Henry David Thoreau once said, “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” This is also true of immigration, a long time problem that Washington DC has grappled with for more than a century.
The issue never goes away, because government never really deals with it, but only uses it as political fodder. George W. Bush attempted a compassionate method to deal with immigration, but the Republican Congress voted it down, fearing the next election. Barack Obama promised his constituents that immigration would be the first issue he tacked as president, only to side step it completely until after his second election, when he decided to side step the Constitution in proclaiming DACA as an executive order. It was just too easy for the next opposition president to tear up the paper it was written on.
Neither major party is truly interested in a solution. They claim they do, but it isn’t in their interests to do so. Too many Republican voters fear immigrants, convinced they all belong to the MS13 gang. Meanwhile, most Democrats refuse to do any compromising with Donald Trump, who is willing to give immigration reform if he can get a wall.
Yes, taking kids away from their parents because they committed a misdemeanor crime by entering the country is wrong and tragic. No, it isn’t anything like Hitler’s concentration camps. Both sides are so full of hyperbole and BS that we could fertilize all the cornfields in America (if their BS wasn’t so toxic!). Such stupid speech from both sides paralyzes the conversation. The kids still aren’t reunited with their parents, and won’t be until some tough compromises are made. Remember how Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill used to arm wrestle through tough legislation on Social Security, Welfare, Star Wars, etc.? It wasn’t easy, perfect or pretty, but it created a strong America with a long lasting growing economy. Remember when Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress got serious and passed Workfare and a balanced budget? Again, not a pretty process, but it worked.
Insincerity drives Congress and presidents to make promises that they do not keep. It isn’t just an immigration issue. Remember Obama promising immigration, but instead delivered a massive, expensive health program that almost no one wanted, but guaranteed Neo-socialist control of 1/6 of the economy?
Republicans promised us a quick war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but then messed up the systems, so that they collapsed even further into chaos. Now, we are in eternal warfare on several fronts, where we sometimes are fighting against Iran, and sometimes with them! The prison system is filled with victims from another war, the war on drugs. While some states and many doctors now recognize the importance of cannabis in pain relief for cancer, PTSD, and other illnesses, Jeff Sessions continues to act like marijuana is worse than the opioid crisis that the FDA created.
Democrats have made many promises too, as long as we keep pumping tons of money into the system for them to gleefully spend. Trillions into the Dept of Education has not lifted test scores and has left us ranked about 25th in the world in science and math. The War on Poverty is no better than before LBJ began federal spending over $22 trillion.
Social Security, which was patched by Reagan and Tip O’Neill, needs a major overhaul. It is now losing money, which is bad, given LBJ and following presidents often borrowed from our big SS bank account to pay for their huge reelection projects.
Oh, and Medicare/Medicaid are in critical condition, too. It isn’t a secret. Neither is the $21 trillion deficit. But Congress doesn’t seem to care, as long as they can kick the can down the road.
The problem isn’t Immigration, Medicare, SS, endless Wars, or Donald Trump. Those are the leaves we have long been hacking at. The root problem is government is too big. It is so unwieldy that they can no longer fix the problems they create with their own legislation! Too many in Congress have been in office for decades, holding onto power as oligarchs, and using our tax money to buy power from lobbyists and others.
The solution is an easy one: We need to fix the Fed, as it is unwilling to fix itself. Fortunately, the Constitution has given voters in the fifty states a method to do this. Article V of the Constitution allows the states to call for a Convention of States. Several states have already voted for a convention.
The convention has a short list of things it wishes to accomplish:
- Term Limits for Congress
- Balanced budget
- Impose limits on the Federal government’s power
It requires 34 states to convene the convention. 38 states must approve of each amendment, for it to move forward on the ballot.
With more power returned to the States and the people, the economy will thrive, and government oversight and regulation will decrease.
Imagine states having more individual power over immigration. California could bring in all the immigrants they wish, while other states can prohibit them, according to their needs. We don’t need the federal government to do it for us. Texas can build its own wall, thank you. Colorado can legalize marijuana without Jeff Sessions’ wraith darkening the skies.
I hope you will join me in joining the Convention of States, and contacting your state legislatures, demanding them to pass the Convention of States in your state.
https://conventionofstates.com/
I think a convention of the states is extremely dangerous. The first convention of the states, which was supposed to merely amend the Articles of Confederation, ended in a completely different constitution. I would not trust the politicians in this country to limit the scope of an Article V convention. These politicians today are not of the same caliber of men and women that our founders were.
I think term limits (18 years sum total for all Federal elective offices ever held) would create the *potential* to solve many of the problems we have today. but at the end of the day if voters remain brainwashed by the fringe/outlier media/political party bosses (right and left) it doesn’t matter how short the terms are.
Right now about 40% of the electorate is incapable of distinguishing between fact and propaganda. “Who are you going to believe? Me or your own eyes?” Right now that 40% believes whatever the talking heads in their personal news echo chamber tells them – even when it is 180 degrees turned around from what was said just a few years ago.
Unless politicians are willing to vote for country over: 1. Party, 2. Big Donors, and 3. Self Interest our country is headed for even worse times.
I would not touch a Convention of the States with a 100,000 foot pole. Given the brainwashed state of affairs at the moment such a convention would be a special interest love-fest ending in a complete give-a-way to the extremely wealthy – basically the Koch’s and friends would get a chance to rewrite whatever was left of the Constitution.
“Too many Republican voters fear immigrants, convinced they all belong to the MS13 gang.”
I believe that the Republicans are more afraid that the waves of immigrants that attain citizenship will vote Democrat. But they have a great opportunity to turn things around for the immigrants. What I would like to see is a well managed policy where immigrants will be able to add to the economy transparently as they work and learn. If most of them eventually return to their native countries they will return as friends of the U.S. and the education to make a positive impact in their own native environs.
Article V Convention of States is the ONLY peaceful means of fixing the problem that now exist with a federal government that has overreached it purpose as intended by our founders. The constitution’s signers were smart enough to know that one day our elected federal officials could possibly be in opposition to what their constituents want and their constituents would need recourse.
Politicians do not decide the scope of Article V Convention of States. We, grassroot organizers, have set a very specific agenda as noted in this article; 1.)Term Limits for Congress 2.) Balanced budget 3.) Impose limits on the Federal government’s power. You will see this repeated in every state that has passed it so far and for every state that is pushing for it. It is very intentional for the fears that are mentioned of politicizing a Convention of States. Remember it only takes 13 States (either house in 49 of the 13 States) to say ‘no’, to any amendment sent back to the States by the Convention, and the amendment is history. The fear that politicians would somehow be the ones commissioned to go to the Convention and control the narrative is lost on the fact that politicians already have the power to amend the Constitution. See the other way to amend the Constitution in Article V (which has been done numerous times with some bad outcomes).
Could somebody please show me where the Koch brothers are paying or controlling the strings of Article V Convention of States with substantive evidence. Last time I looked; I was not, nor were any volunteers in my state, getting paid for what we believe is are Constitutional right. I have become disillusioned by the debt our country has accumulated. I have, and always believed, that our founders did not think that an elected Senator or Congressman would spend his/her whole career in Washington getting rich while they served. Our founders were smart enough to know that 50 labs for democracy was better that one overreaching lab and that the best would rise and the bad would falter. The federal government should not be in the business of governing that which belongs to the States. Sign the petition so that your local elected officials will know that you trust them more than you trust Washington.
RE: John Dahmen: https://billmoyers.com/story/kochs-to-rewrite-constitution/ Dollars, dates, and activities as requested.
Irony alert…
IN a post decrying hyperbole and lying ram manages to lie about Republicans…
“Too many Republican voters fear immigrants, convinced they all belong to the MS13 gang.”
Citing a scientific poll, just how many is too many? Really, how many Republicans believe that all immigrants are ms13? I am certain that the percentage is smaller than the percentage of Democrats who believe in the spark of Divinity of the ms13 gang members.
Iow, don’t call out the Bs unless your willing to stop spreading it…
I might support a convention if I thought the states would send statesmen — but I fear they will send wackos instead of statesmen, so I am afraid of a constitutional convention.
Instead, I would encourage the supporters to elect Representatives and Senators who will accomplish their will.
The fears expressed seem unfounded. The Convention of States is limited in scope and puts the voters and states in the driver’s seat. As it is, pretty much everyone commenting has noted that the current system is broken. So, why be afraid of trying to fix it?
Yes, if we could all elect statesmen, then we wouldn’t need this convention. How many statesmen do you believe are in Congress right now? How many do you think will be elected in the next cycle? Term limits would get rid of Chuck Shumer, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, and others.
A balanced budget would help fix our nation’s edging towards bankruptcy.
Republicans are all cheering Trump’s executive orders that are reducing Federal regulation and scope, but he’s limited on what he can do. Imagine if we imposed some amendments that gave power back to the States and people?
As to complaining about my statements regarding the Republican party, aren’t Republicans afraid of immigrants being gangsters, potential Democrat voters, or at least stealing our jobs? Those may be real concerns, but they are manageable without having to separate children from parents, etc.
It’s real simple, Ram…
Instead of relying on “what everybody knows” which really means whatever strawman arguments you’ve internalized as truth… Cite a study. Your vagueness allows you to put all Republicans shown by citing a non falsifiable statement.
Too many? How many is too many. 0.00001%. again, simply cite facts and you remove your own self serving biases.
You said my fear is unfounded. My fear was that we wouldn’t send statesmen.
You agreed that we wouldn’t send statesmen.
So my fear still exists.
I meant we would not send partisan politicians. voters would select people they trust. After the convention voters will decide on each individual amendment. So, if there’s a bad amendment, it can be voted down.
BTW, a Convention of States has been supported by Mike Lee, Justin Amash and Rand Paul.
A convention is clearly dangerous. You say the scope is limited, but there is no way to put limits on the actions of the convention. After all, how can the actions of a constitutional convention be unconstitutional?
We would, of course, send our politicians. They are willing to put themselves forward for something like this. Then, the Democrats from California would be fighting as much with the Democrats from New York as the Republicans from Utah. They in turn would be fighting with the Republicans of Alabama. It would be chaotic. Maybe we end up with something better than what we have at the end, but I doubt it.
I’ll have to think about the CC. Would depend on who would attend. A side question: why are people from Honduras or Guatemala traveling to the US to escape terrible conditions when they could simply immigrate to countries much nearer to their own? Why not travel to any of the other Central American countries, South America or Mexico? What am I missing?
Somr do immigrate there. However, those nations cannot manage too large an influx, and often have big economic problems of their own. Colombia is receiving thousands of Venezuelans into refugee camps. Argentina and Brazil are economically syruggling, high unemployment. High unemployment is common through out Central America. Mexico struggles with drug gangs, as does Honduras.
Going from the frying pan into another fire isn’t a solution.
The dangers of a new constitutional convention are many, to be sure. But freedom’s inherently risky. I’m prepared to back such a thing, so long as the movement has a clear list of goals. “Limit the power of the federal government” isn’t that. Balanced Budget Amendment? Thumbs up. Term Limits? Two thumbs up. Anything else? It’ll just make everything worse in search of a fix.
Because when it comes down to it, there’s not a single solitary problem under the sun that “government” won’t make worse.
A convention will only make the constitution more congenial to our current political climate – if the people have less virtue now than when it was written, their amendments will only make it worse. And convention delegates would be elected the same way we elect congressional reps and senators – they will likely be the same people. I don’t see how a convention would accomplish any good, but it could do great harm.
Democrat Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Hispanic man, appeared on CNN on Saturday and admitted that the same family separations occurred during the administration of former President Barack Obama but the administration covered it up. Not to mention the fact that the media did not have any outrage about it at the time.
“It was kept very quiet under the Obama administration. There were large numbers of people coming in. The Obama administration was trying to keep this quiet,” Cueller said.
CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield produced a photo of migrant kids being held in cages from 2014 when President Obama was in power and Rep. Cuellar commented that he had shown similar photos during the Obama administration. He said the outrage now should have been shown then too because the number of children being held currently is similar to the number of children being held in detention houses during President Obama’s administration.
Cuellar further added that not every child housed in the detention centers are being separated from their parents because many cross the border without them.
The same people who don’t understand the Constitution should be trusted with crafting a new one? And trusted that they will be limited in scope as they do so?
No thanks. Revolution will result if we’re not careful.
We shouldn’t be so quick to assume we can fix things if only we get the rules right. That’s one of the fatal flaws of the Obama administration.
The only path we have now is constant persuasion or the collapse of the nation an an complete humbling of it’s people so they understand what the Constitution actually means and why it is the way it is.
A is more likely to precipitate our decline than prevent it.
I see a lot of fear here. People want balanced budgets, less federal government and term limits, but are too afraid or comfortable with what they have now.
Nephi warned about Satan stirring many to anger, and others pacified and lulled to sleep.
As it is, if we continue on this path, our nation will collapse. It will either collapse like the former Soviet Union and Nephite nation into several large tribes/nations, or collapse as is Venezuela.
We can’t let fear control us. Our Founding Fathers cast away their fears twice, and created the Declaration of independence and the Constitution.
Today, WE must be the Statesmen and heroes proved. We must take risks to change things peacefully now, or have violent revolution thrust on us later. We need to be the Captain Moroni with his Title of Liberty, and not those cowed by the kingmen who fill the halls of Congress today.
If we don’t have a Constitutional convention now, later there will be nothing left to save. We’ve been called upon by recent prophets to engage in politics, and make good changes. Well? What are we doing to preserve our inalienable rights and freedoms? Do nothing and we’ll lose our right to bear arms, freedoms of speech, religion, etc., And go bankrupt.
THESE are the things we should fear-death of our nation by a thousand cuts.
A convention of states allows us to take the power back from the Fed. But only the brave can being it to pass.
Gerald,
I admire your enthusiasm. I don’t support a constitutional convention, but it is not because Satan has lulled me to sleep. The discussion is good.
I think a huge part of the problem with the Constitutional Convention concept is that it’s aiming too high, and suffers from a lot of the same issues that got us Trump. We’re in a king-man mindset here, where we want big sweeping fixes from the top and have stopped trusting our established processes to get us there.
If you want to change some things, get involved in your *local* politics. There are real needs for good, honest, moral people to lift where they stand and get involved in their local politics. And I mean really involved. Voting’s not enough anymore. We’ve actually got to get into the arena and argue, honestly seeking to persuade. The dirtbags in the federal government got there because their local systems have been corrupted to promote dirtbags. Those systems won’t ever get fixed from above.
That’s a tough thing. Because it’s freaking exhausting. But it’s the imperative that is before us.