Author: Fritz Pettyjohn

Money is a problem, and it shouldn’t be.  I get very upset about this.  I just got an email from Co-founder Dave Biddulph (A Great Living American) who says a source of funding they were counting on may not be available.  Dave said we’ll just use his credit card to keep the IAmAmerican team working the grass roots.

This is bullshit.  Dave is not a wealthy man . He should not have to do this.

Our problem is a lack of credibility.  The people with the money, who should be funding this thing, don’t actually take it seriously.  Once we get to 28 or 29, people will figure it out.  That we’re for real.  That we can do this.  Then the money will flow, and things will get a lot easier.  I told Dave at ALEC that any money he puts in should be in the form of a loan.  When the money does start coming in, Dave can get paid back.  I feel very strongly about that.

Will things really get easier when we get within four or five of 34?  Maybe not.  It won’t just be our donors who figure things out.  The dark side will figure it out too.  They’ll see us as the threat we are, and they’ll do anything to stop us. 

Things could get interesting.

Good talk with Sen. Marv Hagedorn (Idaho).  There was some miscommunication between him and Lauren Enns of IAmAmerican about a presentation to Idaho Tea Party people.  I think we straightened it all out.  Marv says he wants to wait until later in the session, when our Resolution is “ripe”, for me to appear on a couple of Boise radio talk shows.  He mentioned that he, along with a whole bunch of other Republican legislators, are being primaried by the Tea Party.  They’re hard core in Idaho.  By sponsoring our Article V resolution, and hopefully getting it passed, he and the others should earn themselves some credit with Idaho Tea Party types.  I hope it helps him.  He sure seems conservative enough to me.

Also talked with Rep. Roger Jackson in Maine.  No hope for us there, this year, with the D’s in charge.  But if 2014 goes the way 2010 did, we’ll be knocking on Maine’s door, and Roger will be back in the majority.  His conservative caucus has been reading some Convention of States literature, and were concerned about the latitude a convention might have.  I explained that BBA4USA has a tightly focused approach, one thing at a time, and he immediately understood.  This is confirmation of what we see as a huge weakness in the CoS strategy.  They want the Convention to have the authority to propose any amendment that cuts back the power of the federal government.  All well and good, but it’s too wide open for a lot of people.  The sooner the CoS guys see the error of their ways, and join up with us, the better.

Cold emailed the co-chairmen  of Young Americans for Liberty in Kentucky and Minnesota.  Be nice if they get back to me.  Bread upon the waters.  Found out they had a special election for a Kentucky House seat last month.  The seat flipped Republican, so now we only need a pickup of four, and Kentucky is ours!

My pal Rep. Hal Wick in South Dakota informed me he wants me to drive to Aberdeen for a talk show gig while I’m in state.  So he’s got me flying in to Rapid City for a talk show or two, then drive 193 miles to Pierre to meet the legislators, and, hopefully, the Governor.  Then he apparently wants me to drive four hours northwest up to Aberdeen.  Then about a five hour drive to Sioux Falls for a show, then 90 miles south to Yankton, then back to Sioux Falls for a flight home.  This is ridiculous.  Hal’s a great guy, and I’m earning some cred by doing this whole South Dakota thing in the dead of winter, but come on! 

What the hell does Hal think I am, some kind of Terminator?

I think Gov. Kasich of Ohio wants to run for President.  I don’t know that he will.  A lot depends.  If he does, I think one of his issues will be Article V, and his support of it.  It’s possible Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana is thinking the same thing.

As far as I know, it’s never been an issue.  But here’s how it might be in 2016.  Either we get to 34, and have a the first Convention of States in American history, or we don’t.  Either way, it still works.

If we have a Convention, it will be a big deal — lots of press, lots of speculation about what it all means.  I’m assuming the Convention goes well.  After appropriate deliberation, it passes a Balanced Budget Amendment, which is put out to the states for ratification.  Then it adjourns.  All the worries about a runaway convention are put to bed.  It was all bullshit, designed to scare people.  With that behind us, what’s next?  Obviously, another Convention of States, to propose another of the Liberty Amendments.  Actually, I suspect there will be competing proposals.  One group will be pushing a Resolution proposing the Madison Amendment.  Somebody else will be banging the term limits drum.  As the Chinese say, “Ding pot chong pow!”, or, “Let a hundred flowers bloom.”  Hell, I’d like to repeal the 16th Amendment.  If my health holds, I’ll get involved with some people to push it.  Repeal the Income Tax!  What’s not to like about that?  The damned progressives sold the thing with lies.  Let’s get rid of the son of a bitch.

This is all a big deal.  Lots of press.  The New York Times will have a nervous breakdown.  The former Enron advisor who writes for them will slit his girly man wrists.  People out in flyover country, the Tea Party, regular Americans, and a lot of previously cynical people are going to be all jacked up.  It’s a national issue, one that candidates for President must address.

Naturally, the Republicans will be all for it.  How could they not be?  2/3 of the States have pulled an Article V, first time ever! 

What’s Hillary going to say?  I have no idea.  But whatever she decides, she loses.  If she backs Article V, she loses the left.  The teachers, the civil rights gang, the abortion lobby, the environmentalists, the public employee unions, the trial lawyers, Hollywood airheads — they all hate Article V.  That’s her base.  She can’t abandon them.

But if she opposes Article V, she opposes the people.  She’s opposing the lifeline the Framers gave to the states, and the people.  This is political poiison.

So what if we’re short of 34?  The Republican campaigns on a balanced budget amendment, and the use of Article V to get it.  Hell, 65% of Democrats want a balanced budget amendment.  It’s a great issue to run on, make the center piece of your campaign .  It’s a winner.

And Ms. Hillary?  She’s got to oppose it.  And that, along with a whole lot of other things, sink her.

After the Republican wins, we get to 34, and the whole scene described above takes place.  With the President of the United States, whoever he is, as our main cheerleader, we pass a bunch of Liberty Amendments, and save our country.

This could happen .

College YR’s, and their libertarian brethren, the Young Americans for Liberty, can be a great resource for us.  I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out how to get to the national and regional leadership.  I think I’ve got it.

In Oregon I cold emailed the YR President at UO and got a response.  I’m following up, and hope to be able to arrange to meet the members.  I’d do it in conjunction with the Larson show and a trip to Salem to meet legislators and staff.  I think I can get these kids all fired up on Article V, and the BBA.  I’ll be asking them to translate their enthusiasm into hard work for Oregon state legislative candidates.  If it goes as well as I hope, I’ll ask the tendentiously named leader, Caleb J. N. Huegel (I’ve got to get him to drop either the “J” or the “N”) to talk to his regional or national YR leaders.  The goal is to get the whole college YR movement actively involved.  This could work.

I’ve got a plan for the YALers too.  I’m going to ask Sen. Marv Hagedorn in Idaho to invite the Idaho State Chairman of the Young Americans for Liberty, Dane Gower of Idaho State, to testify before the Idaho House or Senate Judiciary Committees.  He’ll be backing our resolution, talking about how his generation is the one that’ll be picking up the tab on all this bullshit.  I’m pretty sure we could get some local TV coverage.  If the kid looks good, sounds good, it would be a great boost for him, personally.  Hell, I wish I would have had a chance to do something like that when I was his age.  Anyway, the idea is for him to tell his YAL regional and national leaders all about it, and how Article V is so kick ass.

This could work.

Once we reach 34, and a Convention of States is convened, its only official function will be to propose a balanced budget amendment.  But, once this is accomplished, and the Convention officially adjourns, the assembled delegates from the 50 states can meet unofficially.  They can debate, and recommend, what comes next.  An amendment to limit Congressional terms?  The Madison Amendment, making it easier for the states to amend the Constitution?  The Federalism amendment, allowing 3/5 of the states to repeal federal laws or regulations?  Mark Levin’s “The Liberty Amendments” has ten separate amendments which could be considered.

While a recommendation from the delegates to the Convention would be non-binding, it would give impetus to one or more of the possible amendments.  It seems to me that once the state legislators of this country have successfully exercised the power given to them by Article V, they’re going to want to do it again.  Collectively, they have the power to fundamentally change the direction of this country.  If the election of 2014 has put the Republicans in control of Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Kentucky, and Maine, they will have a rare window of opportunity to do things that might seem, to some, as radical.

I’m talking about repealing the 16th Amendment, which gave us the income tax.  Congress has used this power to control our lives.  It’s how they raise all their campaign cash.  It’s incredibly wasteful and inefficient, creating all kinds of perverse incentives.  It’s a major drag on  the economy.  And it’s the ultimate infringement of our liberty.

To replace the revenue, a consumption tax, or value-added tax, would be needed.  If Congress botches it, their product could be repealed and replaced by an Article V  amendment.

Repealing the 16th Amendment may be a bridge too far.  The country may not be ready for such a massive disruption.  It’s hard to say, this far out.  But maybe, just maybe, the appetite for reform will be strong enough to make it doable.  If so, this whole Article V movement will need a name.

Like the Revolution of the States.