In his first inaugural address as Governor of California, on January 5, 1967, Ronald Reagan said:<\/p>\n
Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction.\u00a0 It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people.\u00a0 Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.<\/em><\/p>\n My friends, we Americans are on the verge of losing our freedoms.\u00a0 With Barack Obama in the White House; with Harry Reid running the U.S. Senate; with Nancy Pelosi creating havoc from the minority side of the aisle in the House of Representatives; and with scores of liberal judges writing into law those progressive ideas that are rejected in the legislative process, our freedom is on the line.\u00a0 We are at the tipping point and we may not have long to retreat from the precipice.<\/p>\n If you honestly share that fear with me you will read Mark R. Levin\u2019s new book, The Liberty Amendments \u2013 Restoring The American Republic<\/em>.<\/p>\n What Levin suggests is that the Constitution contains the antidote for its own salvation.\u00a0 More specifically, he suggests that we use the prescription outlined in Article V of the Constitution which provides two alternative methods for amending the Constitution.\u00a0 Since we could not expect either Democrats or Republicans in Congress to take steps to curtail their own power, Levin suggests that people in two-thirds (34) of the states, through their legislatures, initiate a call for a constitutional convention.\u00a0 The purpose of the convention would be to agree on a list\u00a0 of proposed constitutional amendments to be returned to the states for ratification.<\/p>\n One need only glance at the county-by-county election maps for 2000 and 2012 to understand the wisdom of Levin\u2019s proposed strategy.\u00a0 In 2000, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney carried 2,439 (78.3%) of the country\u2019s 3,113 counties, to just 674 (21.7%) for Gore-Lieberman.\u00a0 One might have thought that, after eight years of George W. Bush\u2019s wishy-washy leadership, and after the subsequent defeat of two of the most incompetent candidates ever to be nominated by the Republican Party, by an ineligible and totally unqualified left wing radical, the ideological complexion of the country might have changed a bit.\u00a0 But that hasn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n In 2012, Romney carried 2,421 (77.8%) of the nation\u2019s 3,113 counties, to only 674 (22.2%) for Obama.\u00a0 In fact, if fundamentalist Christians had not stayed home in November 2012, unwilling to vote for a Mormon candidate, the number of counties carried by Romney-Ryan could easily have equaled or exceeded the 78.3% of the counties carried by Bush-Cheney in 2000.\u00a0 So it is clear that conservative Republican principles remain far more popular than so-called progressive ideals\u2026 everywhere except in the most heavily populated urban areas where the parasites of our society live, breed, and vote for the Democrats who promise to give them more free stuff.<\/p>\n What Levin suggests in The Liberty Amendments <\/em>is that we utilize that clear advantage to call a constitutional convention for the purpose of drafting significant amendments to the U.S. Constitution.\u00a0 He proposes, among others, the following amendments:<\/p>\n That no person may serve more than twelve years as a member of \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Congress, <\/em><\/p>\n That the 17th<\/sup> Amendment to the Constitution shall be \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 repealed, returning to the state legislatures the responsibility for\u00a0choosing members of the U.S. Senate,<\/em><\/p>\n That no person may serve as Chief Justice or Associate Justice of\u00a0the Supreme Court for more than a combined total of twelve years,<\/em><\/p>\n That the Congress may override a majority opinion of the Supreme\u00a0Court by a three-fifths vote of the House and the Senate,<\/em><\/p>\n That, upon a vote of three-fifths of the state legislatures, the \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 states may override a majority opinion of the Supreme Court, and that the \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 override\u00a0 shall be final and not \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 subject to litigation or review either by the courts, by Congress, or by \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the President,<\/em><\/p>\n That, should the Congress fail to pass a fiscal budget prior to\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 October 1 of each year, and should the President fail to sign said budget \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 into law, an automatic 5% across-the-board reduction from the prior year\u2019s \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 budget shall be imposed for the new fiscal year,<\/em><\/p>\n That total federal outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 receipts for that fiscal year,<\/em><\/p>\n That total federal outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 17.5% of the nation\u2019s gross domestic product for the preceding calendar\u00a0year,<\/em><\/p>\n That Congress shall not impose a tax rate greater than 15% of\u00a0\u00a0 personal or corporate income, <\/em><\/p>\n That the deadline for filing of federal tax returns shall be set \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 for the day before the date set for congressional and presidential\u00a0elections,<\/em><\/p>\n That Congress shall not assess taxes against a decedent\u2019s estate,<\/em><\/p>\n That all agencies and departments of the federal government must be\u00a0individually reauthorized by a majority vote of Congress every three\u00a0years,<\/em><\/p>\n That all executive branch regulations with an economic impact\u00a0exceeding $100 million shall be submitted to a permanent joint committee\u00a0of Congress for review and approval,<\/em><\/p>\n That the power of Congress to regulate commerce does not extend to\u00a0economic activity within a state, nor to compelling an individual or\u00a0entity to engage in commerce,<\/em><\/p>\n That all citizens shall be required to produce valid photographic\u00a0identification as a prerequisite for registering to vote and voting in any\u00a0election for President, Vice President, and members of Congress, and,\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n That electronic or other technology-based voting systems are\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 prohibited unless a reliable identification and secure voting regimen is first\u00a0established by the state legislatures. <\/em><\/p>\n These, along with numerous other supporting and clarifying amendments are proposed by Levin as a means by which we may yet save our republic and our freedoms from extinction.<\/p>\n The two most significant amendments that Levin overlooks are amendments to define the term \u201cnatural born Citizen\u201d and to reform the Electoral College.\u00a0 Although the Framers designed and established the Electoral College as a means of preventing those with divided loyalties\u2026 i.e., dual national citizenship\u2026 from ever serving as president of the United States and commander in chief of the Army and the Navy, the Republican members of the 1880 Electoral College failed to properly vet their vice presidential candidate and the Democratic members of the 2008 and 2012 Electoral Colleges failed to properly vet their candidate for president.<\/p>\n Accordingly, it is important that a convention called by the states for the purpose of drafting proposed amendments to the Constitution should also resolve the problems of allocation of electoral votes and presidential eligibility.\u00a0 The proposed amendments should provide:<\/p>\n That the term \u201cnatural born Citizen\u201d shall mean an individual born\u00a0to parents, both of whom were U.S. citizens at the time of the birth, regardless\u00a0of place of birth, and, <\/em><\/p>\n That within each state, the candidates for president and vice\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 president winning the greatest share of the statewide popular vote shall\u00a0be awarded two electoral votes, while the remainder of the electoral votes\u00a0within each state shall be awarded based on the popular vote within each\u00a0of the state\u2019s several congressional districts.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n Can we do what Levin suggests?\u00a0 Yes, we can and we must.\u00a0 As Ronald Reagan warned in January 1967, \u201cThose who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.\u201d\u00a0 The systematic destruction of our constitutional republic by leftist ideologues has occurred largely on our watch.\u00a0 Consequently, we owe it to our children, to generations to follow, and to generations long past, to make certain that freedom survives in our land, in spite of the best efforts of Barack Obama and other despotic enemies of freedom,<\/p>\n As of this writing, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), the most widely trusted and respected member of the U.S. Senate, has endorsed the concept of a constitution convention to repair the damage that has been done to our great country.\u00a0 I hope that all who read these words will not only buy Levin\u2019s book, and read it, but take the necessary steps to educate and motivate those who represent them in the state legislature.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to start a national movement.\u00a0 As Larry the Cable Guy would say, \u201cLet\u2019s get \u2018er done<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In his first inaugural address as Governor of California, on January 5, 1967, Ronald Reagan said: Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction.\u00a0 It is not ours by inheritance; it must be … Continue reading