HOW I SEE IT: Grassroots political groups fighting for you
Published: July 6, 2009
Updated: July 6, 2009
It’s exciting to see that many Americans are seeking government reform. Some organizations rally around voting incumbents from office in large numbers. VOID and Tenure Corrupts are two organizations seeking reform in this way.
Another group is advocating for a right that has been denied by Congress from the very beginning. Article V of the Constitution states that if two-thirds of the states ratify a proposed amendment, it is adopted by the Constitution. Congress has never allowed an Article V convention, although some proposals have met the two-thirds qualifier.
While our founders provided a way for citizens to weigh in on the Constitution, our Congress and Supreme Court think otherwise. The major advocacy group in this regard is Friends of Article V Convention.
More recently, concerned citizens have organized to assist communities in identifying “clean” politicians to run against incumbents. Quoting from the Web site of GOOOH (Get Out of Our House), GOOOH will allow you to:
1. Help select your representative, while being considered yourself
2. Hold your representative accountable
3. Replace career politicians with true representatives
4. Take the money out of the process.
The Independents Caucus holds “tea parties” and seeks to support “clean” candidates to replace incumbents, somewhat similar to GOOOH. It supported a candidate who recently defeated an incumbent.
Republic Sentry is working to reform government as a new party with a different political attitude.
The American people have not shown a propensity to vote incumbents from office. A large number were voted out during the Depression era. It would take a similar disaster to focus citizens to vote out incumbents in numbers. Article V would allow the citizenry some input to government. However, ratification by two-thirds of the states often takes years.
People will no longer participate based on “trust” alone. They have been scammed too often. They know that just voting incumbents from office serves no long-term interest and aren’t going to stay focused, year after year, to continually vote incumbents from office. Five years ago, Bernie Madoff might have had a successful run for the Senate.
The Republic Sentry Party proposes to put accountability into the political equation through members’ oversight of elected and appointed officials, voting to reject them from the party if they fail to support the party (people’s) agenda. The party has a set of locked down rules requiring 66 percent of membership vote to change, delete or add a rule.
A mechanism for reform, not based solely on trust, but founded in part to change rules. This party should find broad acceptance by the voting public.
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Reader Reactions
Some of these “applications” are hundreds of years old. Almost all are decades old. These people are simply looking for an easy way to changed the Constitution. One of the best things about the Constitution is that it is hard to change. Lets keep it that way.
Mr. Ellis is slightly incorrect regarding applications for an Article V Convention. The Constitution requires only that two-thirds of the states apply for a convention. There is no requirement as to subject of a proposed application.
Thus, if 34 states apply, Congress must call a convention which it has refused to do. The states have so applied. In fact all 50 states have submitted 750 applications for an Article V Convention. The applications can be read at www.foavc.org.
As to the fear of the JBS raised by another reader. JBS has always opposed a convention. Therefore there is zero chance that they will be at such a convention and hence any concerns about them can be laid to rest.
They certainly aren’t fighting for me. Look at the links the mentioned groups provide. The John Birch Society?
GOOOH wants to replace all the elected
members of Congress with “everyday Americans”....and of course they and their friends who think like them are “everyday Americans”.
And no I dont’ want a constitutional convention where nutcases can muck with the Constitution.
But I agree that we need to get rid of incumbent Eric Cantor.
I want a representative who is not afraid to do something about illegal immigration.
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