The Liberty Amendments

IS A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION THE SOLUTION?

by Paul R. Hollrah, ©2013

(Aug. 23, 2013) — In his first inaugural address as Governor of California, on January 5, 1967, Ronald Reagan said:

Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.

My friends, we Americans are on the verge of losing our freedoms. With Barack Obama in the White House; with Harry Reid running the U.S. Senate; with Nancy Pelosi creating havoc from the minority side of the aisle in the House of Representatives; and with scores of liberal judges writing into law those progressive ideas that are rejected in the legislative process, our freedom is on the line. We are at the tipping point and we may not have long to retreat from the precipice.

If you honestly share that fear with me, you will read Mark R. Levin’s new book, The Liberty Amendments – Restoring The American Republic.

What Levin suggests is that the Constitution contains the antidote for its own salvation. More specifically, he suggests that we use the prescription outlined in Article V of the Constitution which provides two alternative methods for amending the Constitution.  Since we could not expect either Democrats or Republicans in Congress to take steps to curtail their own power, Levin suggests that people in two-thirds (34) of the states, through their legislatures, initiate a call for a constitutional convention. The purpose of the convention would be to agree on a list of proposed constitutional amendments to be returned to the states for ratification.

One need only glance at the county-by-county election maps for 2000 and 2012 to understand the wisdom of Levin’s proposed strategy.  In 2000, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney carried 2,439 (78.3%) of the country’s 3,113 counties, to just 674 (21.7%) for Gore-Lieberman. One might have thought that, after eight years of George W. Bush’s wishy-washy leadership, and after the subsequent defeat of two of the most incompetent candidates ever to be nominated by the Republican Party by an ineligible and totally unqualified left-wing radical, the ideological complexion of the country might have changed a bit. But that hasn’t happened.

In 2012, Romney carried 2,421 (77.8%) of the nation’s 3,113 counties, to only 674 (22.2%) for Obama.  In fact, if fundamentalist Christians had not stayed home in November 2012, unwilling to vote for a Mormon candidate, the number of counties carried by Romney-Ryan could easily have equaled or exceeded the 78.3% of the counties carried by Bush-Cheney in 2000. So it is clear that conservative Republican principles remain far more popular than so-called progressive ideals… everywhere except in the most heavily-populated urban areas where the parasites of our society live, breed, and vote for the Democrats who promise to give them more free stuff.

What Levin suggests in The Liberty Amendments is that we utilize that clear advantage to call a constitutional convention for the purpose of drafting significant amendments to the U.S. Constitution. He proposes, among others, the following amendments:

• That no person may serve more than twelve years as a member of Congress,

• That the 17^th Amendment to the Constitution shall be repealed, returning to the state legislatures the responsibility for choosing members of the U.S. Senate,

• That no person may serve as Chief Justice or Associate Justice of the Supreme Court for more than a combined total of twelve years,

• That the Congress may override a majority opinion of the Supreme Court by a three-fifths vote of the House and the Senate,

• That, upon a vote of three-fifths of the state legislatures, the states may override a majority opinion of the Supreme Court, and that the override shall be final and not subject to litigation or review either by the courts, by Congress, or by the President,

• That, should the Congress fail to pass a fiscal budget prior to October 1 of each year, and should the President fail to sign said budget into law, an automatic 5% across-the-board reduction from the prior year’s budget shall be imposed for the new fiscal year,

• That total federal outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed receipts for that fiscal year,

• That total federal outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed 17.5% of the nation’s gross domestic product for the preceding calendar year,

• That Congress shall not impose a tax rate greater than 15% of personal or corporate income,

• That the deadline for filing of federal tax returns shall be set for the day before the date set for congressional and presidential elections,

• That Congress shall not assess taxes against a decedent’s estate,

• That all agencies and departments of the federal government must be individually reauthorized by a majority vote of Congress every three years,

• That all executive branch regulations with an economic impact exceeding $100 million shall be submitted to a permanent joint committee of Congress for review and approval,

• That the power of Congress to regulate commerce does not extend to economic activity within a state, nor to compelling an individual or entity to engage in commerce,

• That all citizens shall be required to produce valid photographic identification as a prerequisite for registering to vote and voting in any election for President, Vice President, and members of Congress, and, 

• That electronic or other technology-based voting systems are prohibited unless a reliable identification and secure voting regimen is first established by the state legislatures.

These, along with numerous other supporting and clarifying amendments, are proposed by Levin as a means by which we may yet save our republic and our freedoms from extinction.

The two most significant amendments that Levin overlooks are amendments to define the term “natural born Citizen” and to reform the Electoral College.  Although the Framers designed and established the Electoral College as a means of preventing those with divided loyalties… i.e., dual national citizenship… from ever serving as president of the United States and commander-in-chief of the Army and the Navy, the Republican members of the 1880 Electoral College failed to properly vet their vice presidential candidate and the Democratic members of the 2008 and 2012 Electoral Colleges failed to properly vet their candidate for president. 

Accordingly, it is important that a convention called by the states for the purpose of drafting proposed amendments to the Constitution should also resolve the problems of allocation of electoral votes and presidential eligibility.  The proposed amendments should provide:

• That the term “natural born Citizen” shall mean an individual born to parents, both of whom were U.S. citizens at the time of the birth, regardless of place of birth, and,

• That within each state, the candidates for president and vice president winning the greatest share of the statewide popular vote shall be awarded two electoral votes, while the remainder of the electoral votes within each state shall be awarded based on the popular vote within each of the state’s several congressional districts. 

Can we do what Levin suggests? Yes, we can and we must. As Ronald Reagan warned in January 1967, “Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.” The systematic destruction of our constitutional republic by leftist ideologues has occurred largely on our watch. Consequently, we owe it to our children, to generations to follow, and to generations long past, to make certain that freedom survives in our land, in spite of the best efforts of Barack Obama and other despotic enemies of freedom.

As of this writing, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), the most widely-trusted and respected member of the U.S. Senate, has endorsed the concept of a constitutional convention to repair the damage that has been done to our great country. I hope that all who read these words will not only buy Levin’s book and read it, but also take the necessary steps to educate and motivate those who represent them in the state legislature. It’s time to start a national movement. As Larry the Cable Guy would say, “Let’s get ‘er done!”

phollrah@fairpoint.net