Author: Fritz Pettyjohn

I don’t think I’ve ever heard Trump talk positively of federalism, and I doubt the subject interests him.  Because of his dyslexia he has probably never educated himself on the subject.  I believe his knowledge of American history, and the Constitution, is superficial.  He’s a man of action, not thought.  He wants immediate gratification, and has a will to power.  His voters were disgusted with Washington, and he shares that view.  But he wants to harness the great power of the federal government to accomplish his goal, of “making America great again.”  He’s shown little interest in taking power away from Washington and returning it to the States, and the people.

That may explain his opposition to Article V.  When he received Phyllis Schlafly’s endorsement, and repudiated Article V, I thought it was just political opportunism.  But his appointment of Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana as Interior Secretary has changed my mind.  Typically, a westerner is given this job.  But why Zinke?  He’s served one undistinguished term in the House.  He’s a bad ass former Navy Seal, and thus appeals to Trump, but has no other distinguishing characteristic, except one.  He’s adamantly opposed to the Transfer of Public Lands from the federal government to the States.  This separates him from most of his western Republican colleagues, and, I believe, accounts for his nomination.

A lot of outdoorsmen, like Trump’s sons, don’t want TPL, and I’ll bet they influenced him on this subject.  He campaigned against TPL in Nevada, and it cost him support in the northern part of that State.  It also caused him to lose the Alaska primary, and was partly responsible for his losses in Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, all of which went to Cruz, who campaigned in favor of TPL.  Trump has shown a lot of flexibility on his campaign promises, but he’s standing by his opposition to TPL and to Article V.  He just doesn’t believe in federalism.

This may not be a bad thing.  I’ve volunteered to try to get the Legislatures of Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada to send delegates to the Nashville Convention of States.  Washington has a coalition Senate, but the rest of these bodies are controlled by Democrats.  If Trump was out in front on this, and cheering us on, it might hurt my chances.  The fact that he opposes Article V may help me sell these guys on sending people to Nashville.

And, when you think about it, this President, or any President, has nothing to do with Article V.  It’s purely a State function and power.  The only role for Congress is ministerial, not discretionary.  The States don’t need anybody from the federal government to get this done.  It’s best if they do it all on their own, a bottoms up political movement.  And bottoms up to that.

I believe I made a mistake a few days ago, and said Montana Gov. Bullock would be appointing a temporary replacement for Zinke in the House.  That’s what the Montana Statutes call for.  But whoever drafted that particular Montana Statute was unaware of Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, which clearly bars it.  So this seat will remain vacant until a special election in 90-120 days or so.  I  believe the Party Central Committees are selecting the Republican and Democratic candidates.  Our man in Montana, Rep. Matthew Monforton would be a great selection.  He’d be an outstanding Congressman, and strong conservative voice.  So I doubt he’ll get the nomination.  The State Central Committees of political parties are filled with time servers and hacks, and are often poorly led.  They’ll probably choose some mushy Republican.  Unless, of course Greg Gianforte would do it.  He’d only serve two years, and then run against, and beat, Tester for the Senate. That would be ideal, but maybe Gianforte doesn’t want to be a Senator.  A lot of sane people don’t.

I get the impression that Tester is a real weasel.  He knows he’s in trouble in 2018.   I don’t expect him to toe the party line in the Senate for the next two years.  It will be a real test of his weasel skills.

It’s a lot of fun watching the D’s go on and on about the Russian hacking, and trying to mess with the Electoral College.  Watching your enemies make fools of themselves is one of life’s great pleasures..

A hundred years ago progressives liked federalism.  As Jeffrey Rosen points out in the NYT, Wilson appointed Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court, and Brandeis was a progressive champion of federalism.  When, not if, Roe v. Wade is overturned it will be up to each State to write its own abortion laws.  Which is as it should be.  Maybe that entire exercise will make the left rediscover the virtues of decentalization.

The Sanders millennials don’t really like or trust the federal government.  They think it’s irredeemably corrupt, and they’re right.  It’s been captured by crony capitalists and government dependents.  They own it, lock, stock and barrel.  The Sanders voters need to understand that rather than try to reform the federal government, they need to help dismantle it.  Take away its power, and return it to the States, and the people.

Oh, but what about all those black people in South Carolina, and the LGBT people in North Carolina, or the gays in Texas?  What will happen to them, if the voters of those benighted States are free from federal supervision?   Well, the black people of South Carolina have one of their own in the U. S. Senate, and if your sexual lifestyle is your big thing in life, maybe you should move to San Francisco.

A sanctuary city is municipal nullification of federal law.  The liberalized marijuana laws of a growing number of States are in defiance of well established federal law.  A higher minimum wage is a State issue, and the left can win on that issue on a local basis.

This is what drives me crazy about the left.  When I was at Cal in the 60’s the liberals were free spirits.  They didn’t like the government.  They were rebellious.  They weren’t interested in telling me how to live my life.  How things have changed.  The left has become fascist, and that’s why they don’t like federalism and States Rights.

But there’s got to be a non-fascist left out there, one that’s willing to leave people alone.  Why is it Berkeley’s business what South Dakota’s law on abortion is?  And why does South Dakota care if they all smoke dope in Berkeley?  Live and let live.  Why can’t the left go along with that?

Term limits are only tangentially related to federalism, but there is a connection.  Term limits is an attack by the States on Congress, and the way it does business.  And Congress is the ultimate source of the corruption of the federal government.

Somewhere out there in this great big country there are liberal Democrats who want term limits.  There’s got to be a way to find them.  I mean, if you’re a Democrat in the Age of Trump, what else are you going to do?

 

The vast majority of our 7,382 State Legislators are local politicians, concerned and responsible for local and State problems.  They’re parochial.  They care about their communities, their constituents, and their States.  They follow what goes on in Washington, but don’t feel they have much say in what goes on there.  They take money from the federal government, with a lot of strings attached.  They love the money and resent the strings, but don’t feel as though they have any control over what happens in D.C.  Most of them have never heard of Article V.  They don’t understand the power it gives them.  They don’t realize that because they have this power, they bear the responsibility to exercise it.

That’s changing, and when enough of these good men and women “get it”, the use of Article V by the States will be routine.  Just as everyone realizes that Congress can propose Constitutional Amendments, they’ll appreciate the fact that the States have that power in equal measure.  Article V will be just another feature of the Constitution, like judicial review, or the President’s veto power.

I was in the Alaska Legislature from 1983 to 1991.  I didn’t know one State Legislator from another State.  Very few of my friends in the Alaska Legislature had any contact whatsoever with politicians outside.  I went to one ALEC meeting in 1989, but I didn’t make any contacts there.  I’m not a very sociable guy;  not all politicians are.  When I took my first trip to lobby for the BBA, to Utah in 2014, I quickly found out that my experience in Alaska was typical.  These Utah legislators, by and large, had no idea of what was going on in the other 49 State Legislatures, and really didn’t care.  The Chairman of the Committee I testified before summed up his feelings just before the Committee vote.  He said, “I trust our Utah legislators [with Article V power], I just don’t trust these people from the other States.”  That was a common reaction to the very idea of using Article V.

So these people need to get to know and trust each other.  Once that happens, our troubles are over.  People won’t be afraid of Article V.  They’ll be itching to use it.  And that’s where the Nashville Convention of States of 2017 comes in.  I expect 40 States to send delegations, maybe more.  There may be as many as 300 State Legislators in attendance.  These will be the leaders of the State Legislatures, the Speakers, and Senate Presidents, and Minority Leaders.  They can speak with authority on behalf of their Legislature.  If one of them says, “We could pass an Article V Term Limits Amendment in a heart beat”, he or she will be believed.  What if 34 of them all said the same thing, and decided to go ahead and do it?  It would get done.

Nashville will probably last three days.  There will be some welcoming social event the evening before the opening session.  I imagine the Nashville Convention and Visitors Association will be on top of it.  And each night of the session there will be social  opportunities for delegates to get acquainted with one another.  There will be a competition for their attendance.  Cocktails may be consumed, and friendships made.  I’m hoping the Tennessee Legislature assigns one of its members to be a host for each State delegation.  I’ll try to get Rep. Dennis Powers to host my friends from Alaska.  They’ll all want to get him and his family up to Alaska to see the sights, and catch some fish.  Dennis would like that.

The relationships that will form in Nashville will be the most important and significant accomplishment of the whole Convention.  A community, a political community, will be formed.  It may even take upon itself a formal organization, such as the Federal Assembly.  With instant nation wide communication, such an organization could function in cyberspace, so to speak.  It could meet whenever five members organize themselves and request one.  Anything’s possible.

Nashville’s going to change everything.

 

Since everybody hates Congress, why don’t we have term limits?  It’s what the people want, overwhelmingly.    A full three fourths of the public support it.  Democrats are in favor, 65% to 29%.  And that poll is almost four years old.  Take another one today and I’ll wager Democratic support has increased.  It should.  The Republicans control Congress, and probably will for the next 15 years.  The terms which would be limited would mainly be Republican.

2018 is going to be a lousy year for Senate Democrats, and the Republicans in the House have nothing to worry about.  And if 2020 is another Republican year, they will have full or partial control over Congressional redistricting after the 2020 Census.  That probably means another ten years of power in the House, all the way to 2032.  That’s a long time to be in the Minority.

All these Republicans who are and will be elected are going to be tough to take out.  Congress is an incumbent protection machine, and you play hell getting rid of any of these people.  What’s a Democrat to do?

Three terms in the House, two in the Senate.  Then a lifetime ban on service in Congress.  This is the way to drain the swamp.  If you’re a Democrat, what have you got to lose?   Oh, gee, you’d have to give up Pelosi in 2024, and Schumer in 2030, but that is a cross the Democrats would have to bear.  The Republicans will have to say goodbye to Mitch McConnell,  and their tears will fall like rain.  Or not.

State Legislators don’t like being term limited, and many of them have a point.  Serving in, say, the Tennessee Legislature isn’t some great plum.  You hardly get paid at all, and it’s a lot of work.  Most good people just won’t do it.  When you do get a smart, effective State Legislator, it’s rare.  Getting rid of the good ones with term limits is counter productive at the State level.  So, all in all, the drive for State Legislative term limits was a misguided campaign.

In Congress, it’s totally different.  It’s an iron rice bowl, a lifetime sinecure, a corruption very few  can withstand.  The entire political system is designed and operates in ways to protect incumbent Congressmen.  It’s why the place is so cocked up.  And it’s totally bipartisan.  The Republicans are just as bad as the Democrats, if not worse.  Our national legislature is a joke and a disgrace.

I’ll be approaching some Democratic State Legislators in Sacramento on this subject before too long.  I wonder if any of them have any balls. If you’re a Democratic Assemblyman, and you introduce a Resolution calling for an Article V Amendment Convention for the purpose of proposing Congressional term limits, you’re going to get a call from Nancy Pelosi’s Chief of Staff, if not from Pelosi herself.  You will be threatened.  Maybe somebody in the Democratic Party has some courage.

Some of my Republican friends in California think Gov. Jerry Brown is a really smart guy.  I disagree, but there’s a way he can prove me wrong.  As a leader of the Democratic Party, Brown has as much right to take the lead on issues as anyone.  He ought to come out for the use of Arrticle V to get Congressional Term Limits.   Make it a Democratic issue.  What else have they got?

One of the stock arguments against term limits is they force great legislators out of office prematurely.  What I would like to know is  — who in the hell are you talking about?  Name one member of Congress who would be a great loss.  A great politician can serve eighteen years, six in the House, twelve in the Senate.  If you haven’t accomplished what you set out to do in eighteen years, maybe you ought to find a new line of work.

When I was 37 years old I was a freshman State Senator, and hell on wheels.  I was ready to run for Congress right then and there.  It was 1982, and Don Young had just been reelected to his fifth term.  I wasn’t going to run against Don.  He was a pretty good conservative, and I kind of liked him.  So I waited, and waited, for a chance to run.  It never came, and Babbie and I left nineteen years later.  Don just won his 22nd term.  He’s 84 and going strong, happily remarried.

It’s time to go, Don.

 

The President proposes, the Congress disposes.  Without Congress, Trump can accomplish very little.  It’s all right there in the Constitution.

Congress, in the persons of McConnell and Boehner, rolled over and played dead for Obama.  All he had to do was threaten to veto the budget, cause a government shutdown, and blame the Republicans.  That threat was so scary to the Republican leadership that they caved in, every time.  Now, with Trump, they’re starting to sound like a separate branch of government.  They don’t want to cut taxes if it will increase the deficit.

He hasn’t said as much, but you get the impression Trump wouldn’t mind a few trillion dollar deficits, if that’s what it takes to get the 4% growth we need.  Ryan and McConnell might not go along.  What can be done?

What if there was a looming Balanced Budget Amendment, drafted by the States, and passed using Article V?  What if it was proposed at an Amendment Convention in November of 2017?  What if Congress chose to have it ratified by special State Conventions, as happened with the 21st Amendment, repealing Prohibition?  What if it was ratified in 2018, and went into full effect in 2019?  Would that influence the deal that eventually gets cut between Trump and Congress on spending?

It should, because all that’s likely to happen.  Fruth will be in Nashville this week working on this summer’s Convention of States.  The Tennessee legislative leadership has some decisions to make.  I think it should be called the Nashville Convention.  Fruth likes the Tennessee Convention.  They need to decide.  And they need to pick a date.  We like 7-11-17 (it sounds lucky), but they have to figure out what they want.  And they need to have an identity, a public face, a spokesman.  Fruth and I like Senator Kelsey, and he seems perfect, along with Speaker Harwell and our sponsor, Rep. Dennis Powers.  Ideally, the three of them would be doing media, explaining everything to the press, but that’s not for me and Bill to say.

I’m arguing strongly that the initial session be held in the chambers of the Tennessee House, with Speaker Harwell gavelling the Convention to order, and the roll call of the States is first made.  This is absolutely perfect, visually.  You have to personally see the Tennessee House Chamber, as I have, to understand just how perfect it is for our purposes.

Words don’t make nearly the impression that sight does.  We remember what we see more than what we hear.  And what the country would see, as the first Convention of States is held in 156 years, is the idealist setting of a serious legislative meeting.  This is what we want people to think that this is what a Convention of States looks like.  It’s serious, somber business, conducted according to strict rules of protocol and procedure.  Everything proceeds in an orderly fashion.

This, this first impression, is the one that will stick with people.  And we want it to be perfect, in every detail.  In honor of the 250th birthday of one of the greatest of Americans, Andrew Jackson, it should be held in the Capitol of his State.  The burial site of one of Jackson’s best men, and one of his successors in office, the great James K. Polk, who completed the work of Manifest Destiny.

In the Capitol it must be.