Dear Wisconsin Patriots!
On October 3, 2019, the WI Senate Committee on Insurance, Financial Services, Government Oversight and Courts, held a Public Hearing regarding Senate Joint Resolution 57, “relating to a Convention of the States for one or more Constitutional amendments restraining abuses of power by the federal government.” In response, the Constitution Party of Wisconsin (CPoW) sent the following mass email – perhaps one of the most widely read and forwarded emails we have yet distributed. Several individuals responded, all having encouraging comments. The comments of one individual prompted us to reply with further thoughts on the issue of a Convention of the States; his letter along with our response is appended, below.
The Constitution Party of Wisconsin is OPPOSED to a Convention of the States – otherwise known as a Constitutional Convention. Please read the following and consider what great danger is represented by such a Convention, and urge your Wisconsin Senators and Assemblymen to OPPOSE Senate Joint Resolution 57, along with all efforts to convene a Convention of the States.
Greetings from the Constitution Party of Wisconsin (CPoW)!
We realize this may be rather late notice, but an urgent matter is before us. On October 3, 2019, the WI Senate Committee on Insurance, Financial Services, Government Oversight and Courts, held a Public Hearing regarding Senate Joint Resolution 57, “relating to a Convention of the States for one or more Constitutional amendments restraining abuses of power by the federal government.” Though it is now too late to attend this hearing, it is not too late to call or write your WI State Senator to OPPOSE THIS RESOLUTION!
Read the Public Announcement for this Hearing, here.
Read Senate Joint Resolution 57, here.
Here are the 2019 Wisconsin State Senators
Don’t know who your Senator is? Find out using the interactive “Find your Legislator” tool, here.
But why is this a concern?
A Convention of the States, otherwise known as a “Constitutional Convention,” is, fundamentally, an extra-governmental forum for the creation of a new government. There are no legal or Constitutional constraints on either the agenda or duration of such a Convention, nor on what its outcomes may or may not be. Any assertion that such limitations, even if agreed upon beforehand, can be enforced once such a forum convenes, is literally untested and historically unprecedented – the last “Constitutional Convention” was held in 1787, and the result was wide ranging debate, which started as an attempt to address inadequacies of our nation’s Articles of Confederation, but ended with the drafting of our current U.S. Constitution, instead. On the contrary, it is simply false and misleading to assert that there is any legal authority to enforce prior limitations placed on a Convention of the States once it has convened. Moreover – and this is the critical danger for us, today – there would be no legal remedy for changes unwanted by the People, once those changes are adopted by such a Convention.
Why should we be concerned that a Convention of the States would result in unwanted changes? Under direct and escalating attacks in our current day are several fundamental human rights enumerated in our current U.S. Constitution. Chief among them are the following:
– Freedom of Speech
– Freedom of Religion
– Freedom of the Press
– Right to Keep and Bear Arms
– Right of Property Ownership
– Right to Remain Secure in our Persons, Houses, Papers, and Effects
– Right to Due Process
These rights, and others, are especially enumerated because they are apparent and defensible on the basis of Natural Law – all of human history, and Nature itself directly attest to the veracity and permanency of these fundamental Freedoms. They are Rights recognized by the People in our Constitution. They are not “created” nor are they “derived” but are recognized as already and permanently belonging to all humans, and because of this, a failure to recognize these Truths and to organize our society around them, is tantamount to war against Nature and against Humanity. A failure to recognize the fundamental human rights enumerated in our current Constitution, and a failure to order our society around these Truths would be immediately self-defeating.
Yet, these Rights are despised by the powerful in America:
The Freedom of Religion and the Free Exercise thereof, recognizes that the Conscience of the individual regarding what is ultimately and eternally True – that which forms the seat of a person’s self-identity and animates his or her life – is inviolable, AND it guarantees that outward expressions which give confession to these eternal Truths shall not be hindered. Yet, the richest, the biggest, and the most powerful in our society (most notably, the entertainment and news media, academia, and corporate America) hate Religion, and Christianity in particular, with such intensity as to unceasingly subject Christianity to vitriol, mockery, and cynicism, and to use such prevalent negativity as a basis for actively hunting down and blacklisting employment candidates who may at any time in the past have made any religiously-motivated commentary which has today been made unpopular by the enemies of Christianity – all with the blessing of government and the courts.
The Freedoms of Speech and of the Press, recognize that implements and forums of self-expression are necessary to the People, and guarantees that as the People seek to give expression to their convictions, they shall neither be hindered in the content of their speech, nor in any way prohibited from the publication and dissemination of their views. Yet, the biggest and most proliferate platforms of public speech and publication today (the platforms made available by “BigTech” and which have, in fact, been universally adopted as platforms of public speech and publication not only by the Press itself, but by Politicians and by the People collectively), now scrupulously police their platforms for ANY political or religious content, actively prohibiting all content and punitively hindering content-creators that run afoul the narrow and arbitrary “standards” these platform providers have absorbed from the entertainment and news media, academia, and corporate America – all without any objection from government despite the earnest petitions of the People.
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms guarantees that the People retain in their possession the power and physical means of assuring their own Liberty, should the governments fail to do so. Yet, this Palladium of Liberty remains the bane of all governments, which are always hungry for the Liberty of their citizens, and are everywhere, at nearly every level, eager to undermine and eliminate this vital and necessary Freedom.
The Right of Property Ownership is the foundation of our economy, and guarantees that every individual is free, not only to personally posses property, but to use it to its fullest potential, according to the creative capacity with which that individual is endowed (along with other factors of production at his or her disposal), in the interest of his or her own improvement as he or she personally so determines. This Right recognizes not only the fundamental Right of individuals to possess and use their own property in pursuit of their own ambitions and desires, it establishes capitalistic entrepreneurialism – e.g., small local business – as the foundation and life-blood of both local community and national economy. Yet, those jealous of the Right of the People to own property, who not only covet the personal property of the People for their own use, but also fear the competitive economic potential of creative and capable individuals and loathe the idea of healthy, growing and economically self-sufficient local communities, are intent upon substantively curtailing the exercise of this Right, to literally choke out entrepreneurialism, strangle innovation, and asphyxiate local communities through excessive and ultimately dispossessive regulation. Chief among such efforts today are the provisions of U.N. Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030, which are already encoded in WI state law, and which serve as the foundation of the Green New Deal – proposed federal legislation that is currently under discussion in Congress.
The Right to Remain Secure in our Persons, Houses, Papers and Effects from Unwarranted Search and Seizure undergirds the legal principle of innocence until proven guilty. That is, until a person is reasonably suspected of a crime, the government has absolutely no authority to search for or seize anything a person has in his or her possession, whether it be immediately on his person or in his home, including all papers and personal effects. Nor is the government given license to concern itself at all with the activities of anyone apart from such reasonable suspicion. To do so is simply unwarranted and thus illegal. Yet, in flagrant disregard for the Right of the People to Remain Secure, dismissing the vital legal principle of “innocent until proven guilty,” our government actively searches and collects all details on every person everywhere, under the assumption that such searches are indeed warranted, meaning, therefore, that all individuals are already reasonably suspect of legal infractions or of criminal intent, whether latent or otherwise – thus turning on its head all presumption of innocence, and justifying not only threats and harassment against those with unpopular ideas (which inevitably devolve into political “witch hunts”), but also creating an open license to seize the personal information, hard assets and real property of individuals without due process (e.g., “Red Flag” laws, “Civil Forfeiture,” and even “Regulatory Taking,” etc.).
The Right to Due Process ensures that all individuals, having equal status under the law, also enjoy equal treatment under the law; it expressly prohibits the government from violating the individual his Rights; and it requires that sentencing be reserved until a finding of fact, or a verdict, against the accused is rendered. And yet, we see with increasing frequency that access to justice seems to be a function of the economic resources available to the accused, that civil rights and the privileges of American citizenship are willingly denied those against whom uncorroborated or even baseless accusations are made (e.g., Brett Kavenaugh, Roy Moore, etc.), and that there exists a veritable eagerness to levy punishment upon report of the slightest rumour, even before a single fact is adduced in defense of the accused. These public sentiments, and their apparent growing manifestation in the judicial process, threaten to dangerously erode the Rule of Law; yet, as effective political tools, such sentiments are stoked to the point that the People seem to have lost all recollection of the Rule of Law and all respect for the critically important Right to Due Process.
The Right to Life, though not enumerated in the U.S. Constitution, is specifically named in the Declaration of Independence and identified as inalienable, and is not only assumed by the Constitution, but is demonstrably served by it along with the other two Rights which the Declaration also specifically names: the Right to Liberty and the Right to the Pursuit of Happiness. If the Constitution does not assume and serve the Right to Life, then it cannot be said to assume and serve the Right to Liberty or to the Pursuit of Happiness. But the whole structure and purpose of our Constitution, which specifically limits the power of government in favour of the Rights of the People, makes plain that it is subservient to all three coordinate Rights named in the Declaration – which were so named in order to provide formal cause for the new government that would be created, and to justify our separation from the King of England and the long struggle of War that would most assuredly result. Yet, innocent Life remains a superfluous distraction to the objectives of either of the two major political parties in America, all of the small yet accumulated victories being won, not by politicians who’ve long ago ended their crusades for Life, but by the People themselves who have incessantly and victoriously, over the past 46 years, made their case in the courts of justice and the courts of public opinion.
What can we Expect from our Politicians?
Question: In a Convention of the States, what, precisely, can we expect of politicians in their crusade for “Liberty” when they have all given up on its coordinate, the “Right to Life?”
Answer: Their Abdication.
Question: In a Convention of the States, what, precisely, can we expect of politicians when Freedom of Religion is attacked by the enemies of Christianity, given that they are already complicit in the civil war against religious expression in the public square?
Answer: Their Blessings.
Question: In a Convention of the States, what, precisely, can we expect of politicians when Freedom of Speech and of the Press is in danger of being undermined and abrogated, given that they have failed to respond in any substantive way to the outcry of the People against it?
Answer: Their Silence.
Question: In a Convention of the States, what, precisely, can we expect of politicians when the Palladium of Liberty itself, the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, must be held against all opposing forces?
Answer: Their Impotent Retreat.
Question: In a Convention of the States, what, precisely, can we expect of politicians when modifications to the Right of Property Ownership, under the seemingly reasonable guise of “Sustainable Development,” are proposed, given that so many have already been fooled by it?
Answer: Their Acquiescence.
Question: In a Convention of the States, what, precisely, can we expect of politicians when the Rule of Law, as we know it, is assailed, when the Rights of the People to Due Process and to Security from Unwarranted Search and Seizure are “re-imagined” to exclude protections against pervasive and perpetual surveillance, against unwarranted collection and seizure of personal information, hard assets, and real property, and ultimately against the presumption of guilt unless proven innocent, considering it seems clear that such protections are regarded as impediments to what passes today for “political process?”
Answer: Their Prejudiced Condemnations.
Don’t Be Fooled!
Dear Conservatives, don’t be fooled into thinking that the only delegates to a Convention of the States will be Conservatives… No, they will not be the only delegates. Rather, the body of delegates will include Communists, Socialists, Liberal Progressives, and Environmentalists in addition to Libertarians, Conservatives and others – and they will all fight tooth and nail to amend our Constitution, or completely replace it, according to their own, even if aberrant, political convictions. Have the Conservatives currently in office impressed you so much that you are convinced they can and will hold the line against the aggression of their opponents? If so, are you really so impressed with their intelligence and foresight that you are convinced they will not make a complete mess of our Constitution despite their good intentions? Are you willing to risk changes to our U.S. Constitution which could have the very real risk of waging war against, rather than guiding our society in accord with the verities of Nature and of Nature’s God?
Don’t be fooled. A Convention of the States would be a disaster for our Nation, our Economy, and our Society.
Please call or write your Wisconsin State Senator NOW, and urge him or her to vote AGAINST Senate Joint Resolution 57.
For God and Nation,
Mr. Douglas Lindee, Jr.
Director of Communications
Constitution Party of Wisconsin
As we stated above, we receved several positive responses to the mass email we released, above. One particular response prompted our reply, with additional thoughts on the topic of a Convention of the States. That response, along with our reply, follows:
“Thank you for your email. I have always thought that the convention of the state was a good idea, especially in relation to draining the swamp in Washington. Mike Ferris has been promoting this for years. You’re probably the last people I would think would be against a COS, but you have given good reasons for concern here, and you have definitely given me some food for thought, and I thank you. I have heard all the terrible bureaucracy in Washington, and the only way that can be broken up is a COS. I have only heard of Mrs. Phyllis Schlafly being against it.”
Dear Mr. Xxx,
Thank you for your reply and for your feedback! Yes, a Convention of States, in our view, is a process which is simply too dangerous to our Constitution, especially given the rank and near-militant division our country now faces on fundamental, constitutional issues – which ought to enjoy unanimous agreement instead.
Make no mistake, however, we fully recognize the corruption of Washington as a cancer which is increasingly debilitating the proper function of our government and slowly bringing death to our Liberty and Happiness; and we certainly share the sense of urgency expressed by those who support a Convention of States. Long overdue are the corrections which should have been brought by representatives who serve in DC on our behalf – because (or so it would seem) they would rather serve the desires of their parties to become entrenched in their political power, or they would rather serve forces and pursue objectives having their source outside our nation and/or which are otherwise alien to our People and society. And we would agree that where protections for State Sovereignty and individual liberty need strengthening, then, yes, it is there that Amendments ought be pursued – though thoughtfully and cautiously. The normal process for this, envisioned by our Founders and laid out in the Constitution, is a process which is much more tightly controlled than that of a Convention of States, eliminating the potential for a proposal of narrow changes to grow out of control into an entire re-write of our most important and all-defining document. It is also a process which requires a near-mandate of the People to drive unity in the legislature, and which results in artful statesmanship as our representatives lead such efforts through sound reason and persuasive speech. That’s what we would much rather see.
But that is not the way things are right now. While there may be relative unity among the States regarding the need for greater protections for State Sovereignty, the States haven’t had representation in Congress since the 17th Amendment was ratified early last century. As you may know, the original design of our Founders was for US Senators to be elected by the State legislatures, to represent State’s interests, while representatives serving in the US House of Representatives were to be elected directly by the People in order to represent the interests of the People. Those who are elected naturally respond to the will of those who elect them – the States on the one hand (in the Senate) and the People on the other (in the House). The 17th Amendment eliminated the role of State legislatures in electing US Senators, placing that responsibility with the People directly. The result has been that both chambers now respond to the will of the People, while the States no longer have representation at all.
So, again, while there may be relative unity among the States regarding the need for greater protections for State Sovereignty, the States themselves have no representation in Congress. Thus, they are really powerless to effect such protections. In order for these issues to be addressed in the normal order of things, therefore, the People themselves must generally recognize the need to enhance protections for State Sovereignty and elect a Congress with a mandate to enact them.
Frankly, and in all reality, I don’t see that happening: the issues faced by the States are rather complex, difficult to communicate, and (at least, I think) difficult for most average folks to fully appreciate; the several issues would require a general consensus on several points, which multiplies the difficulty involved in communicating and persuading the masses; the task of disseminating this message to ~300 million people is inordinate; and, add to it all the fact that our society is polarized, making sufficient unity on these issues among the People very unlikely. Hence, understandably, the drive to convene a Convention of States. Rather than this, in my opinion, what ought to be done is to make a case directly to the People for a simple, single change to the US Constitution via the normal process – to strike/repeal the 17th Amendment. This would return to the States the responsibility of electing US Senators, resulting, once again, in the States having the representation they need in order to directly address the issues which uniquely impact them. I think that liberal and conservative States alike would see an advantage in once again having such direct representation. I think that a single issue with a simple message would be a much easier sell among the people generally, making a mandate from the People far more achievable. I agree this is much more work, with less certainty of “success,” than a Convention of States, but I think it is achievable – and it is without a doubt far far safer for our Republic.
Anyway, though you didn’t ask for them, those are my further thoughts on the subject. Again, I thank you for reading our emails, and for taking the time to respond. Please feel free to forward our emails to your family, friends and acquaintances, and to discuss with them our Party and the positions we take.
Thanks Again!
The Constitution Party of Wisconsin (CPoW) values and appreciates your continued support.
– Consider JOINING our ranks, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with us as we engage our State and Nation with the time-honored and -tested truths that ours is a constitutional republic founded on Liberty of Conscience, Security of Property, and the Rule of Law as inviolable principles of social order in a free nation, and that as such is necessarily guided by an understanding of human nature informed by biblical teaching, and thus also by a general observation of Christian morality in both our social customs and our laws. Read our Full Platform, and consider joining the Constitution Party of Wisconsin. CLICK HERE to JOIN!
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– Please HELP US extend our reach, by sharing our email communiqués with your family, friends and acquaintances! (If you do, please be sure to delete the footer following these lines, as the “unsubscribe” option, should your email contacts use it, will unsubscribe you from our email list). As you know, we periodically send email on subjects pertaining to issues of political policy and ideology, but always strive to provide substantive content for our readers and supporters. As a minor political party, ours is not principally a pragmatic but an ideological endeavor driven by the convictions of Conscience. This sets us apart from our primary political opponents, who, having the upper hand in terms of popularity and finances, rest comfortably on their haunches while providing their supporters with little in terms of substance, dispensing instead only the shallow political rhetoric necessary to manage their positions as dominant political organizations while still floating along in the current of mainstream political progressivism. In an effort to grow, however, not only do we need to reach greater numbers of Wisconsinites, we are also tasked with the need to remind them of what they were taught decades ago in school, and increasingly, to educate and re-educate them in an effort to help prevent the ideas of Liberty from being forgotten and entirely lost. The Constitution Party of Wisconsin stands for nothing new, we strive for no innovation of political thought; rather we urgently work to conserve the Great Ideas of the past which have brought so much blessing to America and the West, and to carry them forward as a solid foundation upon and from which future generations may build and benefit. Please consider sharing our email communiqués with your family, friends and acquaintances, and invite them to subscribe for themselves at the following URL: SUBSCRIBE TODAY!
– Above all, please keep our Party, State and Nation in your prayers! Our State is now led by liberal progressives, who will very likely renew their destructive efforts to morally and financially bankrupt our State, and our Nation appears to be at a cross-roads. The division is stark. And, it seems, the division is well-founded and necessary. Pray for wisdom and integrity among our representatives in legislative and executive positions, and for the leaders of the Constitution Party of Wisconsin as we seek to broaden the dispersal and acceptance of our ideas, to pursue party growth and influence, and to engage our society with the only Truth that leads to unity and liberty.