http://www.jbs.org/in...
www.jbs.org/index.php/action/campaign-tools/4406-campaign-tools

Preserve the Constitution -- No Con-Con

* Beware of Article V: Understanding Legislators' Limited Power, a 38-minute video available on YouTube, which is a warning to state legislators that an Article V call for a Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) cannot be limited to one issue. This is the primary educational tool for convincing state legislators to rescind all current Con-Con calls and oppose any new Con-Con calls.
http://www.youtube.co...
* Warren Burger letter to Phyllis Schlafly, June 22, 1988, Re the inadvisability of an Article V constitutional convention.
http://www.eagleforum...
* "A Con-Con Call to Action for Constitutionalists Across the USA," posted December 18, 2008.
http://www.jbs.org/in...
* "A Con-Con Call From Virginia? State Senator Plans to Introduce Constitutional Convention Resolution in 2009," posted December 17, 2008.
http://www.jbs.org/in...
* "Ohio Constitutional Convention Resolution Killed by Grassroots Pressure," posted Dec. 16, 2008
http://www.thenewamer...
* (New) Oklahoma Senate Joint Resolution 11 (SJR11), "A Joint Resolution rescinding applications by the Legislature to the United States Congress to call a constitutional convention; and directing distribution," Feb. 2, 2009.

.

http://www.worldnetda...
www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=83364

http://www.youtube.co...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=za8_pdJ1dPo&feature=player_embedded

http://www.eagleforum...
www.eagleforum.org/psr/1984/dec84/psrdec84.html

* "Thirty-eight states must ratify." That is not necessarily true. A runaway Con Con could change the ratification requirements (as the 1787 Constitutional Convention did). Also, Article V gives Congress the power to specify that state ramifications must take place by conventions, thereby bypassing the State Legislatures altogether.

http://www.americanpo...
www.americanpolicy.org/sledgehammer/victory.htm

James Madison, "Father of the Constitution," warned against the calling of a new constitutional convention in a letter on November 2, 1788:

If a General Convention were to take place for the avowed and sole purpose of revising the Constitution, it would naturally consider itself as having a greater latitude than the Congress.... [I]t would consequently give greater agitation to the public mind; an election into it would be courted by the most violent partisans on both sides ... [and] would no doubt contain individuals of insidious views, who, under the mask of seeking alterations popular in some parts ... might have the dangerous opportunity of sapping the very foundations of the fabric.... Having witnessed the difficulties and dangers experienced by the first Convention, which assembled under every propitious circumstance, I should tremble for the result of a second, meeting in the present temper in America....

http://books.google.c...

I am realizing that some people don't realize we can amend the U.S. Constitution without calling a Constitutional Convention.

There are TWO amendment processes laid out in Article V of the Constitution.

http://en.wikipedia.o...
One is through a con-con, which has never been used and would be EXTREMELY DANGEROUS - especially now!

The other is through Congress and legislation. Amending the Constitution is a two-part process: amendments must be proposed and then they must be ratified. Congress may propose a Constitution Amendment by a 2/3’s majority and then submit the proposed amendment to the states. If 3/4’s ratify such a proposed amendment, it becomes part of the Constitution.

That’s how all of the amendments we already have were added. That's the safe way. That's the way to make sure issues of concern and desired change is addressed and ONLY that issue is addressed.

We've had 27 amendments to the Constitution ratified and become law. One, the 18th Amendment, was repealed . None of these required an Article V process calling for a Constitutional Convention to introduce them or approve or revoke them!

Article V process was left open to call a convention. But easier and far safer routes still remain. Amending the Constitution was not made easy for a reason. The amendment process requires deliberation on the part of an informed and educated people and elected officials who appreciate and understand our Constitutional Republic. If the reason and need for an amendment is truly desired and supported by the constitutionally required numbers let them prove it and take action just as it's been done safely and under total control done many times before.

Response to report that Glenn Beck, Judge Napalitano and Neal Botrz are favoring a Con Con.


The reasons to fear a Constitutional Convention are many.

The first and foremost is that fact that the current Congress pays no heed to the existing Constitution. If we don’t have the stomach to hold them accountable to the current document how will a new one help.

Will a new group of delegates have the vision, clarity, education, and passion for protecting liberty that the founding fathers had? Not likely!

Will the major media and it’s spin technology affect the outcome of a Constitutional Convention like we see them now do with the election and debates? You bet they will and our freedom will be the victim once again.

Will the major parties control the delegates to the convention? Most likely. Once again we will be left out along with our freedom.

Adhere to the existing Constitution and we are all much better off. The proper way to control our government is through electing Constitutionalist Congressmen.

We must stop trying to find a quick fix to our liberty problems. The only way is the education of our neighbors in the value of supporting our Constitutional Republic. We need to stop preaching to the choir and go next door to talk with our neighbors. It’s time to turn off the TVs and start talking to each other. As long as all we hear is what they(the media) say we are lost. Identify good Constitution supporting candidates and back them with labor and money. If you can’t find one BE one. We will need to work as hard as our forefathers did to obtain our freedom in order to win it back. These evil men in office cannot stand the light of truth. Truth is like a gun that never runs out of ammunition but it can do no good without a mouth to speak it or ears to hear it. It’s time to be the mouth and find some ears. I think you will find most Americans feel the same way you do.

You won’t fix an errant government by creating new rules for them to ignore.

Leave my Constitution and the freedoms it protects alone!!!

A Continental Congress is different then a Constitutional Convention aka con-con.

----- Original Message -----
From: John Hays
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2009 4:11 PM
Subject: RE: INDIANA We The People Contact

Back To Jekyll Island to
Defend the Constitution

On May 21st, many leaders of national organizations dedicated to the defense of Liberty and the Constitution are retracing the 1910 travels of the global financiers who quietly gathered at a private resort at Jekyll Island, Georgia to covertly plot the creation of what we know today as the privately-owned (and unconstitutional), “Federal Reserve System.”

Freedom leaders travel by train from New Jersey to that notable location to join their organizations in support of the upcoming historic “Continental Congress 2009” initiative. CC2009 will be a multi-week, assembly of Delegates from the fifty states to formally document for the nation a century of Constitutional violations and the federal Government’s patent refusal to be held accountable to the Law of the nation. Among the violations are the Treasury and Fed bailouts which use public monies for unlawful expenditures for private benefit.

The CC2009 Assembly will recommend specific actions the People can take to peacefully restore Constitutional Order. These actions may well include a nationwide call for the People to (lawfully) withdraw all financial support from the government until the Constitution is fully obeyed.

To learn about the little-known, 900-year history and profound power of the Petition clause, visit www.WeThePeopleFoundation.org.

John Hays
Indiana State Coordinator
We The People

This started with the mailing list thread:
http://jbs.meetup.com...

----- Original Message -----
From: Lynette
To: jbs-9@meetup.com
Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2009 10:46 AM
Subject: Re: [jbs-9] The Judge - video


Remember the guy the Judge had on? Prof. Gutzman.

Re: [jbs-9] The Judge - video

http://jbs.meetup.com...

Read this!

----- Original Message -----
From: Larry
To: JBS-Alliance-list@meetup.com
Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2009 10:08 AM
Subject: RE: [JBS-Alliance] Kevin Gutzman supports con-con on Beck Show 11/10/2009


list.meetup.com>
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto: support@meetup.com>
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Message-ID: <2135611971.1258297694866.JavaMail.nobody@james3>
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:08:56 -0500

Thank you David for bringing up how Prof. Kevin Gutzman promoted a constitutional convention on the Glenn Beck Show on 11/10. I'm a little bit behind in notifying this group about my blog about this that I posted a few days ago.

Here's the link to my blog, "Another Endorsement of a Constitutional Convention on Glenn Beck" at
http://www.jbs.org/us...

Interestingly enough, one of my contacts on Facebook has extensively debated Prof. Gutzman sometime in the past few days and posted this comment on Facebook yesterday:

After 2 lengthy FB [Facebook] debates with Gutzman, he finally revealed that he does not believe in our Republican system of government because the people are not capable of being educated on the Constitution and subsequently electing Constitutionalists to office. He thinks the Constitution should be replaced. He wants to take sovereign authority from the people and give it to experts such as himself. Beware those that advocate a con-con at this time in our history. They most likely have a revolutionary agenda.

If this is an accurate characterization of Gutzman's beliefs, then it provides some very revealing insights into the motivations behind his promotion of a Con-Con.

Larry

________________________________

From: JBS-Alliance-list@meetup.com on behalf of David Stertz
Sent: Sun 11/15/2009 2:25 AM
To: JBS-Alliance-list@meetup.com
Subject: [JBS-Alliance] Kevin Gutzman supports con-con on Beck Show 11/10/2009

Hopefully Tom Wood's arguments about nullification will continue to gain more traction rather than Gutzman's in support of a con-con.

DRS

http://www.foxnews.co...
Is Federal Government Running Roughshod Over Constitution?
Wednesday, November 11, 2009

This is a rush transcript from "Glenn Beck," November 10, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

[. . .. ]

GUTZMAN: Well, we've never used the provision of Article V of the Constitution that allows for the states to amend the Constitution without having the Congress be involved. So, we shouldn't be surprised that, recently, amendments have all about - all been about furthering empowering the central government.

But fortunately, at the moment, there is a groundswell. I have been hearing from legislators in several different states who've asked me for advice about the question how the constitutional convention process might work. That is, how the states could go about amending the Constitution to reduce and curb the power of the central government. And I think that there is a significant chance that this coud happen. But before it can happen, people have to encourage their state legislators to go out and amend the Constitution.

And here's the link to Larry Greenley's TNA article on the con-con:
http://www.thenewamer...



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This is an EXCELLENT site for information about the dangers of a Constitutional Convention.
It was a great help to Ohio activists last year as they rescinded their bba call.

Stop the Con-Con
http://stoptheconcon....
stoptheconcon.wordpress.com/

Tell Your State Legislators to Oppose Any Calls for a Constitutional Convention

In this era of trillion dollar legislative bills for an economic stimulus that's not working, a government takeover of health care, and cap-and-trade energy taxes to supposedly reduce global warming, millions of Americans are "awakening" to the need to limit the federal government by insisting that Congress adhere to the Constitution. Some of these newly awakened Americans have concluded that amending the Constitution would get our nation back on track, while forgetting that our biggest problem is that our elected officials already pay little attention to the Constitution's limitations as it is. Why would they pay attention to some new amendments?

Next, these newly awakened constitutionalists observe that although Congress will not propose certain amendments that would appear to be useful additions to the Constitution, Article V provides a second way that amendments can be proposed, a constitutional convention (con-con). However, these same newly awakened Americans all too easily overlook the risks involved in a con-con. Click here to view a 36-minute video, "Beware of Article V," that exposes the unacceptable risks that would be involved in convening a constitutional convention at this time in our nation's history.

Furthermore, most Americans are not aware of the successful 25-year campaign by the John Birch Society and other constitutionalist organizations to preserve the Constitution by preventing the calling of a con-con. Click here to read "Dangers of a Constitutional Convention," which will bring you up to date on this campaign. This article also includes two color-coded maps: (1) showing the high water mark of the movement to call a con-con based on the desire for a balanced budget amendment; and (2) showing the eleven states (now thirteen) where the state legislature has voted to rescind all previous calls for a con-con.

On November 10, 2009, Professor Kevin Gutzman promoted the idea of a constitutional convention during his appearance on the Glenn Beck TV Show. Even though Beck has posted an excellent position statement on his website in opposition to calling a constitutional convention, several guests on his FoxNews show in 2009 have also promoted the con-con concept. Click here to read "Another Endorsement of a Constitutional Convention on Glenn Beck." This article includes a link to video of Gutzman's appearance as well as a link to the "Beware of Article V" video and "Dangers of a Constitutional Convention" article referred to above.

In a nutshell, the majority of constitutional scholars agree that an Article V constitutional convention cannot be restricted as to what amendments they consider and ultimately propose. After this constitutonal convention would "propose amendments," the amendment(s) would then be submitted to the states (either legislatures or special state conventions according to the Constitution, but possibly some other bodies proposed by the constitutional convention itself following the precedent of our original Constitutional Convention in specifying the means for the ratification of the Constitution) for ratification. Although 3/4s of the states would have to ratify an amendment for it to become part of the Constitution, there is still the all-too-real risk that a harmful amendment or series of amendments could be ratified due to the extraordinary influence exerted on American voters and their representatives by powerful elites in our news media, government, educational institutions, and foundations.

A constitutional convention has been prevented from being called over the past 25 years through the hard work of members of the John Birch Society and their like-minded allies in personally contacting their state legislators of both parties and making them aware of the risks involved in calling a con-con. This is truly a nonpartisan issue. Whenever the time has been taken to present the risks associated with a constitutional convention to state legislators, the majority of both parties have voted against calling for a con-con. Not only have no additional state legislatures called for a con-con for the past 25 years, legislators in 13 states have become so thoroughly convinced of the dangers of a constitutional convention that they have voted to rescind (take back) all previous con-con calls in their states.

Starting in late 2008 and continuing on through 2009 there have been several individuals and organizations that have decided to make the calling of a constitutional convention a top priority, and have begun contacting state legislators throughout the nation to support their project.

Preserving the Constitution from the threat represented by calling a con-con will require the hard work of constitutonalists throughout the United States. Personal contact through office visits and phone calls are a must (Click here for contact information for your state legislators.). Your tools include "Beware of Article V" (free online and as a DVD), "Dangers of a Constitutional Convention" (free online and as a reprint), "Another Endorsement of a Constitutional Convention on Glenn Beck" (free online), and "Model Con-Con State Rescission Resolution" (free online). If you'd like to join with others in your state to help prevent any con-con call, or where appropriate to help bring about a rescission of all previous con-con calls, go to the JBS.org Freedom Campaign - National group, join the group (requires registration), and send a message to the group's creator.

To supplement the necessary personal contacts mentioned above, a prewritten, editable email message for your state legislators is provided below. While email messages cannot equal the impact and effectiveness of personal contacts, they can play a role in an overall campaign. Please be sure to personalize your emails for maximum impact.


http://www.jbs.org/jb...

Here are some questions and concerns about the organization and powers of a con-con.

1) How is the validity of applications from the states to be determined?

2) How specific must the state legislature be in asking for amendments?

3) Must all the applications be in identical language?

4) Within what time period must the required number of applications be received?

5) Can Congress refuse to call a convention on demand of two-thirds of the states, and if it does, can it be compelled to act by the courts?

6) Who are the delegates and how are they to be chosen and paid or will they be paid?

7) Can the convention act by simple majority vote, or will a two-thirds majority be required, as in Congress, for proposing an amendment?

8) How is the convention to be financed, and where does it meet?

9) May the convention propose more than one amendment?

10) Is there a time limit on the proceedings, or can the convention act as a continuing body?

11) Can controversies between Congress and the convention over its powers be decided by the courts?

12) Can it be conducted in secret?

The possibility of a “runaway” convention is supported by the experience of the 1787 Convention, which had been authorized by Congress to meet for the “sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.” The Convention promptly ignored these instructions and proceeded to draft and entirely new Constitution. Luckily they were knowledgeable honorable men who had just fought and struggled for freedom. In this day and age we cannot risk a runaway convention. Could it proceed to redraft the Constitution and repeal provisions of the Bill of Rights? It could as it is a sovereign body once convened.

Stop the Con-Con site: http://stoptheconcon....