As most readers of this column are aware, I believe that the federal government is broken. One tell-tale sign is our national debt. In 2000 it was $5.674 Trillion; it stands at over $18 Trillion today - and that doesn’t include unfunded liabilities. Over the last 15 years it has more than tripled - adding more than twice as much debt in that time span as had accrued throughout the entire prior history of our nation - a span of 224 years.

Apparently I’m not alone. According to a Gallup poll, the approval rating of Congress for 2014 among likely voters was a lowly 15% - up 1 percentage point from its record low in 2013. Says Gallup, “Yearly averages haven’t exceeded 20% in the past five years”. Quite a dismal record.

According to a recent “Right Direction or Wrong Track” poll by Rasmussen, a weekly poll that measures likely voters’ sentiment regarding our nation, “The number of voters who think the country is heading in the right direction was below 30% most weeks for the past year”. The percentages for “wrong track” were roughly double that. Also according to Rasmussen, “Most voters have said in surveys for years that cutting spending rather than raising it is the best thing the government can do for the economy”.

Clearly the president and congress aren’t listening. So, what to do? There are concerned citizens that have banded together in organizations supporting various initiatives. One such initiative - and an interesting one at that - is the Convention of States Project.

A Convention of States is provided for in Article V of the Constitution that deals with the amendment process. Article V is only one paragraph and here is an excerpt: “The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof…”

Wanting to know more, I recently had a conversation with Jefferson County resident Peter Onoszko who serves as a district captain for the project. Mr. Onoszko is a former candidate for the County Commission and is a retired Army Officer. Here is what he had to say, “The federal government is not the instrument to be used for its own reform. That just simply isn’t going to happen”.

He further asserts that a Convention of States (COS) is not a Constitutional Convention (also referred to as a “ConCon”) - the difference being that a ConCon is open ended, whereas a COS pertains to a specific application to be ratified by the states beforehand. “It is not a rewrite of the constitution, it is for proposing amendments to it, by its own authority. Once the amendment(s) are hammered out, they are referred back to the state legislatures for ratification. It takes 34 states to call a COS and 38 states to ratify the results”, says Onoszko, “If 13 states don’t approve, it does not become law”.

According to Onoszko, 3 states have already approved the COS, 11 more, have introduced the measure in their legislatures with 25 more, including West Virginia, slated to introduce it when their legislatures meet this year. If the application is approved in 34 states - there is no time limit - the COS is on. Says Onoszko, “Governors of states have no input. They cannot veto the application nor appoint the commissioners that attend - that is reserved to legislatures. The congress cannot stop it - it can only determine the time and place for it to be held”.

The COS Project was founded by Michael Farris, a constitutional attorney who has argued many cases in various venues including the Supreme Court of the United States. He is the founder of Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, VA and the Home School Legal Defense Association. He has local ties - his daughter, her husband and their four children live in Jefferson County.

On the Project’s website, http://www.conventionofstates.com, it states, “The federal government has overreached its constitutionally-established boundaries and…our children and grandchildren will inherit a bankrupt nation run by an unaccountable bureaucracy…Article V of the United States Constitution allows us to restrict the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.”

Support for and opposition to the COS crosses the ideological divide and the various groups form an interesting mosaic. Some groups that support it, both liberal and conservative, point to Supreme Court decisions as the basis for their support. Says Onoszko, “the lack of checks and balances on the power of the Judiciary is one of the things that the COS could address. This could include term limits for Justices, as well as members of congress”.

As acknowledged on the COS website, the concern most often expressed is regarding what is known as a “runaway convention”, where the commissioners make wholesale changes to the Constitution. According to the website, there is no precedent for this and Onoszko downplays the risks. According to him, an Article V convention can only propose amendments, it cannot change the articles. Further, the convention can only be held if 34 states pass an identical application. He says, “It then takes 38 states to ratify any amendments, it only takes 13 to reject it. The bar is set very high, meaning that the risk is very low. Our founding fathers were very wise in that respect”.

The high bar also means that the odds against the COS happening are formidable - and getting any amendments passed even more so. There have been 400 applications and not one has led to a COS - thus far. However, 3 state legislatures have already passed the current application and 36 more have introduced legislation to consider it or are about to. Perhaps it’s an idea whose time has come.