Dear Editor,
Out of control. Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, we have watched with complete disdain, disbelief and some degree of helplessness at how our elected representatives have spent us into debt beyond comprehension, 1.7 trillion just this week, with the nearly 31,000,000,000,000 in total debt and over 500 billion in interest annually, to be paid by you and future generations of taxpaying Americans.
How do we end this? How do we restore order to our country, to our institutions and ultimately to the people? There have been two ideas put forth regarding this.
Nullification and Convention of States. I have personally listened to and participated in countless hours of debate regarding both ideas. Nullification has been tried many times. As early as 1798 both state and federal courts have soundly rejected nullification arguments. Deniers of this fact routinely cite the 1997 case, Printz versus United States. The Supreme Court simply held that law-enforcement could not be forced to take certain actions and also that states did not have to implement unfunded mandates. Clearly it takes state of the art wordsmiths and vivid imaginations to call this case nullification. Convention of States is clearly written in the Constitution. Article 5 clearly gives the people a way to make a targeted change to the Constitution of the United States. These arguments have always been presented as one or the other. I will submit to you, a Convention of States is the ultimate legal nullification card. A simple balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution would give this country back to the people.
I understand and share the frustration of our out-of-control federal bureaucracy. I also refuse to be seduced. It is a seductive argument that this can be fixed with a stroke of a pen and a little bloodshed from patriots. This kind of undeniably ignorant, arrogant, shortsighted and non-thinking is how this country found itself in a long and bloody Civil War. I have often wondered if Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy had called for the Convention of States versus nullification and Civil War what the outcome would have been.
Today we watch in disbelief and helplessness as our bloated federal government careening drunkenly, side to side off the guard rails of our Constitution with no end in sight. Understand this!! Our founders, the authors and signatories of the Constitution gave us, the people of the United States, a way to end this drunkenness. It is the ultimate nullification card. It is Article 5 of the United States Constitution the “Convention of States”. My fellow Americans, ignore the calls of fear mongers and race baiters. Shun those who seek to divide us. This is a time for thoughtful people to act. We need only to exercise our God-given rights and the United States Constitution. May God continue to bless America.
Tony Hudson
