…is in the U.S. Constitution.
Good News Bad News
The good news for Texas is that the 84th Texas senate thwarted the effort of the house to open up our U.S. Constitution and our form of government to a complete re-write. The bad news is that ¹80 house reps are either ignorant of our form of government, or they despise it. Either reason is not good news.
Two bills passed in the house and fortunately were stopped in the senate; HB 1110 and HJR 77. Let’s look at HJR 77 [Miller, Rick | Bettencourt], which proposed to call for an Article V Convention limited to proposing amendments to address federal fiscal restraints, limited federal power & jurisdiction, and term limits for federal office holders. The current U.S. Constitution already provides for these issues.
Balanced Budget
The first 5 words of the constitution are the most important and yet the most ignored and misunderstood words in the entire founding document; “All legislative powers herein granted…”. The states created a federal government (not national) and “granted” or relinquished certain powers and duties, providing the federal government’s ability to tax for specific and limited list of delegated duties. Any congressional acts or federal taxes for purposes outside of Article I are UNconstitutional. Likewise, The People created each state and all originating power resides in the People of each state. It is dependent upon the People to understand that in our federal government created by our U.S. Constitution the states are more powerful than the federal body.
Further, Article I, Sec. 8 demands congress to coin money, and Sec. 10; No state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts. Thus, the private banking cartel known as the Federal Reserve Bank violates the constitutional definition of tender in payment of debts. Arguably the 16th Amendment granted congress the ability of direct taxation but it did not grant congress the power to print fiat money, or the power to transfer the authority of coining to an international private banking cartel. What will America look like when the U.S. Constitution is enforced, before amending?
Power & Jurisdiction of the Federal Government
Article III grants and defines limited powers to the federal judicial branch (SCOTUS), and does not grant the SCOTUS with legislative powers through the opinions of 5 Justices (mob rule).
Article II creates and grants limited powers to an executive office; the POTUS.
Article I grants Congress the power of impeachment of the POTUS and SCOTUS. The U.S. House of Representatives are tasked with the power to bring charges, and the Senate the powers to try impeachments, and further defines grounds for impeachment being “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors”. What will America look like when the U.S. Constitution is enforced, before amending?
Term Limits of federal officials
Through the People and the Electoral College, term limits are intended for an educated and moral people. Placing a limit on the number of the terms for elected officials will effectually place more power in the hands of the well-funded lobbyists, not the People.
Term limits, balanced budgets, and limited government is not possible through a People who understand a 200 page NFL Rule Book but not a 34 page U.S. Constitution. What if… half the people who are willing to bring blood over a questionable call by an NFL referee at a Super Bowl game were also willing to do the same over a government that violates their Oath to the constitution? What will America look like when the U.S. Constitution is enforced, before amending?
###
Texans cannot trust state officials to amend the U.S. Constitution when those same officials do not believe in nor enforce the current constitution (10th Amendment). Texas has the independent power, without the advice or consent of any other state or federal body, to interpose and nullify federal actions not delegated in the U.S. Constitution, with refusal of compliance by the state and her residents through strict penalties for state and federal officers attempting to commit such unconstitutional actions. A minimum of ²ten bills that would have enforced the 10th Amendment died in several committees in this 84th Texas legislative session, specifically HB 98 [Flynn].
HB 98 would have created a standing Joint Legislative Committee on Constitutional Powers and Enforcement to review and report findings of certain federal actions to the Governor and Attorney General, with statutory means to prevent application in Texas. Those in power in the Texas capitol do not demonstrate the courage or desire to allow either the Texas House or Senate chambers to even discuss the 10th Amendment, much less pass legislation that clearly supports state powers preserved in the U.S. Constitution.
It is doubtful that those Texans supporting an Article V convention understand the consequences of asking these same legislators to join a much larger body of tyrants to open up our federal governing document to more abuse. Texans are being wooed by out-of-state political action committees and their well-funded lobbyists, who coincidentally have failed to pass Article V convention legislation in their own home states. What do those state legislatures know that Texas legislators may not?…
1. * Roman Buhler, The Madison Coalition from Virginia
2. * Michael Farris, Citizens for Self-Governance from Virginia
3. * Tom Coburn, Convention of states from Oklahoma
4. * Nicholas Dranias, Compact for America from Arizona
5. * Michael Stern, Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force from Washington, D.C.
[* invited testimony to 2/26/15 House committee on State & Federal Power]
Virginia and Oklahoma recently defeated a call for an Article V convention.
Texas has the independent power, without the advice or consent of any other state or federal body, to push back against a federal tyrant. According to our constitution, the states are more powerful than the federal government. Article VI clearly states that any law made contrary to the U.S. Constitution is not law. However, because the media reports that federal law trumps state law, the ignorance of the People is perpetuating national, state, and local tyranny by the few.
The Congressional Research Service, the congressional “think tank”, has advised Congress more than once in the past 2 years that delegates to an Article V convention could be immune from prosecution relating to their actions in such a convention. If so, Texas would not be able to limit her delegates to a balanced budget amendment or any other subject, thus opening up a complete re-write of our constitution and our form of government. This is especially true because Texas has an ³active call for an Article V convention with no restrictions whatsoever on subjects to be addressed, dated in 1899. Most Texans and Texas officials did not realize this fact before the 84th legislature convened and civic minded citizens broadcast this fact to stop a con con. Texans should research the facts to answer these questions:
1.) How many states have outstanding calls for unrestricted Article V conventions like Texas? If 33 other states have unrestricted calls, creating the necessary 2/3 required to completely re-write our form of government, then Texas could be party in supporting a different form of government to justify what the feds have done.
2.) What parts of the U.S. Constitution would NOT be open to amendments under the call for a “Federal Balanced Budget” amendment?
Americans would serve themselves best by understanding the rules and principles in the 34 page U.S. Constitution with half or more of the understanding that they have of the 200 page NFL Rule Book. “All legislative powers” have been “granted” by the states to the federal government. All legislative federal powers are subject to the purview of the states.
When a marriage goes south, the partners don’t amend the marriage vows to make the marriage compliant.
Likewise, when the federal government violates the constitution, changing the words will not make the government compliant.
What will America look like when the constitution is enforced?
——————————————————-
¹ HJR 77-House Reps voting YEA May 14, 2015: — Anderson, C.; Anderson, R.; Ashby; Bell; Bohac; Bonnen, D.; Bonnen, G.; Burkett; Burns; Burrows; Button; Capriglione; Clardy; Cook; Cyrier; Dale; Darby; Davis, S.; Elkins; Faircloth; Fallon; Fletcher; Flynn; Frank; Frullo; Galindo; Goldman; Harless; Huberty; Hunter; Isaac; Kacal; Keffer; Keough; King, K.; King, S.; King, T.; Klick; Krause; Kuempel; Landgraf; Larson; Laubenberg; Leach; Lozano; Metcalf; Meyer; Miller, D.; Miller, R.; Murphy; Neva´rez; Otto; Paddie; Paul; Pen˜ a; Phelan; Phillips; Price; Riddle; Rinaldi; Schaefer; Schofield; Schubert; Shaheen; Sheets; Sheffield; Smith; Smithee; Springer; Stickland; Thompson, E.; Tinderholt; Turner, E.S.; VanDeaver; White, J.; White, M.; Workman; Wray; Zedler; Zerwas.
² 1. HJR 144 [Elkins] Rescinding the 1899 call for an unrestricted Article V Conv. (left pending 4/30)
2. HB 98 [Flynn] to create a permanent Joint Committee to nullify unconstitutional actions. (sent to calendars 4/21)
3. HB 165 [Larson] to nullify certain portions of the 2012 & 2014 NDAA (sent to calendars 5/8)
4. HB 413 [Goldman] Penalizing federal restrictions on 2A in Texas (left pending 3/19)
5. HB 421 [Krause]Penalizing fed restrictions on intrastate mfg of arms & ammo (left pending 4/9)
6. HB 422 [Krause] Refusal to enforce certain federal restrictions on 2A in Texas, providing penalties (sent to calendars 5/11)
7.HB 1751 [Simpson] nullifying federal actions that violate the Texas Bill of Rights (left pending 4/30)
8. HB 3606 [Krause] requiring a report of fed funds used locally (report to comptroller & Governor) (sent to calendars 5/11)
9. SB 1112 [Burton] nullifying the enforcement of the Affordable Care Act (never heard in the Finance committee)
10. SJR 16 [Campbell] constitutional amendment supporting the right of individuals to choose to decline or choose to purchase health insurance (never heard in the Business & Commerce cmttee)
³1899 unrestricted Article V convention call from Texas: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5osUEitCWr0WWI0Tk56VlpndVk/view?usp=sharing – OR – http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legis/billsearch/BillDetails.cfm?legSession=26-0&billTypeDetail=SCR&billnumberDetail=4&submitbutton=Search+by+bill
It is not the Constitution that I am interested in protecting. It is as dead as dead can get and no one can protect a dissolved constitution. The importance of resisting an Article V amendment process is not that a new constitution could be written but that it would once again create the illusion of a lawful Federal Government when we really don’t have one. The amendment process would only be lawful if the form of the federal government had not been changed by law without the required amendments. But since the form has been altered by law without the amendments it is dissolved. How can the states amend a dissolved constitution?
No one can authorize a dissolved constitution with an amendment nor can the dissolved federal government authorize an amendment process under Article V. The only road to a lawful federal government is by creation of an all new agreement (constitution) between the states that does not rely upon the dissolved federal government in DC.