The BBA Task Force Targets Idaho

It’s Time to Wake Up and ‘Patriot Up’ Idaho Legislators!

“What good fortune for governments that men do not think.” – Adolf Hitler

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Idaho has been targeted with 12 other states by the shadowy originating forces behind the organizations driving to open an Article V Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) purportedly for creating a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA). Never mind that we already have rules for balancing our budget and that anyone could believe that ‘magically’ Congress would begin following a new BBA law like never before. We don’t need to repair our Constitution, we need to restore our Constitution.

Last year the wise legislators of neighboring states ‘Patrioted Up’: Montana defeated 3 applications for Con-Cons: SJ7 – Convention of the States and HJ3 – Wolf PAC were both killed in committees and HJ4 – Compact for a Balanced Federal Budget was voted down 77 – 23. Utah defeated HJR 3 – The Countermand Amendment and HJR 14 – Convention of the States. And Wyoming stopped SJR4 Convention of the States, HJR 4 Balanced Federal Budget (BBA) failed in the Senate committee and HB75 Compact for America (CFA), Compact for a Balanced Budget (CFBB) failed in Senate committee.

These proponents of the many efforts to open the door to a Con-Con are dogged and we in Idaho are once again in their cross hairs. You must consider their true hunger and authentic motives and from whence comes their seemingly unending big money backing. It really isn’t about a BBA, it’s about opening the door to an Article V Constitutional Convention.

As Larry Greenly states in his September article “The New BBA Con-Con Threat” in The New American magazine, “This is not to say that having a balanced federal budget would be a bad idea; on the contrary balanced budgets should be the norm and striven for in all but truly emergency situations, such as when Congress has declared war. However, the fact remains that a BBA would not address the real problem of multitudes of usurpations of powers by officials in all branches of the federal government. Moreover, a BBA would tend to legitimize these usurpations by focusing on the goal of balancing the budget and ignoring the problem of widespread usurpations. Furthermore, it must be emphasized that if the federal government would only follow the Constitution, then the budget would easily be brought into balance.”

The reason for these clarion calls for all these Con-Con ‘agendas’ is always the same and that is that Congress is awash with stalemate (actually generated by machine politics of each party, orchestrated by The Council on Foreign Relations, making it impossible to fix things in this incredibly complex, frustrating world of intense politics). It is by design. We are told to believe that somehow, if we will just call a Constitutional Convention and adopt whatever issue that particular injustice will right, that that same inept and corrupt Congress will all of a sudden change their ways and start following new rules like never before.

Many legislators cannot get through their influenced skulls what the many calls for a Con-Con are really all about? Or, are they smitten with the lobbyists’ trappings and money? These originating forces for the many different Con-Cons are very devious people, with a hidden agenda for our future, and their lobbyist organizations are extremely skilled at influencing the foolish, naïve, over trusting and those on the take.

Much can be said about the process of selecting candidates for a convention and the rules and convening of a Con-Con which has been reported by yours truly and many others many times in the past. But I keep going back to the big issue I consider the most important, and that one is the issue that virtually all the proponents of Con-Cons mis-state or try to avoid talking about. Ratification.

WHAT WILL REALLY HAPPEN

Big money lobbyists are always quick to say ‘not to worry’ about the results of the actual convention because, reassuringly, three fourths of the state legislators must ratify an Article V Convention’s results. Proponents avoid acknowledging what would really happen to ratification. You see Article V of the Constitution reads: “…WHEN RATIFIED BY THE LEGISLATURES OF THREE FOURTHS OF THE SEVERAL STATES, OR BY CONVENTIONS IN THREE FOURTHS THEREOF, AS THE ONE OR THE OTHER MODE OF RATIFICATION MAY BE PROPOSED BY THE CONGRESS;…”

Now in this beyond highly politicized world today, who in their right mind would believe convention delegates would send the results to state legislators for endless debate and legal challenges lasting months or maybe years for such ratification? Or would you believe they would select like-minded delegates for ‘safe’ special ratifying conventions with hand-picked members, all with special interest baggage, who will do the convention’s bidding? Legislatures won’t have a chance. Ratifying conventions are the stacked deck these slick designers are counting on.

Our sage founders knew tyranny first hand and were realist of their day. They knew there was no way the 13 states would agree on ratifying our Constitution in their legislatures, so they created Article V allowing them to hold 9 ratifying conventions and that is how we were so blessed to get the wonderful document and capitalist system we got that produced the most successful nation in the history of earth. Can you identify members of Congress that you believe to be as wise and grounded in our Constitution today, without any special interest baggage? I rest my case. Probably none. Maybe the closest intensive comparisons by serious qualified people might come up with a handful or two contingent on some stated criteria.

LEGISLATORS:

Legislators: Don’t fall for poker face promises & hyped, deceitful, proclamations. Do the research, the hard work, yourself! You owe it to your constituents that hired you and to your grandchildren. Aren’t you curious why there are so many different organizations all calling for single issue Con-Con’s? As Vince Lombardi would say, ‘What the Hell is going on here!’

Financial incentives offered for such a ratification vote would probably be astronomically irresistible as was witnessed when $200 million passed to House members just for voting yea for the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) vote relinquishing their Constitutional responsibilities to negotiate trade to Obama. See this report for sure, it will really tick you off. For example, Boehner received $5.3 million and Paul Ryan received $2.4 million for their yea votes.

Also, ‘The Guardian’ reported, “Using data from the Federal Election Commission, this chart shows all donations that corporate members of the U.S. Business Coalition for Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) made to U.S. Senate campaigns between January and March 2015, when fast-tracking the TPP was being debated in the Senate: “Out of the total $1,148,971 given, an average of $17,676.48 was donated to each of the 65 “yea” votes. “The average Republican member received $19,673.28 from corporate TPP supporters. The average Democrat received $9,689.23 from those same donors.”

Simpson, Crapo and Risch all voted yea to relinquishing their Constitutional responsibility to Obama for negotiating the extremely deceitful and dangerous TPP that will be many times more ruinous to our economy, labor, freedoms and sovereignty than NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) has so far and NAFTA has been disastrous. This is all so shameful and certainly unpatriotic. Where are the consciences, ethics, wisdom, real hard research and allegiances to oaths taken? Like my wife says, “We have the best government money can buy.”

THE CON-CON ISSUE TODAY IS THE SINGLE BIGGEST THREAT THAT CAN TAKE DOWN AMERICA OVERNIGHT!

No other issue facing us can take down our beloved country as we’ve known it literally overnight like this one. Sure things are a mess, because you elected officials have gotten away from what brought us and what we are really about. A nation of limited government, with the people shouldering most responsibilities themselves. We are not supposed to be socialists and that’s where you majority of legislators are taking us. Again, ‘Patriot Up,’ do your hard work and do right by your oath to the Constitution and your grandchildren.

REVEALING FACTS ON APPLICATIONS AND RESCISSIONS

You should know that since applications have been recorded and tracked there have been over 700 various applications for an Article V convention. See most of them at FOAVC, and be dumbfounded that these proponents are still at it. And for so many different calls.

49 of the 50 states have at one or more times filed for an Article V Convention. Idaho has been listed for calls 6 times all the way back to 1910 and a most recent rescission in 1999.

Since 1988, 17 states have rescinded all of their constitutional convention calls. Rescinded Con-Con calls: AL 1988, LA 1990, OR 1999, ID 1999, UT 2001, ND 2001, AZ 2003, VA 2004, SC 2004, GA 2004, MT, 2007, OK 2009, WY 2009, NH 2010, SD 2010, and TN 2010. *Actually FL had rescinded its Con-Con calls in 1988, but passed a new BBA Con-Con call in 2010.

Given the numbers of applications it’s amazing that we’ve been blessed with forthright rescissions prevailing in most instances due to awakening to the reality of the fatal danger a Con-Con would pose to our Constitution once it’s called.

In summation, we don’t have a Constitution problem. We have an adherence problem. The ‘fix’ is following law, law enforcement and nullification (see: The Nullification Alternative). That is the real serious effort that would surely work and needs being done. Citizens direct the fix by educating ourselves, informing others, watching voting records and culling the vermin at the polls.

REALITY OF THE CON-CON ‘CON’ IN A NUTSHELL

Why should anyone believe new amendments will be followed any more than current law?
We already have laws and rules for balancing our budget. We don’t need a new Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA).
The BBA scheme allows Congress to spend money on anything, no matter how unconstitutional, so long as the amount does not exceed the limits set in Section 2 of the BBA.
17 states have rescinded their applications to a Con-Con since 1988, of which Idaho was one in 1999 because they awakened to how fatal a Con-Con could be and the real root interest behind them.
34 States can apply for a convention but only the U.S. Congress has the power to call it and establish the rules.
Rules deal with delegate selection, pay, location and date.
Once convened the Con-Con is free to create its own agenda including how they will ratify
The Single Issue pitch cannot be guaranteed, the Con-Con can deal with whatever and as many issues as it wishes.
Ratification can be ¾ of the states’ (38) legislatures or/ in ‘special ratifying conventions’ in the ¾ states thereof. Which do you think they’d choose? Legislatures might debate forever. Ratifying conventions are a rubber stamp. [Utah’s legislature would not have repealed Prohibition. The rules for Article 5 were used to pass it through a ratifying Convention.]
Beware of false Constitutionalist. The Federalist Papers are not government documents. Our Constitution reigns.
Read Article V. It’s very short, explicit and again does not connote a single issue ability.

Below are articles with facts you can count on from The New American magazine and The John Birch Society the people you know you can trust for absolute documented facts. Check JBS.org and The New American.com for much more information. Especially look at pages 20 and 21 in the ‘Republicans and Democrats’ article. Also the transcription of the JBS video ‘Beware of Article V’ is chock full of accurate facts and history.

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