OPINION:
President Obama marveled during his State of the Union address at the breathtaking rate of change sweeping the nation. He didn’t mention that the phenomenon — and its disorienting effect — has been largely his doing. He campaigned on a promise of “hope and change,” and what America got was destructive change and not much hope.
In their wisdom, the Founders planted an emergency kit in the Constitution, to break open when the three branches of government are torn from the nation’s roots. A Convention of States might heal the destruction of a century of liberal activism inflicted on the supreme law of the land. From his podium before the joint meeting of Congress, Mr. Obama asked: “Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, turning against each other as a people? Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, in what we stand for, in the incredible things that we can do together?” Pretty words, but the choice between fear and confidence toward change offered by the president is a false choice.
This nation of innovators has always boldly embraced the new and the better. But the president has rekindled stale left-wing resentments against the confident notion of American exceptionalism, and he has overstepped his authority with presidential diktats meant to beat Americans into quiet submission. His chief of staff, Denis McDonough, followed the president’s speech with a warning about what Americans can expect during the president’s final year: “audacious executive action.”
But resistance is growing. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has joined a growing chorus of leaders calling for a Convention of States to rein overreach by Congress, the Supreme Court, and particularly by this president. With his executive orders expanding background checks for gun buyers, Mr. Abbott says the president “took action unilaterally that threatens Second Amendment rights even though the entire point of the Bill of Rights was to protect Americans from invasions of their liberties by the caprice of men just like that.”
Earlier this month, Mr. Obama ordered background checks to cover nearly all Americans who buy a gun — including the innocent and law-abiding. Putting more obstacles in the path of free men will neither stop rogues from getting guns nor prevent mass shootings.
Under Article Five of the Constitution, Congress is required to convene a convention of states for proposing amendments to the Constitution if called on to do so by the legislatures of two-thirds of the states. Ratification of any amendment requires approval by three-fourths of the states. Mr. Abbott and backers of the convention have offered amendments that would, among other things, prohibit Congress from regulating intra-state affairs, require a balanced federal budget, and provide a mechanism for states to override unpopular Supreme Court rulings. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio, for one, has pledged to promote the idea if elected.
Doubters say a Convention of States could unleash revisions that would leave the Constitution unrecognizable. It could hardly be more destructive, however, than “progressive” schemes to twist the law into the shape of a pretzel. With 67 percent of likely voters saying the country is on the wrong track, it’s clear that Mr. Obama is dragging Americans into a no man’s land. A Convention of States could put the nation back on track. It’s an idea worth considering.
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