Goals, Strategy & Tactics Discussion

This is the initial post for The Liberty Convention Initiative.  I am a political organizer -- not a techie -- so bear with me until I can get this figured out.


The purpose of this blog and the associated website (http://libertyconvention.com/) and any other related outlets (Google+ soon) is to organize a nationwide effort to get both chambers of the legislature of each state (34 states needed) to pass legislation applying to Congress for the calling of an Article V Convention of States for the purpose of proposing amendments to the United States Constitution to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, to impose fiscal restraints, and to establish term limits on Congress and the federal judiciary.

Some of the amendments under consideration are those proposed by Mark Levin in his book, The Liberty Amendments:

1. Establish twelve-year term limits for members of Congress and the Supreme Court;
2. Repeal the 17th Amendment, restoring election of Senators to the state legislatures;
3. Allow either Congress or the states to overturn a Supreme Court decision within 24 months with a (3/5 vote of the members of both houses of Congress or both houses of the state legislatures;
4. Require a federal budget be enacted annually by May or impose an automatic across-the-board 5% spending cut; and provide that the budget may not exceed tax receipts of the prior year or 17.5% of Gross Domestic Product;
5. Place a 15% limit on the amount of income taxes collected from natural and legal persons (corporations); change the tax-return filing date to the day before federal elections; and ban federal estate, value-added, or sales taxes;
6. Require each federal agency to be reauthorized every three (3) years in a separate stand-alone bill to provide for debate, or else sunset the agency automatically, and require a seven-member House committee to approve all newly proposed regulations with an economic burden greater than $100 million within six (6) months of the close of the public comment period or cancel implementation of the regulation;
7. Limit the Commerce Clause to preventing states from impeding commerce and trade between the states, and specify that it does not extend to activity within states (whether or not it affects interstate commerce) or to compelling an individual to participate in commerce (such as with the Affordable Care Act);
8. Extend the protection against seizure of private property to require compensation for regulations that reduce market value or interfere with the use of property (administrative taking) in an amount exceeding $10,000;
9. Change Article V so that any constitutional amendment, proposed by anyone, will be adopted if ratified by 2/3 of the states;
10. Require a 30-day waiting period between engrossment of the final version of any congressional bill and the final vote to approve it; allow 3/5 of the states to override any federal statute or any federal regulation with a cost exceeding $100 million within twenty-four (24) months of passage or approval; and
11. Require valid photo ID and proof of citizenship to register and vote in all federal elections, in person or by mail, and limit early voting to thirty (30 days) before the election (except for active-duty military personnel).

Other amendments have been proposed by The Convention of States Project:

1. A balanced budget amendment
2. A redefinition of the General Welfare Clause (the original view was the federal government could not spend money on any topic within the jurisdiction of the states)
3. A redefinition of the Commerce Clause (the original view was that Congress was granted a narrow and exclusive power to regulate shipments across state lines – not all the economic activity of the nation)
4. A prohibition of using international treaties and law to govern the domestic law of the United States
5. A limitation on using Executive Orders and federal regulations to enact laws (since Congress is supposed to be the exclusive agency to enact laws)
6.  Imposing term limits on Congress and the Supreme Court
7. Placing an upper limit on federal taxation
8. Requiring sunseting  of all existing federal taxes and a super-majority vote to replace them with new, fairer taxes.

This blog is intended to facilitate the exchange of constructive ideas about how this organization effort can best proceed, including a discussion of the goals, strategy and tactics to be focused on.  This is not a forum for rants against the government. We know the problems -- this blog is aimed at how we solve them through the Article V amendment process.  I will make a post later today or tomorrow to get the discussion started.


I can be contacted directly by email at: O.Causey@LibertyConvention.com .