Read “Hillbilly Elegy”, or see the movie, and you’ll see his appeal to Trump as his Vice President.

Now we’ve got to educate him about Article V. There are ways.

(originally published in Must Read Alaska

Our growing national debt is beginning to impact every American. The inflation caused by federal overspending is hurting us all. The interest on the debt is crowding out other national priorities. Economists of all political persuasions agree that this level of deficit spending cannot be sustained. Neither Trump nor Biden offer a solution. The problem is in Congress, where neither Republicans nor Democrats are capable of reducing spending. Congress is a broken institution, corrupt and dysfunctional. What can be done?

The Alaska legislature has responded to this situation by passing Article V resolutions calling for a Convention of States to propose a constitutional amendment to control federal spending. The first passed in 1982, as the national debt first surpassed $1 trillion. Another, modified, version passed in 2014, with the support of none other than then-Senator Mike Dunleavy. Back then the debt was $17 trillion. It has doubled since, to $34 trillion. It is now rising by a trillion dollars every 100 days.

Article V is the remedy the Framers of the Constitution gave to the states to control Congress. There is no other solution to congressional deficit spending available. Article V instructs Congress to issue a call for a Convention of States once it receives valid resolutions from 34 states, a threshold which has arguably already been reached.

The principal argument against the use of Article V is the fear of a runaway convention. The convention of 1787 was called by the Confederation Congress to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation. Instead, it proposed an entirely new Constitution. What’s to stop another Convention of States from doing the same thing?

Congress itself has the power to prevent that from happening. It can simply declare that the Convention exceeded its authority and refuse to refer the Convention’s proposal to the states for ratification. The Confederation Congress of 1787 could have done exactly that. It could have rejected the proposed Constitution and refused to refer it to the states for ratification. It chose not to do so.

Under Article V, a Convention of States has legal authority only when it is called by Congress. Any amendment proposed by a Convention can only be ratified when it is referred to the states by Congress. The United States Congress can prevent a runaway convention.

I believe the day will soon come when Congress reluctantly acknowledges that it has received 34 valid Article V Resolutions calling for fiscal reform, and that it has no choice but to call for a Convention of States. That Convention will be charged with finding a solution.

When that Convention meets, it must necessarily proceed in a bipartisan manner. Unless the amendment it proposes is ratified, the Convention will be a failure. In order to be ratified, an amendment needs a 3/4 supermajority of the states to approve. In practice, no constitutional amendment has ever been ratified without broad, bipartisan support.

The delegates to any Article V Convention will be selected by each state legislature. It will be a high honor, which will only be given to legislators with talent and experience. All of these men and women will have assembled supermajorities in their own legislature. It’s not easy. To get a 3/4 supermajority is extremely difficult. But it can be done, if the matter is urgent, and the stakes high. Republicans and Democrats will have no choice but to cooperate. The amendment they agree to propose will be one which can and will be ratified.

Article V offers the states a lifeline, to be used when all else fails. I believe it will happen, eventually, because there is no real alternative. Time is running out.

When I got to Alaska in 1969 the smell of money was in the air.  Prudhoe Bay’s oil had just been discovered.  People didn’t know how big it was, but everyone thought it would be big, really big.  A poor Democratic state was going to get rich, and Republican, and I wanted to be part of it.

By the time I hung out a shingle and started my law practice in 1974 the boom was on.  In the blink of an eye my wife and I had three kids and I got started in politics.  In 1978 I worked on the reelection campaign of Gov. Jay Hammond, and his victory assured the future of the Permanent Fund. 

Hammond, a Republican, wanted some of the oil money in the Fund to go directly to he people, but most of the Democrats in Juneau were opposed.  He strong armed the legislature into approving a dividend, and the first $1,000 checks went out in 1982.  Democrats didn’t like the dividend then, and they still don’t.  They are the party of , by, and for government.  They want the government to spend the money, not the people.

Most Alaskans like their PFD’s, and that’s one reason 2024 is going to be a good year for Republicans.  There are others.  This is a Presidential year, and voter turnout could be 100,000 higher than in 2022.  Among those Alaskans who only turn out in presidential years are a whole lot of people who know that Republican Presidents are good for Alaska’s economy, and Democrats are not.

Alaska’s economy is stagnant, and people think the boom times of 50 years ago are just a memory.  We’ll never see them again.

Or will we ?

Regardless of what you may think of him as a human being, Donald Trump would be good for Alaska.  Trump doesn’t believe in distributing wealth, he believes in creating it.  He doesn’t want energy independence, he wants energy dominance.  That means full speed ahead on development of Alaska’s vast natural resource wealth.  If Trump wins, and gets his way, Alaska’s economy, and its people, could get rich again.  There’s talk of Gov. Mike Dunleavy as Trump’s Secretary of the Interior, and that would be icing on the cake.  This just might be a very good time to invest in Alaska real estate.

One of the first things I learned about politics is that people vote in their own self interest.  What’s good for me, and my family?  This year, more than any other, in Alaska that means voting Republican.

So to all the Republicans running this year I have a little advice.  Campaign with Trump, as a solid Republican, with the hope, and expectation, of boom times ahead.

Let the good times roll.

Disregarding for the moment the above statement, so beautifully put, I must say, I should like to consider its author for a brief moment.

Mr. Pettyjohn possesses that rare combination of self-assertion and modesty which inspires trust and confidence in a man. He is humble, long lasting and economical, with a bouquet and texture unparalleled. He is in this handy six pack at your neighborhood grocery store.

Above all, Mr. Pettyjohn is a paradox, and no one realizes this better than he himself. He has a great desire for others to understand and like him, yet when anyone comes too close to his core he rebels and casts the snooper away from himself.

He has a birthmark on his face, which he never discusses with anyone; partly because he detests the very self-pity which people attest to a man who talks of such things, and partly because he is, for much of the time, completely unaware of it.

But it brands him as different, distinct, and he doesn’t fear a lack of resemblance to the mass of men. Thus branded for life as an individual, he shall play the role with vigor and enthusiasm.

He is, indeed, an unusual person, worth a lifetime of study, which I shall afford him.

[From an assignment in senior English, St. Mary’s High School, Brother Timothy.]