention to propose constitutional amendments, then Congress
"shall" call such a convention.
But no such amendment convention has been created. Even though there have been
over 500 such state legislature requests from all 50 states. Congress has always
refused to call an Article V convention, despite the one and only specified
requirement in the Constitution being fulfilled.
All of the amendments that have been made to the Constitution have been proposed
by Congress, the other specified route in Article V. Clearly, Congress has never
wanted to share power. And note that whether a proposed constitutional amendment
is initiated by Congress or an Article V convention it faces exactly the same
ratification requirements by states.
Over the years there have been countless attempts to get an Article V
convention. But virtually all organized special interests on the political left
and right have opposed a convention. People and
groups with political power - usually because they have enough money to
influence and corrupt members of Congress are afraid of an Article V convention.
Why? Because once Congress calls a convention the federal government - Congress,
the White
House and the Supreme Court - have no control over the convention. State
delegates to the convention are free to consider whatever they want.
One tactic used by the power elites to prevent an Article V convention is to
relentlessly communicate this propaganda: they lie and say that such a
convention would be a "runaway" convention and could destroy the stability of
our government and turn the Constitution upside down or write a totally new one.
Lies. In truth, all an Article V convention can do is propose amendments. They
would have to be ratified by three-quarters of the states. And just imagine how
much media coverage there would be of the nation's first Article V convention.
No convention would ever stand a chance of proposing truly nutty amendments.
We the people have a constitutional right to an Article V convention. Why did
the Framers of the Constitution put the Article V convention option in their
brilliant political document? They feared that eventually the American public
could lose faith in the federal government and that they needed some way to
create laws to solve problems that the government had failed to resolve. And boy
do we ever need a convention today, considering all the problems that Congress
has failed to effectively address. An Article V convention is a way to
strengthen American democracy, not threaten it So I keep waiting for a
presidential candidate to stand up and say that the Framers were correct and
that we need an Article V convention. I am especially disappointed that the
long-shot candidates that many people think are rebels have not taken a public
stand in favor of an Article V convention. I am thinking especially of Ron Paul,
Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich. And how refreshing it would be if better known
candidates like John McCain, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton had
the guts to speak up. Remember, Congress has silently and persistently violated
our sacred Constitution.
Just in case you think the Article V convention idea is insignificant I want you
to know that Abraham Lincoln and Dwight D. Eisenhower both explicitly supported
it. Here is what Eisenhower said: "Through their state legislatures and without
regard to the federal government, the people can demand a convention to propose
amendments that can and will reverse any trends they see as fatal to true
representative government."
In case you are wondering, federal courts have refused to make Congress obey the
Constitution.
So now you know about the best kept secret about how awful our federal
government really is. If you want to learn more about the Article V convention
issue go to www.foavc.org and become a
member of The Friends of the Article V Convention. The nation's first Article V
convention could do wonders in motivating millions of disgusted Americans to
become politically engaged citizens.