With the entire nation distracted by the ongoing Russia investigation and its implications for America’s democracy, it has been easy to overlook news of a resolution that was quietly approved in May by the Republican-dominated legislature in Texas. Yet the resolution, calling for a convention of states to amend the U.S. Constitution, has implications that are just as earth shattering as a president who potentially disregards the rule of law. Amid the Russia probe, another threat to democracy is being overlooked.
These are no ordinary times in American history. Political partisanship has exceeded anything the framers of the Constitution could have imagined. It has taken the nation to the brink of political chaos as politicians put party ahead of every other concern. American political life is dominated by two parties, each too big to fail, and each determined to destroy the other — potentially destroying America’s constitutional democracy in the process.
In this moment of grave vulnerability, every American who cherishes freedom should be awakened to the danger posed by Texas’ convention of states resolution. The Constitutional amendment it proposes would allow two-thirds of the states to band together and, if they so choose, cancel any and all United States Supreme Court rulings, “retroactively or prospectively.”
It does not take a constitutional scholar to immediately grasp the devastating implications. If a political party were to control the legislatures of thirty-four states, that party could effectively cancel the Bill of Rights. Supreme Court rulings regarding freedom of speech, separation of church and state, unlawful search and seizure, the right to vote, equal protection under the law — these and any other rulings that have or will protect the freedoms Americans have fought and died for — could instantly be in peril. According to Governor Gregg Abbott:
The Texas Plan would restore the Rule of Law and return the Constitution to its intended purpose.
It is obvious that Abbott has not read the history books. The Bill of Rights, consisting of the first ten amendments, was written to protect individual freedoms by placing limits on government power. It was demanded by several states as a condition of ratifying the Constitution; their insistence was born out of a firm belief that popularly elected governments cannot be trusted to protect individual liberties.
Thomas Jefferson said it best in a letter to James Madison while representing our fledgling democracy in Europe. A copy of the Constitution arrived on Jefferson’s desk in Paris before the Bill of Rights had been attached. Jefferson did not approve, writing to his friend Madison, he said:
…a bill of rights is what people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse or rest on inference.
Imagine that a state, like Texas, for example, decides to ban political speech that is critical of elected officials. The Supreme Court as a violation of the First Amendment would strike down such a law. Yet under a convention of states, if thirty-four states so decided, the ruling striking down the law could be ignored. If so, it pays to reason that America, in one instance, would cease to be the Land of the Free.
The threat posed by a potential convention of states goes beyond the cancellation of the Bill of Rights and the freedoms we cherish as Americans. Like a president who daily mocks the Constitution’s system of checks and balances, it would imperil American democracy itself. Amid Russia probe, another looming threat to democracy exists.
Suppose one political party gains control of thirty-four states — a goal both parties are obsessed with and one has nearly accomplished. Could that party manipulate all future elections through voter suppression, discriminatory gerrymandering, malignant campaign finance laws, and criminalization of political speech? Of course.
The Supreme Court would move in an instant to strike down each offending law as violating the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. But the party controlling thirty-four states could band together to nullify the Court’s rulings. This suggests that America would become a one-party system with no recourse against an unshakeable political regime. What would be the difference between a one-party America and a one-party Russia, or China?
The Texas resolution is not a single cancerous cell in the American body politic. Ten other states (Alaska, Arizona, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Louisiana, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida) have passed Convention of State resolutions. Powerful groups such as Citizens for Self-Governance and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are working hard to rally the rest.
Americans must kill the cancer, state by state. Governors like Gregg Abbott should do the job we hired them to do (like focusing on schools, roads, water and lowering property taxes) and leave the Constitution alone. Otherwise, whether intentionally or not, they might jeopardize our beloved American experiment and imperil what President Lincoln aptly described as the last best hope for mankind. Amid the Russia probe, an additional threat to America’s democracy is being overlooked.
Opinion by Mike Collier
(Edited by Cherese Jackson)
Mike Collier is a Senior Advisor at Duff & Phelps and a former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner. A CPA with 25 years of experience, Mike quit the Republican Party and ran for Texas Comptroller on the Democratic ticket in 2014. Mike recently published a book on his political adventure, “Out of Comptrol: A Converted Democrat’s Improbable Quest to Save Texas” Politics. Collier is exploring a bid for Texas” Lieutenant Governor
Sources:
Texas Tribune: Texas House approves Abbott-backed call for convention of states
Office of the Governor: Governor Abbott Unveils Texas Plan, Offers Constitutional Amendments To Restore The Rule Of Law
Teaching American History: The Madison-Jefferson Exchange on Ratification and the Bill of Rights
Convention of States: Check out the NEW National Update page!
Author’s Book: Out of Comptrol: A Converted Democrat’s Improbable Quest to Save Texas Politics
Image Credits:
Top Image Courtesy of Mike Collier
Inline Image Courtesy of Thomas Hawk’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Featured Image Courtesy of Christian Senger’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Discover more from Guardian Liberty Voice
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
5 Responses
Since the admin of this site is working, no doubt very quickly it
will be well-known, due to its quality contents.
Keep sharing more useful and conspicuous stuff like this. Thank you so much
Yes, we must amend the Constitution so that we can put a check back on this out of control federal government. The system as it is will only hold if the three branches check each other, which they no longer do, unless it’s to check valid constitutional stuff, like the 9th Circuit obstruction of the travel ban.
Where exactly in Article V does it say that a convention meets for the purposes of writing a new Constitution?! It doesn’t. What it does say is: that a convention meets to propose amendments. That’s it. It’s the same thing Congress does, only this process is through the States. Same ratification process. This headline is so misleading. Complete distortion of what Article V and Convention of States is. Ridiculous and irresponsible Sir!
The problem to the solution is not more federal spending. The problem to the solution is not giving more power to the federal government. The problem is the Supreme court rewriting the constitution. Butler case allowed general welfare to mean special welfare. Who Decides?
When 65% of all rules and regulations in the states are mandated from the national government by unelected bureaucracy and executive orders. Lincoln Mason and Madison and Jefferson warned of what this would lead to Tyranny.