[Sosfbay-discuss] FWD: Consider Joining Friends of the Article V Convention NOW!

Wed May 30 23:14:59 PDT 2007

Sent by Byron De Lear on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 9:27pm.

CHANCE to get on GROUND FLOOR of NEW CIVIC GROUP:
Please Consider Joining Friends of the Article V
Convention NOW!

RE: CHANCE to get on GROUND FLOOR of NEW CIVIC GROUP:

Please Consider Joining Friends of the Article V
Convention NOW!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN:
http://www.foavc.org/membership.htm

Tuesday, May 22, 2006

Fellow Americans,

Last November, the US House and Senate were delivered
to the Democrats by our vote to shut down the tragedy
unfolding in Iraq.

With the Democratic leadership in Congress today
folding to Bush's demand to have no troop withdrawal
in the new Iraq War Bill, alongside billions in
funding to continue the war's interminable
prosecution, the will of the American people has once
again been ignored.

We are headed for a Constitutional crisis, and it's
time to stage an intervention.

Time for some innovative approaches to regrab the
reigns of control of the war making powers of the
United States of America.

One method designed into our nation's law that gives
power to the People as a check and balance upon
Washington DC, is the convention clause in Article V
of the Constitution.

Article V in the Constitution provides for a means
through which state legislatures can initiate a
convention to propose amendments to the US
Constitution, but even after receiving many more than
the required number of applications for such a
convention, Congress over the years has refused to
issue the call.

There is a reason why the Article V Convention
mechanism was designed into our government, in the
event of a crisis in which the Federal government has
broken down, become irretrievably corrupt or
concertedly ignores the expressed wishes of the
People, the convention clause may be triggered to
provide solutions to problems Washington DC cannot or
will not solve.

Thomas Jefferson felt that our Constitution needed to
evolve with the solutions provided by a convention
every generation.
Congress failing to issue the call is a continuing
violation of the direct language of the Constitution.

A new organization of concerned Americans has recently
been formed to affirm the necessity for Congress to
obey the Constitution.

Friends of the Article V Convention (www.FOAVC.org) is
a growing collection of individuals from all across
this nation, from all political stripes, who see
Washington speeding away like a runaway train from
fundamental rights given to the People, namely, the
right for an Article V Convention.

If a critical mass of Americans demand that Congress
obey the Constitution and call an Article V
Convention, this will be the kind of populist wake-up
call that says very clearly that America is run by the
people, not the politicians who currently hold our
democracy in contempt.

Sincerely and with Deep Concern,

Byron De Lear
FOAVC Co-Founder, www.FOAVC.org 
Former US House Candidate, www.DeLearforCongress.org
Director and Secretary, www.globalpeacesolution.org
byron at globalpeacesolution.org

Please Consider Joining Friends of the Article V
Convention NOW!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN:
http://www.foavc.org/membership.htm

__________________________________________________________________

Hello. Welcome to Friends of the Article V Convention
(FOAVC). We are a non-partisan association of American
citizens from every state in our Republic comprised of
a broad range of occupations, ethnicities, religious
affiliations and political persuasions. Our common
bond is a deep commitment to preserving the values and
principles embodied in our founding documents - the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution -
upon which this nation was founded.

Article V of the Constitution of the United States
provides that "on the application of the Legislatures
of two thirds of the several States, [Congress] shall
call a Convention for proposing Amendments..." The
Founding Fathers of our nation recognized the
importance of providing this means by which the
citizens of our country could initiate amendments to
the Constitution, the fundamental document which they
intended to be not only the blueprint for our federal
system but also "the supreme Law of the Land".

The Founding Fathers described the obligation of
Congress to call an Article V convention as
"peremptory". Alexander Hamilton, author of the final
language in Article V wrote in Federalist 85:

"In opposition to the probability of subsequent
amendments, it has been urged that the persons
delegated to the administration of the national
government will always be disinclined to yield up any
portion of the authority of which they were once
possessed. For my own part I acknowledge a thorough
conviction that any amendments which may, upon mature
consideration, be thought useful, will be applicable
to the organization of the government, not to the mass
of its powers; and on this account alone, I think
there is no weight in the observation just stated. I
also think there is little weight in it on another
account. The intrinsic difficulty of governing
THIRTEEN STATES at any rate, independent of
calculations upon an ordinary degree of public spirit
and integrity, will, in my opinion constantly impose
on the national rulers the necessity of a spirit of
accommodation to the reasonable expectations of their
constituents. But there is yet a further
consideration, which proves beyond the possibility of
a doubt, that the observation is futile. It is this
that the national rulers, whenever nine States concur,
will have no option upon the subject. By the fifth
article of the plan, the Congress will be obliged "on
the application of the legislatures of two thirds of
the States [which at present amount to nine], to call
a convention for proposing amendments, which shall be
valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of the
Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of
three fourths of the States, or by conventions in
three fourths thereof." The words of this article are
peremptory. The Congress "shall call a convention."
Nothing in this particular is left to the discretion
of that body. And of consequence, all the declamation
about the disinclination to a change vanishes in air.
Nor however difficult it may be supposed to unite two
thirds or three fourths of the State legislatures, in
amendments which may affect local interests, can there
be any room to apprehend any such difficulty in a
union on points which are merely relative to the
general liberty or security of the people. We may
safely rely on the disposition of the State
legislatures to erect barriers against the
encroachments of the national authority.

If the foregoing argument is a fallacy, certain it is
that I am myself deceived by it, for it is, in my
conception, one of those rare instances in which a
political truth can be brought to the test of a
mathematical demonstration. Those who see the matter
in the same light with me, however zealous they may be
for amendments, must agree in the propriety of a
previous adoption, as the most direct road to their
own object."

Yet in spite of the fact that all 50 state
legislatures have submitted 568 applications (far in
excess of the two-thirds requirement) requesting a
convention call, Congress has ignored its
constitutionally mandated duty. Some Americans fear a
convention. This fear, based upon half-truths, myths
and outright false hoods, helps to justify the
congressional veto of direct constitutional text and
denies the people their right to amend the
Constitution without government interference or
oversight. They say that such a gathering could become
a "runaway" convention -- re-writing or over-turning
parts or all of the Constitution. They ignore the fact
that the Framers also provided a safety mechanism to
prevent such a fiasco: all amendments proposed by the
Convention must be ratified by three-quarters of the
states before they become effective. There is no
danger that radicals on either side of the political
spectrum could bring about such an outcome.

Not all in authority have opposed a convention
however. President Abraham Lincoln in his first
inaugural address, March 4, 1861 said:

"Continue to execute all the express provisions of our
National Constitution, and the Union will endure
forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by
some action not provided for in the instrument
itself..."

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the
people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary
of the existing Government, they can exercise their
constitutional right of amending it or their
revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I
can not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and
patriotic citizens are desirous to have the National
Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation
of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful
authority of the people over the whole subject, to be
exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the
instrument itself; and I should, under existing
circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair
opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it.
I will venture to add that to me the convention mode
seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to
originate with the people themselves, instead of only
permitting them to take or reject propositions
originated by others, not especially chosen for the
purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they
would wish to either accept of refuse."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower also supported an
Article V Convention saying: "Through their state
legislatures and without regard to the federal
government, the people can demand a convention to
propose amendments that can and will reverse any
trends they see as fatal to true representative
government."

Yet fears remain and the myths persist. The antidote
for any fear is knowledge, and education is the reason
why FOAVC exists. Our goal is to inform all citizens
about the convention clause in the Constitution and to
provide an electronic town hall where the people can
discuss the various issues pertaining to a convention
in a calm and rational manner. Our ultimate objective
is to generate the 'critical mass' necessary to
convene an Article V convention.

We invite you, all patriots and concerned Americans,
to carefully review the articles, documents and
discussion presented in these pages. If upon careful
consideration you conclude, as we have, that an
Article V Convention is necessary to preserve the
Constitutional Republic - and to prevent Congress from
vetoing the will of the people - we invite you to join
FOAVC.

"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for
good men to do nothing." --Edmund Burke

Byron De Lear
Global Peace Solution
GPS... positioning the world in a different way
www.globalpeacesolution.org
byron at globalpeacesolution.org 

___________________

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"To the brave belong all things"
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"Live humbly, laugh often and love unconditionally" (anon)

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