Citizens for Self Governace
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see meckler and scary const convention</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wiki</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/constitutional-convention-conservatives-republicans-constitution-supreme-court-2022-7">https://www.businessinsider.com/constitutional-convention-conservatives-republicans-constitution-supreme-court-2022-7</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">simulation: <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/cos-simulation">COSAction (conventionofstates.com)</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">vids:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: none; width: 791.65px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We know you are anxious to see the complete results, and we appreciate your patience. As an independent assembly, the statement about the final results from the Convention must come from the body, and not our organization. We will circulate it on behalf of the Convention.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: none; width: 791.65px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here's a quick preview. The Convention passed amendment proposals on the following six ideas:</font></p><ol style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 15px 20px; line-height: 20px; outline: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-image: initial;"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The public debt shall not be increased except upon a recorded vote of two-thirds of each house of Congress.</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Term limits on Congress</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Limiting federal overreach by returning the Commerce Clause to its original meaning</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Limiting the power of federal regulations by giving an easy congressional override</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Require a super majority for federal taxes and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">repeal the 16th Amendment [fed income tax?]</span></font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 26px; outline: none; list-style: outside decimal; text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Give the states (by a 3/5ths vote) the power to abrogate any federal law, regulation or executive order.</font></li></ol><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 20px 20px 20px 25px; position: relative; text-align: justify; border-left: 5px solid rgb(21, 146, 219); background: rgba(204, 204, 204, 0.2); display: inline-block; margin: 0px 0px 25px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The events at Williamsburg will be remembered as a turning point in history. The spirit of liberty and self government has been reignited." Michael Farris - Co-Founder, Convention of States Project.</font></blockquote></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">not complete but most links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">biz insider</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">common cause : <a href="https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ConCon-Opposition-Letter-March-2019.pdf">ConCon-Opposition-Letter-March-2019.pdf (commoncause.org)</a></font></div><div><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px 10px; line-height: 1.3em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A convention is gaining momentum but still far away</font></span></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So far, 19 GOP-controlled states, including four in 2022 alone (Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wisconsin), have passed applications and calls for a constitutional convention under the model pushed by the conservative nonprofit group Convention of States, an offshoot of <a href="https://selfgovern.com/" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60" data-uri="9aca289ac60f6a59c10bebd85f0ecf69" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">Citizens for Self Governance</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">because of their efforts, "it's the first time any of these applications have had this much movement in quite some time," Viki Harrison, director of Constitutional Convention and Protecting Dissent Programs at Common Cause, told Insider. She called the passage of four new convention calls in states including South Carolina "a brutal loss." </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Citizens for Self Governance and Convention of States, led by former Tea Party activist and ex-Parler CEO Mark Meckler, are relatively newer and well-funded players on the scene with connections to wealthy and powerful conservative interests.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tax filings <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2020/02/25/radical-resolution-calling-constitutional-rewrite-passes-wisconsin-assembly/" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60" data-uri="7a0f5a04e1ec36b6cc6c22815b143df9" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy</a> reveal the groups, which are not required to disclose their donors, have received millions from the Koch-connected DonorsTrust, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/15/robert-mercer-family-gave-nearly-20-million-to-dark-money-gop-fund-during-2020-election.html" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60" data-uri="affa1dc09f6bfa53434c2c3bd2756ce8" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">the Mercer family,</a> and groups linked to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1108351562/roe-abortion-supreme-court-scotus-law" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60" data-uri="67cb67e1c473e323469db483d084981e" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">powerful conservative lawyer Leonard Leo</a>. <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22072448-convention-of-states-action-2020-financial-audit-report" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60" data-uri="aebee8080e4d90662f8efb1b99e5e630" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">A 2020 internal audit</a> of Convention of States obtained by the group revealed that a $1.3 million donation made in Bitcoin made up 16% of the group's budget in 2019. Two donations totaling $2.5 million accounted for 36% of the group's 2020 budget....</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">so does Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, a staunch Trump defender who <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FAndy-Biggs%2Fdp%2F0984222316&amazonTrackingID=biauto-55443-20&site=bi&vikingID=62c72007f9954a5022223c15&platform=browser&sc=false&disabled=false&sessionID=1659364362365a1fe51p7&tag=bisafetynet2-20" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" rel="nofollow sponsored noindex" data-uri="2726803f707b50629c81a8178199597e" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">wrote an entire book</a>, "The Con of the Con-Con," about the dangers of conventions. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"In states where you would have expected this to pass because they have Republican leadership, they're firmly on our side because they're scared about losing guns," Harrison said. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Natelson, <a href="https://i2i.org/constitution/articles-books-by-rob-natelson/" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="38faee571c05c1f808e8ca17cef02963" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">who has published numerous writings</a> and <a href="https://i2i.org/wp-content/uploads/CoS-Mystery-final.pdf" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="72d63c356ba5b304840577572bda4498" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">academic articles on Article V</a>, charged that people who fear a runaway convention "don't know what they're talking about" and GOP legislatures that have resisted calling a convention out of those worries "have been sold a bill of goods." </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Those academics who go before the legislature and say things like, 'we don't know anything about the process, it could be a runaway convention' without exception, are people who have never published any scholarship on the subject," he said....</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">at the Convention of the States' <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/cos-simulation" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="6c6f314c7b2befba06dbd7a38a41623e" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">2016 mock convention</a> in Williamsburg, Virginia, delegates, including Eastman, voted out six amendments, including a proposal that would eviscerate the 16th Amendment, which grants Congress the ability to impose an income tax. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The resolution the group is pushing would limit a convention to amendments that "impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit its power and jurisdiction, and impose term limits on its officials and members of Congress."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But limiting "the power and jurisdiction" of the federal government is an expansive mandate that could encompass virtually anything and enable delegates to pass extreme amendments while technically staying within the bounds of the convention....</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">R<a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="8f8c9aa7e9b75487ede9a17da2fe0e52" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">ecent blog posts</a> on the Convention of States' website explicitly reference the need for a convention to limit federal overreach on <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/should-the-federal-government-cover-travel-costs-for-women-seeking-abortions" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="265fed1a2aa1b4673e13dfe4de4f2bca" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">abortion</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/gun-grabbing-doesn-t-work-chicago-shooter-wasn-t-stopped-by-suburb-s-assault-rifle-ban-gun-regulations" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="3a435044c558766e56f5f05ee678ee10" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">guns</a>, and <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/biden-s-southern-border-now-the-most-deadly-land-crossing-in-world-un-study-finds" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="7225302041bb7dd016ac5e8dc03a41de" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">immigration</a>. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/258/130" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="130c050a2989701d4ca83aa8574b27d4" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">Supreme Court has said</a> that amending the Constitution <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/307us433" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="80" data-uri="ee69a422c6b6eb6f8ed20380ca15b392" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">is a political question</a> in which the federal courts cannot get involved," Super said. "The president has no role at all in the process. And the whole point of the convention route is to sideline Congress. So Congress can't overrule the convention … there's no one to intervene. There's no one to stop a convention from doing whatever they want to do."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">States have the flexibility to caveat their calls for a convention, and some have included penalties to keep delegates in line. Indiana and Florida have even made it a felony for convention delegates to defy the legislature's intent, measures they passed alongside their pro-convention resolutions....</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Behind closed doors, Meckler, Santorum, and Natelson pitched a convention to GOP lawmakers gathered at a December 2021 ALEC workshop as a way for ordinary citizens to force sweeping changes to every facet of government. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We would be aiming at the Deep State and potentially the federal judiciary as well," Meckler told lawmakers in the closed-door session, a recording of which was <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2021/12/21/the-right-is-trying-to-rewrite-the-constitution-to-cement-minority-rule-forever/" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="100" data-uri="f548761ca5dfaf6ae0752413dae8afe4" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">obtained by</a> the Center for Media and Democracy and shared with Insider. ...</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">moments later, Meckler said his effort could be judged by its "enemies," <a href="https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ConCon-Opposition-Letter-March-2019.pdf" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="100" data-uri="5174cc3e4a753c7ad5b64a7e133a34e2" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(9, 111, 250) 0px 1px 0px 0px; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">railing against a slew of "leftist" advocacy groups</a> who oppose a convention. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It's every leftist group in America, radical leftist group in America that stands for, I would argue, the destruction of America, the destruction of babies in the womb, the destruction of life itself," he said. "They hate America, they want to destroy America, and they're against Convention of States."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.15rem 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Santorum also assured lawmakers that conservative interests would be strongly represented in a one-vote-per-state convention due to the outsize influence of lower-population states, saying, "we have the opportunity, as a result of that, to have a supermajority, even though…we may not even be in an absolute majority when it comes to the people who we agree with."....</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/opinion/coronavirus-protests-astroturf.html</font></font></font></font></div><div>
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</div><div><b>Opinion</b></div><div><b>Who’s Behind the ‘Reopen’ Protests?</b></div><div>They are anything but spontaneous.</div><div>
</div><div><b>By Lisa Graves</b></div><div>Ms. Graves is the executive director of True North Research and curator of KochDocs.</div><div>
</div><div>April 22, 2020</div><div>
</div><div>A protest against Michigan’s stay-at-home order outside the State Capitol last week.</div><div>]</div><div>I first became aware of the political influence of Charles and David Koch in 2009 when I started looking into who was behind the protests at health care town halls.</div><div>
</div><div>The Tea Party, formed after America elected its first black president, used a series of health care town halls to spur angry Republicans to oppose the Affordable Care Act as a socialist takeover of American medicine. Little matter that it was modeled on a plan devised by Mitt Romney, a Republican, when he was the governor of Massachusetts.</div><div>
</div><div>Such false claims about the act have not aged well, as millions of Americans now depend on the law for health care coverage as the coronavirus contagion sweeps across the nation. And yet a Tea Party co-founder, Mark Meckler, is using the same tactics and same phony claims to stir his followers to protest against governors seeking to mitigate the Covid-19 death toll by closing businesses and banning public gatherings.</div><div>
</div><div>That public anger is both real and manufactured. The same was true in 2009, when the Koch fortune fueled the Tea Party’s attacks on the Obama administration’s health care law.</div><div>
</div><div>Still, the legend that the Tea Party was a spontaneous uprising took hold and continues to be peddled. As we face Tea Party 2.0, let’s not be fooled again.</div><div>
</div><div>The protests playing out now have the same feel as the Tea Party protests aided by Koch-financed Americans for Prosperity and others a decade ago — and with good reason: Early evidence suggests they are not organic but a brush fire being stoked by some of the same people and money that built the Tea Party.</div><div>
</div><div>Look no further than the first protest organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and the Michigan Freedom Fund — whose chairman manages the vast financial investments of Dick and Betsy DeVos, the Education Secretary — to see that the campaign to “open” America flows from the superrich and their front groups.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Stephen Moore — a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Koch ally and a Trump adviser — admitted as much in a video I obtained comparing these new protesters to Rosa Parks, as first reported in The Times.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Mr. Moore, who is now leading an enterprise to end the virus precautions called Save Our Country, which includes the Koch-backed American Legislative Exchange Council, boasted that he has been working behind the scenes with a conservative donor who agreed to cover bail and legal fees for demonstrators who get arrested for defying Wisconsin’s virus protective measures.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Others are providing legal assistance as well. The Times reports that a private Facebook group called Reopen NC has retained the legal services of Michael Best & Friedrich, a Wisconsin law firm whose clients include President Trump. The firm is well known for its work with dark-money groups that fought the recall of the Koch ally Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and waged war on unions.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Then there’s the Convention of States, established in 2015 with a big contribution from the conservative hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer. The group recruits activists at gun shows to support a balanced-budget amendment and is promoting the protests online via “Open the States.” COS is an offshoot of Citizens for Self-Governance, which Mr. Meckler co-founded with a longtime Koch operative, Eric O’Keefe.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>To give you a flavor of what’s unfolding to help orchestrate these events, this week one of Mr. Meckler’s organizers told supporters via Facebook that “optics are everything” and that they should be sure to wear a mask to the protests and stand six feet apart — because it will make the crowds look bigger.</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>COS and a Koch-financed public relations firm, In Pursuit Of, are also purchasing domain names tied to protests to open the states, suggesting they are investing for a long battle — even as the death toll rises.</b></div><div>
</div><div>The consequences are already starting. One week after a Kentucky protest, the state experienced its largest spike in coronavirus cases. Other states may soon see similar spikes.</div><div>
</div><div>Those fanning these flames, including President Trump and Fox News hosts, are unlikely to get burned by infection themselves, though they may be goading their followers to risk their health by attending mass demonstrations.</div><div>
</div><div>America is now facing three calamities: a deadly contagion, a capricious president and a well-funded right-wing infrastructure willing to devalue human life in pursuit of its political agenda. Some very rich men and women are making this medical disaster worse through their reckless bellows, inflaming people to demand that states open now no matter how many lives that costs.</div><div>
</div><div>Lisa Graves is the executive director of True North Research and curator of KochDocs, and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice.</div><div>
</div><div>The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.</div><div>
</div><div>Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.</div><div>
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</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">const convention?!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/07/17/how-trojan-horse-project-rewrite-our-constitution-could-actually-happen-if-trump"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/07/17/how-trojan-horse-project-rewrite-our-constitution-could-actually-happen-if-trump</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s often said that if Trump is reelected, it’ll be the end of democracy in America. But how could Trump get reelected, and how could democracy get wiped out in the USA?</font></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Turns out, there’s an actual project to rewrite our Constitution, turning America into a corporate-run oligarchy.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They’d end the income tax, eliminate federal regulatory agencies like the EPA, end all labor protections (including laws against child labor), let states ignore anti-discrimination and other federal regulations, and impose term limits so the only “institutional memory” for legislatures will be the corporate lobbyists.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All it needs to succeed—within just a few short years—is for Trump and the GOP to win big in 2020. And the prospects of that happening are going up every day. With a big Trump win will come a rewrite of our Constitution itself, if the billionaires funding it have their way.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But how could he win? With another $2 billion worth of free publicity, just like in 2016.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One example is how Trump’s reelection campaign got a great boost recently when the media, just like in 2016, went all-Trump-all-the-time around his ICE raids, and when he told four congresswomen of color to “go home” to the countries of their ancestors—a racist trope for centuries.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ICE raids were merely arrests of undocumented people who actually have committed crimes (beyond crossing the border) and currently have legal deportation orders already in place; they’re arrests like the ones Presidents Bush and Obama did daily.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There was nothing unique about them, and year over year, Trump has actually <a href="https://www.axios.com/immigration-ice-deportation-trump-obama-a72a0a44-540d-46bc-a671-cd65cf72f4b1.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">deported fewer people than Obama did</a>.</font></p><p class="pullquote" style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; box-sizing: inherit; float: right; font-weight: 700; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px 20px; text-align: right; width: 263.344px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump tweeted the media into a frenzy, and like obedient hounds, they frantically ran after the bits of hamburger he threw their way.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Trump tweeted the media into a frenzy, and like obedient hounds, they frantically ran after the bits of hamburger he threw their way.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Ayanna Pressley noted Monday, the media shouldn’t “take the bait.” Nonetheless, literally every week—virtually every day—since Trump was elected, he’s gotten the media to put his name on the front page of the nation’s newspapers and at the top of the TV news shows.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And in America, as P.T. Barnum (<a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/donald-trump-embraces-comparisons-p-t-barnum-article-1.2491619" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">whom Trump has cited as a role model</a>) said, it doesn’t matter if publicity is positive or negative, “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7988100-i-don-t-care-what-the-newspapers-say-about-me-as" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">As long as they spell my name right</a>.” And they always spell Trump’s name right.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As we saw with the 2015–2016 Republican primary, that Barnum-like daily publicity was all he needed to take down an entire field of competent, professional, and well-financed Republicans. Taking down Democrats may be even easier if he can paint the Democrats with his “open borders” and “Soviet-style socialism” lies (among others).</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NBC trained Trump well; they spent millions teaching him how to do a reality show, from cliff-hangers to <a href="https://robhasawebsite.com/survivor-heroes-v-healers-v-hustlers-weasels-or-goats/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">pitting “heroes” against “goats.”</a> It’s one of the few things he’s actually good at. And instead of his old “Apprentice” weekly show, he’s now producing a daily show from the White House.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But to what end?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s looking more and more like the endgame here for Trump—and the right-wing billionaires who support him and the GOP—is not just to get reelected, but to actually rewrite our Constitution and end the American experiment.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The group leading this charge for the billionaires is called <b>Citizens for Self-Governance (CSG)</b>, which <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_for_Self-Governance" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">SourceWatch.org</a> says, “is a right-wing political organization ... that is campaigning for an Article V convention to amend the U.S. Constitution.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SourceWatch notes that, “Through its ‘Convention of States’ project, CSG promotes an effort to amend the U.S. Constitution pursuant to Article V, which provides that thirty-four states (two-thirds) can trigger a convention to propose an amendment, which must then be ratified by 38 states (three-fourths).”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><div class="clearfix" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They add, CSG director Eric O’Keefe “has deep ties to Charles and David Koch and has been a founder and funder of numerous right-wing groups including <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wisconsin_Club_for_Growth" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Wisconsin Club for Growth</a>,” and the CSG, “Through its Convention of States project, is pushing for a constitutional convention in order to severely restrict federal power, for example by redefining the Commerce Clause to prohibit Congress from enacting child labor or anti-discrimination laws, or by adding a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And they’re actually doing it, complete with annual dress rehearsals in the Washington, D.C., area. As <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_to_propose_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Wikipedia</a> notes:</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In December 2013, nearly 100 legislators from 32 states met at Mount Vernon to talk about how to call a convention of states. …<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> In February 2014, U.S. Senator Tom Coburn announced that after his retirement from Congress, he would focus on promoting the Convention of States to state legislatures.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In December 2015, Marco Rubio endorsed CSG’s efforts to a call [for] an Article V Convention. In January 2016, <b>Texas Governor Greg Abbott called for a Convention of States to restrict the power of the federal government.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And their rehearsals now include delegates from every state in the union.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_to_propose_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Wikipedia notes</a>:</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In September 2016, CSG held a simulated convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution in Williamsburg, Virginia. An assembly of 137 delegates representing every state gathered to conduct a simulated convention. The simulated convention passed amendments relating to six topics, including requiring the states to approve any increase in the national debt, imposing term limits, restricting the scope of the Commerce Clause [to its original meaning], limiting the power of federal regulations, requiring a supermajority to impose federal taxes and repealing the 16th Amendment [end the income tax], and giving the states the power to abrogate any federal law, regulation, or executive order.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Convention of States <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/states-that-have-passed-the-convention-of-states-article-v-application" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">website</a> notes that as of 2019, 15 states have signed on, and enough to hit the critical 38 are lined up, just waiting for right-wing billionaire takeovers of their state legislatures.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And taking over state legislatures in 2020 just became a huge priority for those billionaires because of the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing radical gerrymandering. Expect hundreds of millions of dollars to pour into state legislative and gubernatorial races (thanks to <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/07/05/is-america-past-the-point-of-no-return_partner/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Citizens United</a>), with virtually no opposing funding from the handful of left-wing billionaires.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Progress to rewrite our Constitution was slow but steady when Georgia’s legislature was the first state to join, in March of 2014. States that signed on before Trump’s election included <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/georgia-becomes-first-state-in-history-to-pass-the-convention-of-states-application" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Georgia</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/florida-and-alaska-officially-pass-convention-of-states-application" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Alaska</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/florida-and-alaska-officially-pass-convention-of-states-application" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Florida</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/alabama-joins-florida-georgia-and-alaska-and-passes-the-convention-of-states-resolution" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Alabama</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/tennessee-becomes-the-5th-state-to-pass-the-article-v-convention-of-states-resolution-to-rein-in-the-federal-government-video" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Tennessee</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/indiana-becomes-6th-state-to-call-for-a-convention-of-states-to-rein-in-the-federal-government" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Indiana</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/oklahoma-becomes-the-7th-state-to-call-for-a-convention-of-states-under-article-v-to-restore-the-balance-of-power-between-the-federal-government-and-the-states" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Oklahoma</a>, and <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/victory-louisiana-becomes-the-eighth-state-to-call-for-a-convention-of-states" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Louisiana</a>.</font></p><p class="pullquote" style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; box-sizing: inherit; float: right; font-weight: 700; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px 20px; text-align: right; width: 263.344px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Expect hundreds of millions of dollars to pour into state legislative and gubernatorial races (thanks to <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/07/05/is-america-past-the-point-of-no-return_partner/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Citizens United</a>), with virtually no opposing funding from the handful of left-wing billionaires.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since Trump took over the White House, however, they’ve added <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/victory-in-arizona-house-passes-convention-of-states-application" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Arizona</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/north-dakota-is-number-10-legislature-passes-convention-of-states-resolution" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">North Dakota</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/texas-is-11" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Texas</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/missouri-passes-convention-of-states-application-becoming-12th-state-to-do-so" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Missouri</a>, and, just in the first three months of 2019, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/arkansas-becomes-state-13-to-pass-the-convention-of-states-resolution" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Arkansas</a>, <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/utah-wins-state-legislature-becomes-14th-nationwide-to-call-for-convention-of-states" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Utah</a>, and <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/news/mississippi-is-15-state-legislature-calls-for-convention-of-states-to-limit-federal-government" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Mississippi</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As of now, the call for a Convention to rewrite the Constitution has also <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/states-that-have-passed-the-convention-of-states-article-v-application" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">passed at least one chamber</a>of the legislatures in New Mexico, Mississippi, Iowa, South Dakota, Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, and New Hampshire.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And with Trump in power, the Convention of States website notes that just this year (2019) they are <a href="https://conventionofstates.com/states-that-have-passed-the-convention-of-states-article-v-application" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">working to bring in</a> Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia, Illinois and Hawaii.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If Trump is as successful in manipulating the media as he was in 2016, and the GOP can ride his coattails (along with hundreds of millions from right-wing billionaires) to sweep the Democratic-controlled states they’re targeting, they could hit the 38 states needed to replace the Constitution in the first year or two after his reelection (there are 40 states in the lists above).</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A probably apocryphal quote often attributed to Arnold Toynbee says, “When the last man who remembers the horrors of the last great war dies, the next great war becomes inevitable.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Similarly, when the last American who remembers how quickly democratic constitutions <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">were replaced in Europe in the 1930s</a> dies, the replacement of democracy in America becomes inevitable.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">This article was produced by the </span><a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Independent Media Institute</a>.</font></span></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px auto 1.25rem; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; word-break: break-word; padding: 0px; font-family: ElizabethSerif, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 636px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">Congratulations are in order for Jim DeMint: Saying that his move signals a “new mission” for the Tea Party, the former senator has gone from presiding over <a href="http://gawker.com/leaked-files-show-how-the-heritage-foundation-navigates-1727706821" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 140, 186); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">one of the most well-funded institutions</a> in the dark-money ecosystem to advising one of the most radical. DeMint, the Republican who retired from the Senate in 2013 to run the Heritage Foundation has been named a “senior advisor” to the Convention of States Project—a nationwide effort <a href="http://fusion.kinja.com/right-wing-billionaires-are-buying-themselves-a-new-con-1793960357#ga=2.254206336.924033623.1497300927-1445517093.1479398248" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 140, 186); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">backed by billionaires like the Kochs and the Mercers</a> to revise the United States Constitution without the approval of Congress.</p><p style="margin: 0px auto 1.25rem; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; word-break: break-word; padding: 0px; font-family: ElizabethSerif, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 636px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">A hero to Tea Party Republicans, DeMint <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/us/politics/in-the-demint-era-at-heritage-a-shift-from-policy-to-politics.html?r=0" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 140, 186); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">was already perceived</a> to have led Heritage away from its policy-oriented beginnings, and <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/02/why-jim-demint-was-ousted-from-heritage-237876" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 140, 186); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">according to Politico</a>, his continued support for Trump drove a wedge between him and the Heritage Foundation’s board of directors. They voted early last month to remove DeMint as president of the organization amid a broader debate in the conservative establishment over what posture to take towards an increasingly volatile Trump administration.</p><p style="margin: 0px auto 1.25rem; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; word-break: break-word; padding: 0px; font-family: ElizabethSerif, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 636px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">“The Tea Party needs a new mission,” <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/12/jim-demint-joins-group-that-wants-to-amend-constitution-tea-party/102748540/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 140, 186); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">DeMint told <em style="box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: inherit;">USA Today</em></a>, of his new role. “They realize that all the work they did in 2010 has not resulted in all the things they hoped for. Many of them are turning to Article V,” a legal loophole that would (theoretically) allow state legislators to bypass Congress. At the Convention of States Project, DeMint will join another former senator, Tom Coburn, who now travels to state legislatures across the country lobbying lawmakers to pass resolutions demanding that Congress hold a convention to amend the constitution. It’s not clear whether DeMint will be working as a lobbyist like Coburn. The Convention of States Project did not immediately respond to Fusion’s request for comment. >Various activist groups have sought to amend the constitution on specific points through an Article V convention before, but few have been as well-funded or as ideologically driven as the Convention of States Project, steeped in evangelical Christianity and backed by millions of dollars in dark money. Between 2011 and 2015, the group’s <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3525760-Citizens-for-Self-Governance-2015-Form-990.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 140, 186); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">budget</a> more than tripled to $5.7 million—buoyed by donations from the Mercer Family Foundation and various donor-advised funds linked to the Koch brothers. <b>(Eric O’Keefe, a longtime Koch operative, co-founded the Convention of States Project’s parent organization, Citizens for Self Governance, </b>and serves as chairman of its board of directors.) Two thirds of state legislatures (so, 34) must pass resolutions petitioning Congress to hold an Article V convention in order to make it happen; so far, <a href="https://www.cosaction.com/missouri_passes_convention_of_states_application_becoming_12th_state_to_do_so" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 140, 186); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">12 have passed</a> the Convention of States application.</p><p style="margin: 0px auto 1.25rem; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; word-break: break-word; padding: 0px; font-family: ElizabethSerif, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 636px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">“Convention of States is a much more radical approach to a constitutional convention” than earlier efforts, Arn Pearson, General Counsel at the Center for Media and Democracy, told Fusion. “Their budget has increased dramatically. This is their effort to push the state agenda as far as they can while they hold peak power.”</p><p style="margin: 0px auto 1.25rem; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; word-break: break-word; padding: 0px; font-family: ElizabethSerif, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 636px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">One Convention of States lobbyist (a member of the Utah legislature in his spare time) lauded <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3525790-Ivory-Texas-Plan-Email-2-25-16.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 140, 186); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">Texas governor and Article V proponent Greg Abbott’s plan</a> for several proposed amendments, including one that would prohibit Congress from regulating activity that occurs wholly within a single state—a proposal that would effectively negate what little remains of progress made during the New Deal and the Civil Rights eras. “I see these guys as the new Confederacy,” Pearson said. “They want to have it so that states are no longer bound by federal law. They want the ability to opt out.”</p><div class="js_ad-mobile-dynamic js_ad-dynamic" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: ElizabethSerif, Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><p style="margin: 0px auto 1.25rem; box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; word-break: break-word; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 32px; max-width: 636px;">“People are disgusted with Washington,” <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/12/jim-demint-joins-group-that-wants-to-amend-constitution-tea-party/102748540/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 140, 186); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">DeMint told <em style="box-sizing: inherit; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: inherit;">USA Today</em></a>. “They are ready to move power back closer to home.” A fitting cause for the gentleman from South Carolina—although, actually, the preferred terminology these days isn’t “states’ rights” but “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/12/05/next-up-for-alec-taming-the-federal-government/?utm_term=.48b55023830f" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 140, 186); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">local control</a>.</p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><a href="http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/03/23/kochs-bankroll-movement-rewrite-constitution/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/03/23/kochs-bankroll-movement-rewrite-constitution/</font></a></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Alex Kotch, CMD contributor</font></span></em></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A constitutional convention, something thought impossible not long ago, is looking increasingly likely. Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, if 34 state legislatures “issue a call” for a constitutional convention, Congress must convene one. By some counts, the right-wing only needs six more states. Once called, delegates can propose and vote on changes and new amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which, if approved, are currently required to be ratified by 38 states.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are two major legislative pushes for a convention at the state level. One would attempt to engineer a convention for a balanced budget amendment only, and the other tries to secure an open convention for the purpose of limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government. But once a convention is underway, all bets are off. The convention can write its own rules, resulting in a wide-open or “runaway” convention that can make major changes to the constitution and even change the number of states required to ratify those changes.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If America gets saddled with a runaway convention, the Koch coterie of funders will be to blame. Most of the groups pushing the convention idea are being underwritten by one or more institutions tied to billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ATTEMPTS TO LIMIT TOPIC OF THE CONVENTION LIKELY TO FAIL</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Feb. 24, Wyoming became the <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/texas/articles/2017-02-28/call-to-convene-convention-of-states-clears-texas-senate" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">29th state</a> to pass a resolution requesting a convention specifically to add a single balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Many of these legislative resolutions also attempt to set the rules for the convention and limit who can attend it to a select list of largely GOP state leaders.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Austerity advocates claim that they need only to convince five of seven targeted states—Arizona, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin—to get on board, and they will have enough states to convene a convention. As the <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2017/03/13230/wisconsin-lawmaker-echoes-alec-call-constitutional-convention" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Center for Media and Democracy has reported,</a> three linked measures were just introduced in Wisconsin and were placed on a fast track to approval.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another faction representing a broader “Convention of States” initiative is advocating an open constitutional convention to <a href="https://www.conventionofstates.com/about" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">limit</a> “the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.” Because this open convention format would be called on a particular subject rather than a particular amendment, representatives would likely vote on any number of measures.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Legislatures in nine states—Arizona, Georgia, Alaska, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Louisiana—have signed on to the Convention of States resolution,. </b>Texas appears likely to join in, as the state Senate <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-legislature/2017/02/28/senate-approves-bills-call-convention-states-amend-constitution" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">approved</a> a Convention of States bill in February. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is fiercely campaigning for a convention and has deemed it an “emergency issue.” In 2016, he published a 70-page plan that includes nine proposed amendments aimed at severely limiting federal authority, even allowing a two-thirds majority of the states to override a Supreme Court ruling or a federal law.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Groups like the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Common Cause, and the Center for Media and Democracy have raised the alarm about these efforts. No convention has been called since 1787 in Philadelphia where George Washington presided.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/research/constitutional-balanced-budget-amendment-poses-serious-risks" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Center on Budget and Policy Priorities</a> explains why any convention call, no matter how narrowly written, is likely to result in a “runaway” convention. A convention is empowered to write its own rules, including how delegates are chosen, how many delegates attend and whether a supermajority is required to approve amendments.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nothing in the Constitution prevents a convention, once convened, from setting its own agenda, influenced by powerful special interests like the Koch groups. A convention could even choose an entirely new ratification process. “The 1787 convention ignored the ratification process under which it was established and created a new one, reducing the number of states needed to approve the new Constitution and removing Congress from the approval process,” writes CBPP.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legal uncertainly surrounds the entire effort, which is sure to be litigated if successful. For instance, are states bound by resolutions passed many years ago? Will states withdraw their approval? Some states, like Delaware and New Mexico, have already moved to do so.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">THE KOCH CONNECTION TO THE PUSH FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch have long opposed federal power and federal spending. Koch Industries is one of the <a href="https://www.peri.umass.edu/water-100-polluters-index" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">nation’s</a> <a href="https://www.peri.umass.edu/toxic-100-air-polluters-index-2016-report-based-on-2014-data" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">biggest</a><a href="https://www.peri.umass.edu/greenhouse-100-polluters-index" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">polluters</a> and has been sanctioned and fined over and over again by both federal and state authorities. In response, the Kochs have launched a host of “limited government” advocacy organizations and have created a massive $400 million campaign finance network, fueled by their fortunes and those of their wealthy, right-wing allies, that rivals the two major political parties.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Kochs’ Americans for Prosperity says it <a href="http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/wisconsin-legislature-joins-radical-rights-call-federal-constitutional-convention" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">favors</a> a balanced budget convention</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Such an austerity amendment would drastically cut the size of the federal government, threatening critical programs like Social Security and Medicare and eviscerating the government’s ability to respond to economic downturns, major disasters and the climate crisis.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">AFP has opposed an open convention, calling it “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110710152110/http://www.americansforprosperity.org/021911-tx-legislature-considers-us-constitutional-convention" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">problematic</a>.” But whatever qualms the Kochs might have, they continue to be a bedrock funder of the entire convention “movement.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Running the “Convention of States initiative” is an Austin, Texas-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit called <b><a href="https://selfgovern.com/" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Citizens for Self-Governance</a> (CSG). </b>CSG reported revenue of $5.7 million in 2015, more than double its haul from two years earlier, when it launched its Convention of States Project, according to <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-legislature/2017/02/28/senate-approves-bills-call-convention-states-amend-constitution" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Dallas News</a>. It now boasts 115,000 “volunteers,” although that figure may represent the number of addresses on its email list.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The group is not required to disclose its donors, but research into other organizations’ tax records by the Center for Media and Democracy, Conservative Transparency and this author show a web of Koch-linked groups having provided nearly $5.4 million to CSG from the group’s founding in 2011 through 2015:</font></p><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Donors Trust, a preferred secret money <a href="https://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/14/12151/following-donors-trust-money-trail" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">conduit</a> for individuals and foundations in the Koch network of funders, has given CSG at least $790,000 since 2011.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Greater Houston Community Foundation, which is funded by Donors Capital Fund (linked to Donors Trust) and the Kochs’ Knowledge and Progress Fund, has donated over $2 million since 2011.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, which has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Donors Capital Fund, gave $2.5 million from 2012-2013.</font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Citizens for Self-Governance also has two Koch-connected board members.<b> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Eric_O%27Keefe" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Eric O’Keefe</a> is a director of the Wisconsin Club for Growth</b>, a group which has taken in <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wisconsin_Club_for_Growth#Funders" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">considerable funding</a> from Koch-linked groups like the Center to Protect Patient Rights, and was at the center of the long-running “John Doe” criminal investigation of Scott Walker’s campaign coordination with dark money groups.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">O’Keefe was the<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/118348/scott-walker-campaign-finance-scandal-serving-higher-purpose" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;"> national field coordinator</a> for the Libertarian Party when David Koch ran for Vice President in 1979 on the Libertarian Party ticket. The party’s platform called for the end of campaign finance law, the minimum wage, “oppressive Social Security,” Medicaid, Medicare and federal deficit spending.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Koch agenda has not changed much since.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Another board member is Tim Dunn, an oilman from Midland, Texas who is vice chairman of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Texas_Public_Policy_Foundation" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Texas Public Policy Foundation</a> (TPPF), </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">a right-wing think tank that’s raked in over $1 million from Koch family foundations, $160,000 from Koch Industries in 2012 alone and at least $1.8 million from Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dunn runs another political group, Empower Texans, which supports Republican candidates and has taken in funds from Donors Trust and “Americans for Job Security,” a <a href="http://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/koch-brothers-groups-hit-massive-fines-crew-complaint/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Koch-tied dark money group</a> that was slapped with a severe fine by the FEC for its involvement in a dark money shell game intended to disguise the origin of its funds.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Both <a href="http://www.texaspolicy.com/content/detail/tppf-releases-paper-on-article-v-convention-of-states" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">TPPF</a> and <a href="https://empowertexans.com/under-the-dome/legislative-priority-convention-states/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Empower Texans</a> back the constitutional convention idea.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What’s more, a 501(c)4 nonprofit connected to CSG, the Alliance for Self-Governance (which does business as Convention of States Action), received <a href="http://conservativetransparency.org/recipient/alliance-for-self-governance/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">$270,000</a> in 2012 from Americans for Limited Government, which has received funding not only by Donors Capital Fund but by two Koch-funded political groups, the Center to Protect Patient Rights and Americans for Job Security.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those two groups exchanged millions of dollars in 2010 and 2012, illegally hiding the source of funding for political expenditures, lying to the Internal Revenue Service and making unlawful contributions to pass-through groups, prompting investigations and historic fines by the both the <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/dark-money-groups-pay-1-million-dollars-in-fines-in-california-case" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">State of California</a> and the <a href="http://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/koch-brothers-groups-hit-massive-fines-crew-complaint/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Federal Elections Commission</a>. Eric O’Keefe’s Wisconsin Club for Growth also funneled $450,000 to Alliance for Self-Governance in 2012, at a time when WCFG was battling the Walker recall.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Any time any organization is named “self-governance” or “limited government” you can be sure that Wisconsin’s <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Eric_O%27Keefe" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Eric O’Keefe</a> is either a founder or on the board, and indeed O’Keefe is tied to all three organizations: CSG, the <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Alliance_for_Self-Governance" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration: none;">Alliance for Self-Governance</a> and Americans for Limited Government.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If the Kochs and their friends don’t want an open constitutional convention, they’ve sure done a lot to aid the effort.</font></p></div><div><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/wisconsin-pin-hand-grenade-billionaire-and-corporate-funded-coup-rewrite" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/wisconsin-pin-hand-grenade-billionaire-and-corporate-funded-coup-rewrite</a></font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and yet a meeting scheduled next week in the Wisconsin legislature may possess even more terrifying ramifications for the future of the country. </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>According to <a href="http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/raw/cid/1377335" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Wisconsin.gov</a>, Republican lawmakers will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, March 28, to determine whether Wisconsin will call for a constitutional convention.</b> While a subject of legal debate, changes to America's governing document can be made in one of three ways: Three-quarters of the states can ratify an amendment that Congress has passed with supermajorities in both houses; three-quarters of the states, with majority votes in each, can bypass Congress by invoking Article 5 to approve an amendment; or two thirds of the states can simply use Article 5 to call a "Convention of the States" and rewrite the document as they see fit (three-quarters of the states would then need to approve their changes).</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A "Convention of the States" has never been invoked before, but Republicans and Koch-backed organizations like <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_for_Self-Governance" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Citizens for Self-Governance</a> have been salivating over the possibility for years, even holding dress rehearsals in Washington, D.C., with representatives from across the country.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> With the federal deficit presently hovering just below $20 trillion, their ostensible plan is to add a balanced budget amendment. This alone would likely shred the country's meager social safety net, but as Assembly Minority Leader and Kenosha Democrat Peter Barca warns the </span><a href="http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/wisconsin-gop-moving-to-call-for-constitutional-convention/article_747bffa7-9290-5d07-9c6a-21b50124b57d.html" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Wisconsin State Journal</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, a constitutional convention could put citizen's very rights "up for grabs." </span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scot Ross, executive director of liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, puts it more bluntly: “The balanced budget talk is a fig leaf to let them change America into a right-wing alternative universe."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an <a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/right-wing-billionaires-have-project-going-rewrite-our-constitution-and-they-are" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">essay</a> earlier this month, AlterNet's Thom Hartmann explored a few scenarios that were once the stuff of <a href="http://www.fed-soc.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Federalist Society</a> fever dreams and are now all too plausible:</font></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Imagine if the U.S. Constitution barred the EPA and Department of Education from existing. All union protections are dead, there are no more federal workplace safety standards, and even child-labor laws are struck down, along with a national minimum wage.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Imagine that the Constitution makes it illegal for the federal government to protect you from big polluters, big banks and even big food and pharma—all are free to rip you off or poison you all they want, and your only remedy is in state courts and legislatures, because the Constitution prevents Congress from doing anything about any of it. The federal government can't even enforce voting or civil rights laws.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To add injury to insult, the federal government has to shut down Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, because all of these programs (along with food stamps, housing supports and any programs that help the middle class, the less fortunate or disabled) are “beyond the reach” of what the federal government can do.</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>State Senator Chris Kapenga of Delafield </b>introduced the resolution earlier this month. A second resolution requires Wisconsin delegates confine their proposed amendments to the subject of the proceeding, in accordance with convention rules established by the Assembly of State Legislatures. Kapenga has also introduced a bill that would trigger the dismissal of delegates who vote on amendments that don't meet this standard. But as Peter Barca observes, "even if Wisconsin can control its delegates, there’s no guarantee other states will."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If passed, Wisconsin would become the 29th state to call for a constitutional convention; just 34 are needed for it to become a reality. The 2016 elections have left Republicans in control of 33 state legislatures. According to the <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/21dbd1254fea4738b662a12612c5fbf1/obama-accomplished-policy-goals-his-party-floundered" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Associated Press</a>, the Democratic Party has lost more than 1000 governorships, state legislative and Congressional seats combined since 2008.</font></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Citizens for Self-Governance (CSG)</b> is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">American</a> political organization that advocates for the restoration of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-governance" title="Self-governance" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">self-governance</a> across the United States.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; line-height: 19.2px;"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><h2 style="background-image: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h2> <span class="toctoggle" style="user-select: none;"> [<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#" class="internal" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">hide</a>] </span></div><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#Leadership" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Leadership</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#Activities" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Activities</span></font></a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#Lawsuit_against_the_Internal_Revenue_Service" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">2.1</span> <span class="toctext">Lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#Convention_of_the_States" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">2.2</span> <span class="toctext">Convention of the States</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#See_also" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">See also</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#References" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></font></a></li></ul></div><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h2 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Leadership">Leadership</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Citizens_for_Self-Governance&action=edit§ion=1" title="Edit section: Leadership" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></font></h2><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Meckler" title="Mark Meckler" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Mark Meckler</a> serves as President of CSG.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a></sup> Meckler was previously co-founder of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Patriots" title="Tea Party Patriots" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Tea Party Patriots</a> before resigning from that group.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[2]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Activities">Activities</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Citizens_for_Self-Governance&action=edit§ion=2" title="Edit section: Activities" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></font></h2><h3 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Lawsuit_against_the_Internal_Revenue_Service">Lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Citizens_for_Self-Governance&action=edit§ion=3" title="Edit section: Lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CSG filed a class action lawsuit against the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Service" title="Internal Revenue Service" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Internal Revenue Service</a>, alleging violations under the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_Act_of_1974" title="Privacy Act of 1974" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Privacy Act</a> as well as violations of constitutional rights guaranteeing free expression and equal protection under the law.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[3]</a></sup> The lawsuit stemmed from IRS targeting of conservative groups for more scrutiny as they applied for tax-exempt status.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[4]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[5]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[6]</a></sup></font></p><h3 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Convention_of_the_States">Convention of the States</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Citizens_for_Self-Governance&action=edit§ion=4" title="Edit section: Convention of the States" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CSG has called for a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_to_propose_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[7]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-slate_8-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-slate-8" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[8]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[9]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[10]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[11]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[12]</a></sup> According to Meckler:</font></p><blockquote class="templatequote" style="margin-top: 0px; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By calling a convention of states, we can stop the federal spending and debt spree, the power grabs of the federal courts, and other misuses of federal power. The current situation is precisely what the Founders feared, and they gave us a solution we have a duty to use.</font></p><div class="templatequotecite" style="line-height: 1em; padding-left: 2em; margin-top: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">—Mark Meckler in <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_Magazine" title="Slate Magazine" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Slate Magazine</a></i><sup id="cite_ref-slate_8-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-slate-8" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[8]</a></sup></font></div></blockquote><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Levin" title="Mark Levin" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Mark Levin</a> has supported CSG's efforts to a call a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Constitutional_Convention_of_the_United_States" title="Second Constitutional Convention of the United States" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">second constitutional convention</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-13" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[13]</a></sup> CSG opened numerous chapters across the nation to urge state legislators to summon a national convention; for example, in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia" title="Virginia" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Virginia</a>, the group sponsored the founder of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry_College" title="Patrick Henry College" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Patrick Henry College</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Farris" title="Michael Farris" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Michael Farris</a>, to launch a <i>Convention of States Project</i> which is a forum for delegates appointed by state governments to propose amendments to the constitution.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_for_Self-Governance#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[14]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also">See also</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Citizens_for_Self-Governance&action=edit§ion=5" title="Edit section: See also" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></font></h2><ul style="line-height: 19.2px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_to_propose_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Constitutional_Convention_of_the_United_States" title="Second Constitutional Convention of the United States" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Second Constitutional Convention of the United States</font></a></li></ul></div></div>