Forum Post: State Legislatures: Stop Breaking the Law and Pay Attention to Article V
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 1, 2011, 3:06 a.m. EST by KimArtIV
(10)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I came across a great boilerplate letter to send to my State Legislatures.
http://articlevconvention.org/showthread.php?3-Letter-to-your-Representatives
I am e-mailing and snail-mailing a copy along with the state application on Congressional Record ( http://foa5c.org/file.php/1/Amendments/071_cg_r_03369_1929_HL.JPG ). A petition with hundreds of names on it would be a great idea as well.
I found my State Senator and Assembly Members by doing a Google search as follows: California State Legislature
I feel that this is one of the ways to let elected officials know not to take their constituents lightly.
It is clearly obvious to all of us that the law have been broken and the constitution not protected. OWS should be focused on protecting the rights of the states. Congress now has a chance to legally live up to the call for a constitutional convention and demand one.
The states have the power to enforce the constitution through an article 5 convention. Congress has shown very well that it is willing to violate the constitution for at least 100 years. Can we notice? Can we know what it means relating to the hardship we now know? This link has the facts of congressional lawlessness relating to article 5.-------
http://www.foa5c.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=2
It is clearly obvious to all of us that the law have been broken and the constitution not protected. OWS should be focused on protecting the rights of the states. Congress now has a chance to legally live up to the call for a constitutional convention and demand one. Great stuff Kim. OWS should implant the fear of reprisal for violating their oath of office. Nobody ever challenged them. Keep this thread going!
what were the dates this applications for Article 5 were applied?
The date at the top of the PDF beneath the letter states 1929.
http://foa5c.org/file.php/1/Amendments/071_cg_r_03369_1929_HL.JPG
that was the year the stock market crashed
There is no mention in the constitution that the requests of the states ever expire. It is in our right to call a convention to amend, starting with removing the money from our political system.
oh, I would move towards reorganizing the outdated voting system
but currently
The states are not prepared to handle a federal government reform
I would be more confident if the states voted for the reform today
The ultimate form of our democracy is Article V.
deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate."
We are working on getting a ground swell for this. As citizens, we are demanding that our government enforce the constitution.
Here is more evidence that you have that we are within our means.
http://articlevconvention.org/showthread.php?3-Letter-to-your-Representatives
Join that forum and help us get ground support for it. This is our way to bypass the bought and paid for politicians. Taking this movement in that direction will allow us as citizens to act in a way that reflects the will of the people. Anyone who questions this is questioning if you even have rights from a government that is reaching over their bounds. Send me a private message as we are also running web conferences about Article V and how to make the ground swell.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! from Martin Luther King jr "I have a Dream Speach" speach.
copy and paste this into text editor and save the file
copy from the saved text file
place it into the post with the edit button
that should solve the sideways scrolling issue
http://voltic.com/0/i/KingParade/KingParade.html
Can you expound on why states are not prepared to deal with federal reform of the voting system? This is a prime issue and I don't know a great deal about it.
they don't have their current population behind them supporting it
Absolutely. We must make congress accountable for their intentional misinterpretaion of the constitution. This is a serious violation of their oaths of office or taking their office with "no mental reservations" in their support for the constitution.
And without our support, the status-quo lives on. It is our only recourse as citizens. Thomas Jefferson had intended it to be so.
Correct, article 5 IS legal and peaceful rebellion.
Letter to your Representatives:
representatives in Congress. Of course feel free to re-write such a letter in your
own words. Also, below is a link to the PDF database of state applications, which
you can also print up and include in your letter.
Our Constitution, which you’ve sworn an oath to protect and defend, contains a
convention clause in Article V. It is a right of the people to join together in a
deliberative assembly on the authority of the Constitution, to debate and propose
amendments.
fifty states have cast hundreds of applications for the Article V Convention, and
one session of Congress after the next has simply ignored its constitutional
obligation to issue the call.
raise this issue in the Senate/House, and failing to do so renders you a federal
criminal:
four parts along with an executive order which further defines the law for purposes
of enforcement. 5 U.S.C. 3331, provides the text of the actual oath of office you
were required to take before assuming office. 5 U.S.C. 3333 required you to sign an
affidavit that you took the oath of office required by 5 U.S.C. 3331 and have not
nor will violate that oath during your tenure of office as defined by the third
part of the law, 5 U.S.C. 7311, which explicitly makes it a federal criminal
offense for anyone employed in the United States Government to “advocate the
overthrow of our constitutional form of government.” The fourth federal law, 18
U.S.C. 1918 provides penalties for violation of oath office described in 5 U.S.C.
7311 which include: removal from office, imprisonment, and a fine.
which for purposes of enforcement supplements 5 U.S.C. 7311. One provision of
Executive Order 10450 specifies it is a violation of 5 U.S.C. 7311 for any person
taking the oath of office to advocate “the alteration…of the form of the
government of the United States by unconstitutional means.” Our form of government
is defined by the Constitution of the United States. It can only be “altered” by
constitutional amendment. Thus, according to Executive Order 10450 (and therefore 5
U.S. 7311) any act taken by government officials who have taken the oath of office
prescribed by 5 U.S.C. 3331 which alters the form of government other than by
amendment, is a criminal violation of the 5 U.S.C. 7311.
amendment. The original language written by the Framers and its original intent
remains undisturbed and intact. The Constitution mandates a convention call when
the requisite number of states have applied and uses the word “shall” to state
this. The states have applied. When members of Congress disobey the Constitution
and refuse to issue the call for the Article V Convention when required to do so by
law, they/you have asserted a veto power where none exists nor was ever intended to
exist. This veto alters the constitutional form of our government by removing one
of the methods of amendment proposal the Constitution created. Such alteration
without amendment is a criminal violation of 5 U.S.C. 7311 and 18 U.S.C. 1918.
official to advocate the overthrow of our constitutional form of government. The
definition of the word “advocate” is to: “Defend by argument before a tribunal
or the public: support or recommend publicly.”
action you intend to take having now been informed of the matter.
Wow, seems like a very well referenced set of of laws in that letter. I'm copying this up and examining it more closely.--------
ON EDIT: One problem. It addresses senators and representatives. We already know they are onboard with constitutional violations. We need to compel states to apply for an article 5 convention to ENFORCE the constitution upon the senators, congress people etc. No more pleading with federal employees.
Yes! Let our state legislators it is time to stop standing by and doing nothing while the law of the land is violated year after year in an accumulative destruction of the constitution.---------
Yes! Multiple signatures from constituents, if they are from the same region, a copy to state assembly incumbents will get them working for article 5 in their legislative capacity. Their seats are one of the most often vacated, and they'll want to move up, rather than out if they are not responsive.-----
Excellent, now if we could find just one tea partier that could read verbatim, article 5, and let the simple language remove their unreasonable and unfounded fears, then they could actually support the constitution as well! rather than just partying:) -