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DANGER - 2 STATES FROM CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION / FULL TEXT OF HJR 8 / UPDATE ON OHIO'S HJR 8 CALL FOR CONSITUTIONAL CONVENTION

Extremely Urgent Action Alert!

U.S. Two States Away from Constitutional Convention

This is the most urgent, most important action alert the American Policy Center has ever issued! The Ohio state legislature is expected to vote today, Wednesday, Dec. 10th, to call for a Constitutional Convention (Con Con). If Ohio calls for a Con Con only one more state need do so and Congress will have no choice but to convene a Convention, throwing our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights up for grabs. Ohio's vote today poses a grave threat to the U.S. Constitution. Please immediately call the Ohio lawmakers listed below. ACT FAST - time is of the essence!

I apologize! This malignancy most foul remained undetected by our radar until a good friend brought it to our attention yesterday. The hour is late, but WE MUST TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!

It does not matter where you live. Ohio's vote today endangers everyone in every state in the Union, so we must pressure Ohio lawmakers to discard this disastrous legislative effort.

Thirty-two (32) other states have already called for a Con Con (allegedly to add a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution). 34 states are all that is required, and then Congress MUST convene a Convention.

The U.S. Constitution places no restriction on the purposes for which the states can call for a Convention. If Ohio votes to call a Con Con, for whatever purpose, the United States will be only one state away from total destruction. And it's a safe bet that those who hate this nation, and all She stands for, are waiting to pounce upon this opportunity to re-write our Constitution. We dare slumber no longer; we must take immediate action to preserve this nation!

Certainly all loyal Americans want government constrained by a balanced budget. But calling a Con Con risks a revolutionary change in our form of government. The ultimate outcome will likely be a new constitution; one that would possibly eliminate the Article 1 restriction to the coinage of real money or even eliminate gun or property rights. So what may look like a good idea to the legislators driving this effort - all Republicans - will certainly make them prey to the law of unintended consequences - at the very least insuring the U.S. will never have a balanced budget - while destroying what vestiges of liberty the government still allows.

You may have heard that some of those 32 states have voted to rescind their calls. This is true. However, under Article V of the Constitution, Congress must call a Constitutional Convention whenever 2/3 (or 34) of the states apply. The Constitution makes no provision for rescission. We've been told advocates of the convention are waiting to capture just two more states - Ohio, and one other. They can then challenge the other states' rescissions in the courts while going ahead with the Convention. Congress alone then decides whether state legislatures or state conventions ratify proposed amendments.

You may have heard the states can control the subject of any convention. In truth no restrictive language from any state can legally limit the scope or outcome of a Convention! Once a Convention is called Congress determines how the delegates to the Convention are chosen. Once chosen, those Convention delegates possess more power than the U.S. Congress itself; if it were not so they would not be able to change the U.S. Constitution!

We have not had a Constitutional Convention since 1787. That Convention was called to make small changes in the Articles of Confederation. As a point of fact, several states first passed resolutions requiring their delegates discuss amendments to the Articles ONLY, forbidding even discussion of foundational changes. However, following the delegates' first agreement that their meetings be in secret, their second act was to agree to debate those state restrictions and to declare the Articles of Confederation NULL AND VOID! They also changed the ratification process, reducing the required states' approval from 100% to 75%. There is no reason to believe a contemporary Con Con wouldn't further "modify" Article V restrictions to suit its purpose.

As former Chief Justice Warren Burger said in a letter written to Phyllis Schlafly, President of Eagle Forum:

"...there is no effective way to limit or muzzle the actions of a Constitutional Convention. The convention could make its own rules and set its own agenda. Congress might try to limit the convention to one amendment or to one issue, but there is no way to assure that the convention would obey. After a convention is convened, it will be too late to stop the convention if we don't like its agenda. The meeting in 1787 ignored the limit placed by the confederation Congress..." (emphasis mine)

We were blessed in 1787; the Con Con delegates were the leaders of a freedom movement that had just cleansed this land of tyranny.

Today's corrupt politicians and judges would like nothing better than the ability to legally ignore the Constitution - to modify its "problematic" provisions to reflect the philosophical and socials mores of our contemporary society.

The majority of U.S. voters just elected a dedicated leftist as President. Republicans are at their weakest right now! This is a horrible time to try such a crazy scheme. We cannot control the debate right now! Don't for one second doubt that delegates to a Con Con wouldn't revise the 1st Amendment into a government-controlled privilege, replace the 2nd Amendment with a "collective" right to self-defense, and abolish the 4th, 5th, and 10th Amendments, and the rest of the Bill of Rights. Additions could include the non-existent Separation of Church and State, the "right" to abortion and euthanasia, and much, much more.

Our uniquely and purely American concept of individual rights, endowed by our Creator, would be quickly set aside as an anachronistic relic of a bygone era; replaced by new "collective" rights, awarded and enforced by government for the "common good".

The problems our nation faces are not a result of deficiencies in our Constitution; rather, they are the direct result of our disregard for that divinely-inspired document of liberty.

There is no challenge faced by this nation that cannot be solved either by enforcing existing law, or in limited cases, by writing new law. We do not need, AND MUST NOT RISK THE LIBERTY OF THE UNITED STATES with, a Constitutional Convention!

Ohio must not vote for a Con Con! We cannot control the debate! And state #34 is likely sitting silently in the wings, ready to act with lightning speed, sealing the fate of our once great nation before we can prevent it.

Stop the Ohio bill and we can stop the Constitutional Convention.

ACTION TO TAKE

We need only stop the House bill, HJR8, sponsored by Representative Louis Blessing, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (there is a Senate bill too).

1. Call Chairman Blessing's office and tell his staff you oppose a Constitutional Convention and you want this process stopped.

Tell them this is the most dangerous time ever to call for such a convention.

Tell them no one can control the debate or outcome of a Con Con.

Representative Louis Blessing

Phone: (614) 466-9091

Fax: (614) 719-3583

Email: <mailto:district29@ohr.state.oh.us>district29@ohr.state.oh.us

2. Call Representative Bill Batchelder. He is a very good man. I've known him for years. But he has been misled on this issue. The word is he is wavering. Your calls can convince him to withdraw his support. That can kill this bill.

Representative Bill Batchelder

Phone: (614) 466-8140

Fax: (614) 719-3969

Email: <mailto:district69@ohr.state.oh.us>district69@ohr.state.oh.us

3. It is URGENT that you make your calls right now. The bill could be voted on as early as this afternoon (Wednesday).

I'm so sorry for this late notice. We just found out about this last night.

Please get this message out far and wide. This task requires our very best effort! E-mail and call your friends, family and neighbors. Network anywhere and everywhere possible. If you know someone who never takes action, encourage them to break that habit this one time. Our Constitution is under assault!

<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?AmericanPolicyCenter/af099996e4/a41a9803a8/ea53338d90>Visit the American Policy Center website

SEND THIS MESSAGE TO AT LEAST TEN MORE PEOPLE! APC is now offering you a quick and easy way to multiply your efforts and help win more battles! Simply click <http://www.referralblast.com/rblast.asp?sid=5906>here to send this APC Action Alert to up to TEN of your friends! It¢s fast, it¢s easy and most of all, it¢s extremely effective in KILLING OPPRESSIVE POLICIES!

www.rense.com/general84/consttit.htm

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Full Text of HJR 8

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

WHEREAS, With each passing year, this nation becomes more deeply in debt as its expenditures exceed available revenues; and

WHEREAS, Fiscal prudence requires that certain steps be taken to control the growth of the budget and eliminate excessive deficits; and

WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution requires the United States Congress to call a constitutional convention upon the application of two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states for the purpose of proposing amendments to the United States Constitution; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution, hereby applies to the Congress to call a constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing to the states for ratification, an amendment to the United States Constitution containing the following provisions:

First, the amendment shall require the President to submit and the Congress to adopt only balanced budgets for all federal programs and agencies, except in times of war.

Second, the amendment shall grant the President the authority to disapprove any item or items in any bill presented by the Congress to the President in addition to the President's authority to disapprove entire bills pursuant to Article I, Section 7 of the United States Constitution.

Third, the amendment shall require the President to submit and the Congress to adopt budgets for all federal programs and agencies on a biennial rather than annual basis; and be it further

RESOLVED, That this application constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the United States Constitution until at least two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states have made application for a constitutional convention or the Congress has proposed an amendment to the United States Constitution equivalent to the amendment proposed in this resolution; and be it further

RESOLVED, That, if the convention called by the Congress is not limited in subject to the amendment proposed in this resolution, any delegates, representatives, or participants from the State of Ohio asked to participate in the convention are permitted to debate and vote only on the proposed amendment contained within this resolution or an equivalent amendment; and be it further

RESOLVED, That if two-thirds of the legislatures of the several states make application to the Congress to call a constitutional convention, the State of Ohio requests that such a convention be called not later than six months after the Congress receives the thirty-fourth application from a state legislature; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of the United States Senate, the members of the Ohio Congressional delegation, the presiding officer of each house of each state legislature in the United States, and the news media of Ohio.

www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php

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Update on Ohio’s HJR 8 Call for Constitutional Convention

Published

Peace Chicken

on December 10, 2008

in political

. Tags: Constitution, Ohio.

Good news: we were all able to testify against the bill today, and we gave them a response they weren’t expecting. There were 10 of us who spoke out against it, ZERO who spoke in support.
Members from Campaign for Liberty, Ohio Freedom Alliance, We Are Change Ohio, John Birch Society, Institute for Principled Policy, Constitution Party of Ohio, and the Libertarian Party of Ohio showed up in support, most of them testified.

After seeing how many of us came, Committee Chairman Blessing changed his mind and decided not to vote on it today. In fact, he acted like it was a mistake that the paper said “possible vote.” Teri (OFA, JBS, CPO) thinks it’ll probably be voted on at the next committee meeting (which will also probably not include further testimony) so we’ll need to keep watching. The Senate version (SJR 9) was introduced yesterday as well, but last I heard it hasn’t yet been assigned to a committee. Still another thing to keep an eye on.

The committee had some questions and a couple repeatedly voiced concerns, enough so that I definitely think we have a good shot at getting this defeated.

Anthony from We Are Change Ohio recorded all of our testimonies and hopes to have a video put together by Friday, I’ll post it here as soon as I get it.

Everybody’s testimonies were GREAT, here are four of them:

Ohio House Judiciary Committee - HJR 8 Opposition Testimony

Frank Koch

Chairman Blessing and members of the House Judiciary Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today in opposition to House Joint Resolution 8.

As fiscal conservative, I’m in complete agreement that something must be done to limit federal spending and reverse our growing $10 trillion dollar debt currently enslaving our country and our children.

I stand before you not against fiscal responsibility, but against the method in which you plan to implement to limit the federal government. A Constitutional Convention is a very deadly tool to use because the states have little power to control which sections of the Constitution will be opened for manipulation. Article V of the Constitution says that only Congress, not the States, can appoint delegates to the Constitutional Convention. The fate of our liberties, freedoms, and rights will be in the hands of these few select delegates who could be ignorant of the law or in the pocket of special interests.

An unbalanced federal budget is caused from irresponsible leadership within Congress and not a flaw within the Constitution. In fact, an unbalanced federal budget is caused directly from not following the Constitution. We’ll be on the right track to fix our $10 trillion dollar debt if we started to cut the wasteful and unconstitutional federal programs such as Department of Education, Department of Energy, and Homeland Security.

Lastly, I would like to point out a potential Trojan horse within the proposed resolution that could render the resolution powerless. Within the resolution it states, “First, the amendment shall require the President to submit and the Congress to adopt only balanced budgets for all federal programs and agencies, except in times of war.” The statement “except times of war” may encourage the President and Congress to start and prolong wars as long as possible to escape the peacetime fiscal restraints. I ask you to please reconsider the wording of this resolution if you choose not to oppose the Constitutional Convention.

In conclusion, I find it quite disturbing how fast this resolution is being pushed through the House. One must proceed slowly and with extreme caution before even considering a radical action such as a Constitutional Convention. America, with a few strokes of the pen, can be transformed from a Constitutional Republic into a Socialist Dictatorship and we’ll be at the complete mercy of the delegates that will change the Constitution as to how they see fit. I, as a liberty loving American, am not willing to take that chance.

Ohio House Judiciary Committee - HJR 8 Opposition Testimony

Robert Owens

I want thank Chairman Blessing and the members of the committee for allowing me to speak today. My name is Robert Owens, I am a lawyer from Delaware, Ohio and I am an active member and leader in a number of Christian conservative organizations that embrace the time tested and proven concepts of limited constitutional government, free enterprise and individual liberty bestowed upon us by our creator. I urge you to vote no on HJR 8.

Here are some of the possible results of a “run away” article 5 convention as described of by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger:

Total civilian disarmament.

Socialization of industry.

Confiscation of private property.

Torture of citizens.

Suppression of the Press and of Religion

If you started this day unaware of the reasons and legal arguments of a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court that talks of a “run away” convention and,

If you started this day unaware that a totally different ratification process than what you might expect is perfectly lawful and consistent with legal precedent, and

If you started this day unaware that if a article 5 convention is called in the next two years, Nancy Pelosi and her team would get to choose how delegates are selected, how they are paid, where the convention would be held and if the convention were to be held in public or in secret. And,

If you started today unaware that Ohio would be the 33rd state in the history of the republic to call for the convention and that 34 is the magic number to forcibly trigger Congress to call the convention. Then caution is urged.

If any or all of these facts were unknown to you, please do not risk giving Congress a blank check without doing all the research. We are talking about possible political suicide to the conservative movement. This move must be carefully examined, not hurried through a December session without scrutiny.

One point of irony should not be missed in this process. If Congress actually followed the Constitution, we would have a balanced budget and there would be no need for this committee to consider this resolution. What makes anyone think Congress would be limited by new rules if it does not follow the existing ones?

The proposed convention could have devastating effects upon our American tradition of being a free people. This tradition has made us the most prosperous nation and the most charitable nation in the history of the world.

Ohio House Judiciary Committee - HJR 8 Opposition Testimony

Laura Robeson

Chairman Blessing, members of the Committee, I’m here today to speak out in opposition to this bill because of its potentially massive and irreversible ramifications.

While I am certainly in favor of a balanced federal budget, this is not the right way to bring it about. It’s not an error in our Constitution that is resulting in our massive debt, it’s much more complicated than that, and holding a Constitutional Convention will not solve the problem. You would do better to support Ron Paul’s HR 2755 legislation which would abolish the Federal Reserve System and return the monetary power to Congress and the Treasury.

Not only the lack of necessity, but also the speed with which this is being shuffled through is very worrisome. Both the recent banking industry bailouts and the Patriot Act have shown us what can happen when legislation is rushed through before doing proper research and planning. How educated is everybody here on what a Convention really entails? Not since 1787 has there been one, and this was when the Articles of Confederation were completely thrown out. Who’s to say the same won’t be done with our Constitution?

30 states have passed bills similar to HJR 8 and 7 have since realized the danger and rescinded them.

In Alabama’s HJR 347 (2000), it says:

“There is great danger … in opening the Constitution to sweeping changes, the adoption of which would only create legal chaos in this nation and only begin the process of another two centuries of litigation over its meaning and interpretation.”

Idaho’s SCR 129 (1999) states:

“…the Constitution of the United States of America has been amended many times in the history of this nation and may be amended many more times, without the need to resort to a constitutional convention.”

And in New Hampshire’s HCR 12 (2003), it says:

“…the New Hampshire legislature urges all other states that have applied to Congress to call either a general or a limited constitutional convention to repeal and withdraw their applications.”

I strongly urge this committee to heed the advice of our fellow states and vote against this bill.

Ohio House Judiciary Committee - HJR 8 Opposition Testimony

Teri Owens

This is my first time testifying in a legislative committee. I don’t want to waste precious time explaining who I am because my background, ethnicity, race, religion or vocation does not matter to this issue. I speak as a citizen of Ohio, who – no matter what special interest categories I might fit into – stands to be irreparably harmed by the ramifications of calling an Article V convention. The quickness and quietness with which this legislation emerged and is moving is especially troubling because of this.

With due respect to the Sponsor, Representative Huffman, for those who stand in opposition to calling an Article V Constitutional Convention, it is not about fear, but rather wisdom.

The consensus among jurists and Constitutional scholars is that once a Constitutional Convention is called in accordance with article V, state legislatures have no authority in the method of selecting delegates and no authority to limit the scope or outcome of the convention. The only precedent for this in our nation’s history was the first Constitutional Convention, which was called to amend the Articles of Confederation. Indeed this became a runaway convention that emerged not with an amendment, but a brand new form of government and Constitution which only required 9 of the 13 states to ratify in nominating conventions rather than the consent of all state legislatures per the Articles of Confederation.

By its very nature, a Constitutional convention creates a sovereign representative body of the people and no limitation of the state legislatures or congress can restrain the delegates.

Would a Constitutional Convention become another runaway jeopardizing the political protection of the God-given rights of Ohio citizens? Is it wise to take that risk in today’s divided political climate?

Associate Justice Arthur Goldberg summed up the answer this way: “if the question is whether a runaway convention is assured, the answer is no, but if the question is whether it is a real and serious possibility, the answer is yes. In our history we have only one experience with a Constitutional Convention, and while the end result was good, the convention itself was a definite runaway.”

In addition to the dangers of a con-con, the most glaring problem with HJR 8 and its companion bill SJR 9 is that a Constitutional Convention is not even needed to address the problem cited. Applications for a Convention should only be used if a Legislature believes that the present Constitution is structurally flawed and in need of repair. An unbalanced federal budget is not the result of a “Constitutional flaw,” rather it is the result of a Congress which consistently ignores the Constitutional limitations upon its spending of federal funds.

I have emailed to all of you links to a 4 part video series called Beware: Article V which was created by legislators to help you take a closer look at the serious implications of an Article V Constitutional Convention. All four parts can be viewed at principledpolicy.com.

Chairman Blessing and members of the committee, I strongly urge you to vote against sending this bill to a floor vote. This issue comes down to whether you believe the “possibility” of obtaining a balanced budget amendment is worth the risk that our entire system of government could be changed. Chairman Blessing I know that you are a 20 year champion of a Con-Con and I especially urge you to allow your fellow legislators more time to discern the wisdom of this resolution before they are forced to vote on it.

THANKS to everybody who came out today to testify, esp. those who drove quite a while to make it. I think we made a huge difference, much to their dismay — this isn’t turning out to be a walk in the park as they had hoped.

www.peacechicken.com/2008/12/10/update-on-ohios-hjr-8-call-for-constitutional-convention/

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