Would a Convention of States Reign in the Federal Government?

The fact that the U.S. federal government has been increasingly abusing its power is no surprise to those who are paying attention.

Some say it is time to put a stop to government overreach, and they believe the best way to do so is through Article V of the Constitution.

There are two ways to amend the U.S. Constitution under Article V. First are state ratified amendments proposed by Congress. The second is a state convention to amend the constitution.

The Convention of States Project was founded by Citizens for Self Governance. Their purpose is to solve our big government problem, as stated on their website:

The Convention of States (COS) Project was founded by Citizens for Self-Governance for the purpose of stopping the runaway power of the federal government. We believe Washington, D.C., is broken and will not fix itself. The federal government is spending this country into the ground, seizing power from the states and taking liberty from the people.

Their website goes on to explain what a Convention of States is:

A Convention of States is a convention called by the state legislatures for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution. They are given power to do this under Article V of the Constitution. It is not a constitutional convention. It cannot throw out the Constitution because its authority is derived from the Constitution.

COS has identified “four major abuses perpetrated by the federal government”:

These abuses are not mere instances of bad policy. They are driving us towards an age of “soft tyranny” in which the government does not shatter men’s wills but “softens, bends, and guides” them. If we do nothing to halt these abuses, we run the risk of becoming, as Alexis de Tocquevill warned in 1840, nothing more than “a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.” (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1840)

The four problem areas are listed as:

1) The spending and debt crisis

2) The regulatory crisis

3) Congressional attacks on state sovereignty

4) Federal takeover of the decision-making process

Could a state convention reign in the federal government, or will a state convention turn into a runaway convention that will toss the precious Bill of Rights out of the constitution?

Bill Whittle, Stephen Green, and Scott Ott of PJ Media‘s Trifecta discuss those questions here: