STOP WASHINGTON STATE WOLF-PAC CON-CON RESOULTION SJM 8000
By The John Birch Society
URGENT: Washington state lawmakers are seeking to pass a resolution applying to Congress to call a constitutional convention (Con-Con) to amend the U.S. Constitution.
Senate Joint Memorial 8000 (SJM 8000) applies for a convention to propose amendments to the federal Constitution that would allow Congress and state legislators “to regulate the size and timing of contributions to election campaigns,” including “requir[ing] timely public disclosure of the source and amount of all such contributions.” It is worded in such a way as to also urge Congress to pass such an amendment itself.
If passed, this application would be considered along with the existing Wolf-PAC applications of three other states (although the resolution erroneously names five states—two of those since rescinded their applications).
Unlike most other Article V convention applications, the Wolf-PAC Con-Con application is sponsored and supported by leftists and claims to seek leftist policy outcomes, namely campaign finance “reform” to curtail the First Amendment. As Joe Wolverton’s 2015 TNA article “Citizens United for Free Speech” points out, a Wolf-PAC Con-Con would have a detrimental effect on free speech and the individual liberty of ordinary Americans.
SJM 8000 and other Wolf-PAC resolutions illustrate the danger of a Con-Con, particularly that the Left supports a Con-Con and would use one to curtail our God-given liberties.
Any Article V convention could lead to a runaway convention, which could reverse many of the Constitution’s limitations on government power and interference. In other words, a Con-Con could accomplish the same goals that many of its advocates claim to be fighting against.
The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia understood the danger of a constitutional convention. While he voiced support for one at a 1979 event, the justice had reversed his opinion by 2014 due to the uncertainty of what could come out of it. In 2015, Scalia reiterated his opposition to an Article V convention, stating “this is not a good century to write a constitution.”
In particular, James Madison noted in a 1788 letter how extremists and special-interest advocates would hijack a potential second constitutional convention cause great damage to the nation in the process:
“If a General Convention were to take place for the avowed and sole purpose of revising the Constitution, … it would consequently give greater agitation to the public mind; an election into it would be courted by the most violent partizans [sic] on both sides; it wd. probably consist of the most heterogeneous characters; would be the very focus of that flame which has already too much heated men of all parties; would no doubt contain individuals of insidious views, who under the mask of seeking alterations popular in some parts but inadmissible in other parts of the Union might have a dangerous opportunity of sapping the very foundations of the fabric.”
The violent riots observed in multiple American inner cities in mid-2020, along with the increasingly extreme and blatantly Marxist agenda of the Democrat Party — including just in the past several months — help illustrate what the Left’s reaction would be if a Con-Con is successfully called.
Urge your state representative and senator to oppose SJM 8000 and all other pro-Article V convention resolutions and to instead consider nullification as a safe and constitutional means to limit government.
Thank you,
Your Friends in The John Birch Society
Published with permission of jbs.org