State Republican Senators About To Make A Big Mistake! Senate Resolutions Calling for a ConCon Must be Blocked!

As I watched the Senate State Affairs Committee hearing on SJR10 and SJR1, I could not believe the lack of understanding as to the risks to our original constitution that is posed by a Constitutional Convention. I detected reservations on the part of several committee members, so I am wondering if passing it out of committee was in order to please the Governor and Lt.Governor?

Instead of passing another unnecessary ConCon resolution, the Senate and House should be rescinding the two ConCon resolutions passed in the 70’s that are still valid. Fifteen states have rescinded their previous resolutions and that is what Texas should be doing!

While the State Affairs Committee Chair, Senator Robert Duncan, pointed out that he sees only two ways to balance the federal budget—1) Raise taxes or 2) Congress could push the costs of spending legislation down to the states to pay for. Of course a third way to ‘balance’ the budget he did not mention would be to print more fiat money thereby contributing to the further devaluation of the dollar. As we all know, the states cannot print money.

Senators Van de Putte and Eddie Lucio did an excellent job of quizzing the authors of the Joint Resolutions about the lack of control over a Convention once convened. Neither Senator Ogden nor Shapiro knew the answer.

It seems that no one in the hearing, witnesses and committee members alike, really wants a Constitutional Convention but wants to ‘scare’ Congress into passing a Balanced Budget Amendment. A ConCon is what is scary! Don’t ask for what you do not want for you may get it!

A balanced budget, without an amendment, is an excellent idea. However, a Constitutional Convention for a BBA or any other well-intended purpose is a BAD IDEA!

All of the witnesses and both authors were clueless as to the lack of guidelines set forth for a Convention, with the exception of Mrs. Gerstenschlager and another man who testified against the ConCon resolutions.

It matters not that the state of Texas, or any other state, may desire to limit the convention to one or more proposed constitutional amendments. There is nothing in the constitution or in any rule that limits a ConCon, once convened, to any one amendment or group of amendments. To say that Texas would rescind its resolution if the convention votes to consider any amendment's other than the Balanced Budget Amendment is ludicrous! Would such an action lead to the expulsion from the convention of the Texas delegates thereby removing our voice from the debate? No one could answer that question.

According to the late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Warren Burger, “There is no effective way to limit or muzzle the actions of a Constitutional Convention. After a convention is convened, it will be too late to stop the Convention if we don’t like the agenda.”

The original constitution was written by Godly men who had experienced governmental tyranny. They produced a constitution unsurpassed in the world today to protect the people from excessive governmental control. In today’s volatile political climate a ConCon would be disastrous--chaos would reign supreme--both inside and outside the convention-- with ideological conflicts from the Right, the Left and in-between, and our God-given right to Life, Liberty and Property would be in peril.

The cost of waging an effective educational campaign against bad amendments would be enormous and possibly a losing effort as the media, TV, radio and the internet add to the confusion. Politicians who led us into such a mess will have lost credibility and their re-election placed in jeopardy (as well it should be!) When those in Congress continually ignore the original constitution, refuse to listen to the people on important issues, is it not naïve to believe they would enforce any new amendment? The safest alternative is to vote them out of office. The new resolutions calling for a ConCon can be stopped in the Senate with 11 votes to block the vote on the floor of the Senate. Will the Republican Senators go-along- to-get-along out of fear of retaliation from the Governor and Lt. Governor and approve this liberty-destroying legislation; or will they stand up for saving our original Constitution?

You can help save our Constitution by calling, faxing, or personally lobbying your senator before they vote on Tuesday or Wednesday, February 21st or 22nd.

Don’t Delay—Do it Today!

Click on the Senate Directory for phone and fax numbers:
http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/Senate/senmem.htm

Save our Constitution!

Kill all ConCon Resolutions however well-intended. Rescind the 70’s resolutions

Our liberty depends upon safeguarding the Constitution and you have been sworn to do that.

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She's at it again....here's the truth of the matter from Senator John Cornyn:]
A constitutional solution to fiscal discipline

Posted Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011

The Star-Telegram Editorial Board recently called the prospect of a constitutional convention "delusional." But Texas leaders who want to petition Congress to call a convention are on to something. A convention is not only one of the constitutional ways to begin the amendment process, but also a proven way to motivate Washington to adopt needed reforms. And one way or another, we need a balanced budget amendment to get a handle on our out-of-control national debt.

We have all heard the numbers. Our national debt is more than $14 trillion, and has increased by almost 33 percent since the beginning of the Obama administration. We are spending more than $30,000 per household, and borrowing more than 40 cents of every dollar we spend. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects the 2011 budget deficit to be $1.5 trillion, which means this will be Washington's third straight year of trillion-dollar deficits.

Our nation's fiscal mess is not just a math problem. Government debt can crowd out private-sector investment that instead could help create jobs for the more than 14 million Americans who are unemployed. Government debt increases our dependence on foreign governments, including China, and represents a crushing future tax burden for young parents and their children. Worst of all, government debt represents a loss of freedom for every American, because debt narrows the range of choices available for families, businesses, and even government itself.

Reducing our national debt has never been more urgent, so that's why I recently introduced (with more than 20 of my colleagues) a joint resolution to propose a balanced budget amendment to our Constitution. A balanced budget requirement is a feature of nearly every state in the land, including Texas. Nations such as Germany and Switzerland have proven the concept as well. In addition to balancing our budget, our proposed amendment would also cap federal spending at 20 percent of gross domestic product, and require two-thirds of both the House and the Senate to approve any tax increase.

States can also initiate the amendment process by petitioning Congress to call a constitutional convention, which they should do if Washington ignores their concerns and those of the people. The Founders included this option because they foresaw that Congress might resist limits on federal power, and they wanted to give the people the opportunity to propose amendments without congressional pre-approval.

The Founders were well aware that another convention could be unpredictable, so they included safeguards to protect our form of government from radical changes. Article V requires that three-quarters of the state legislatures must approve any change to our constitution, whether proposed by Congress or by convention. This high standard ensures that no amendment could be approved without very broad support across America.

Far from being delusional, popular support for a constitutional convention is a proven way to spur Congress to adopt long neglected reforms. The prospect of another convention prompted Congress to adopt the Bill of Rights. Other movements to call conventions resulted in the direct election of Senators nearly a century ago, and major budget reforms in the 1980s. I hope the Texas Legislature and those of other states keep the pressure on Congress to bring the balanced budget amendment to the floors of both houses, and then to the states for ratification.

Some in Washington - and even in Texas - fear popular movements to amend our Constitution, when they deserve our respect. After all, "We the People" established our Constitution in the first place, and we have amended it more than two dozen times to protect our liberties and make Washington function better. The people are not a threat to our government, but its ultimate source of legitimacy and its greatest hope for needed reforms.

John Cornyn is a U.S. senator from Texas.

first of all, referring to what some european countries are doing in argument MEANS NADA to me, i could not CARE LESS what ANY other country is up to, so that point of your argument is useless. secondly, i agree with shirley, opening this up could give politicians opportunities to play even more games. the LAST group of people i trust are senate democrats, and the SECOND LAST group of people i trust are senate republicans. as we see here in texas, entrenched REPUBLICANS are just about as much a part of the problem as are democrats. i put FAR MORE faith in the Eagle Forum, and in Shirley S. than i would ever put in a person, who among other things, sat thru 8 years of bush jr and his spending and never did a thing about it, and who also has, and from what i am reading, is doing again, supporting amnesty for illegals. it is the senate republicans who i don't trust

I've read Shirley's blog and Senator Cornyn's reply. We have seen over the last two years this Presidents disreguard for the constitution. Backed by the Unions and a majority of the "Hand-Out" people. I strongly feel a call for a constitutional Convention should wait until after an election of a Conservitive Electorat.
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