I like people with balls. The guys at 250 More get their name from their intention to promote reforms which will ensure another quarter of a millennium of American freedom. Aim high, I say.
They’ve put out a constructive critique of the current Article V movement, and I’m responding on behalf of the Reagan Project, not the BBA Task Force. That would require circulating drafts, doing edits, and such.
Their first point is cooperation between the various groups working on Article V. No argument there. The Task Force formally adopted, by unanimous vote, an “all of the above strategy.” As Mao said, let a hundred flowers bloom.
Then they say we’ll need support from the center-left, especially to get to 38 for ratification. But we believe the current House and Senate leadership, and a majority of the rank and file, will want us to succeed. These guys want a BBA, and Article V is the only way. So we won’t need 38 state legislatures to ratify, which might well be a bridge too far. Congress will accede to our request that ratification take place in state conventions, where we’ll have a much easier time. Even deep blue electorates, like Maryland, Massachusetts, and Illinois have some fiscal rectitude, as evidenced by Governors-elect, Hogan, Baker and Rauner. When electing delegates to a ratifying convention voters will choose delegates who support, or oppose, ratification. Period. It’s a one issue vote. Party labels won’t matter. My reading of the current political landscape tells me we get 38 conventions. Easily.
It’s slim pickings for Article V on the center/left. With the defeat of Barrow in Georgia and Rahal in West Virginia, there isn’t an honest to God blue dog Democrat left in Congress, with the possible exception of Joe Manchin. It’s a dying breed. And in the short term, from now until the 2016 election, savvy Democrats realize putting the BBA into the national political conversation is political poison for them. Please see my previous post on this blog.
An important exception is Congressional term limits through Article V. That really can be totally bipartisan. Aaron Cook is a Kansas City lawyer who has set up termlimitconvention.org. In my view, it should be the second train through the Article V tunnel. It’s got just as much public support as a BBA, and that support runs across the entire political spectrum, from hard right to hard left. And, like the BBA, term limits is a movement and a moment in perfect harmony. The only people who approve of Congress are those who aren’t paying attention. Hopefully Aaron will find help from the center/left.
They also say we need more youth involvement, and a legal team. Amen to that. We’re working on it. The Task Force is dominated by septuagenarians. As to lawyering up, my hope is that if and when that becomes necessary we would have enough credibility to get help from established conservative lawyers in public interest outfits like Judicial Watch.
Their most telling criticism is the almost complete lack of a media presence, and thus public awareness. They’re trying in talk radio. Limbaugh, Levin, Beck, Cain et. al. Hasn’t really moved the needle. Levin’s book did some good, but it’s off the radar. Various articles have appeared on Article V, to little effect. We’ll keep tooting our horn, and as we get to 27, then 28, 29, 30 — people will start to hear the tune. To break through we’ll need money or, even better, Republican Presidential candidates who seize on this issue and make it their own. We know we’re supported by Kasich, Paul, Snyder, Jindal, Pence, and Perry. Cruz thinks he has to worry about all the Birch/Eagle Forum people that helped elect him in Texas. I suspect he’ll figure it out, as will Walker.
As the 2014 election fades into a golden memory, political types across the country are going to get involved in various Presidential campaigns. Anyone who does should try to promote the BBA through Article V as an issue their candidate should embrace. It’s a no brainer, politically. And if one of these guys start pushing it, the others will pile on. It could be one thing that unites the field. They should all support putting it in the platform at the convention. Even if, God forbid, we don’t get to 34 by 2016, it could be one of the defining issues of the 206 Presidential election.
We’ve been a free country for 238 years. 250 More?
Hell, yes.
reaganproject.blog 