Mark Meckler, president of the Convention of States Foundation, discussed the importance of a constitutional convention of the states on Breitbart News Saturday and said it is the “mechanism” for the American people to “take power away from Washington, DC.”
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Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle opened the show by asking Meckler why a constitutional convention of the states is needed in today’s America.
Meckler said that the constitution provides this mechanism to give the American people the power to amend the constitution instead of only Congress having that power. He also noted that the founding fathers unanimously agreed on the idea.
“So there was no debate on this, everybody agreed this is something that was going to be necessary, it was inserted into the Constitution unanimously. That’s how we get the right as citizens in our states to call for a Convention of States,” Meckler said.
“It takes two thirds of states to call, so that means 34 states are required to call for a convention,” Meckler explained. “So far 19 states have called, only 15 to go, well past the halfway mark, pushing towards the two thirds mark.”
Meckler then discussed his organization’s proposed amendments to the constitution, which are primarily focused on limiting the federal government’s powers.
He said:
And what we’re calling for is a convention to propose amendments specifically to restrain federal tyranny, to impose term limits on Congress, supported by 85 percent of the American people. To impose actual term limits as well, on what you and I know as the deep state bureaucrats, who served for 20, 30, 40 years and really control our government. To impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, like a balanced budget amendment, tax cap, spending caps, and finally, to impose power restraints on the federal government, telling them, “Nope, you can’t have a department of education or energy or EPA.” All these things they were never intended to have. So that’s the process and what we’re seeking.
Boyle then brought up concerns that the convention could turn into a “runaway convention,” which refers to the fear that a constitutional convention of the states would go beyond the scope of what the states contemplated when they applied for the convention.
According to Meckler, a “runaway convention” would not be permitted under the constitution.
“It takes 38 states to ratify anything that comes out of the convention. So remember, a convention is simply a meeting for making suggestions to the states of proposed amendments, then you have to get 38 states to ratify,” Meckler explained.
“If you’re worried about an amendment as a conservative that you think might be ratified, just tell me what that amendment is, and then list the 38 states,” he said.
Meckler also highlighted the various state legislatures who have voted in favor of a convention of the states and listed states that he expects to support the convention in the coming years.
Meckler expects to reach the 34-state threshold necessary to call a convention of the states by 2024.
“I would say the first thing to note is how close we are, and 15 might sound like a bit to people, but remember, this is going to be Republican states that do this today,” Meckler said. “There are 31 state legislatures controlled by Republicans, including the Nebraska unicameral, it’s just a one house legislature. But we I think we’re gonna get to 34 here by next year.”
“And the reason I say that is Minnesota is going to flip this year. We’re working there very heavily, the House will flip, the Senate is already Republican,” Meckler continued. “So that takes us to 32 states I think we’re going to flip. It’s possible that Maine is going to flip this cycle. I was just up there, it looks really good.”
“And then in ’23, there’s an off year election that’s in Virginia. We flipped the Virginia House of Delegates last year in the last year. And in fact, the final votes to be counted, there was actually a recount,” Meckler said. “And it was a Convention of States District captain in Virginia Beach that flipped that legislature. And so we’re doing this all over the country, I think we get to 34 by 2024. And I think that’s when we call a Convention.”
Along with Minnesota, Meckler also has his eye on Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina as opportunities for the GOP to gain control of the legislatures and vote in favor of a convention of the states.
Meckler ended the interview by emphasizing the importance of a constitutional convention and highlighting his organization’s massive grassroots effort to bring a convention forward.
“I think it’s very likely, look, the worst Washington, DC, gets, the more likely it becomes people realize we’re gonna have to do something,” Meckler said.
“I’m 60-years-old. My first election I voted in was Ronald Reagan. As great as Ronald Reagan was, the government grew under Ronald Reagan. And so the key is we the people are going to have to take power away from Washington, DC,” Meckler said. “And this is the mechanism to do it. And the more people realize this and understand that we’re going to have to take that power away, the more likely this becomes.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s going to happen. And I would say also, it’s important for people to realize what we’re building is not just a mechanism for convention. We’re building the largest activist grassroots army in American history,” Meckler said.
“Over 5 million people are involved already. We’re involved in elections from school board, all the way up to Congress all across the country. So the goal is to build the self governing grassroots army that holds the convention, but then continues to hold our systems of governance accountable,” he concluded.
Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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