For over a decade, right-wing activists and elected leaders have been pressing state legislators to call for a dangerous Convention of States that would consider constitutional amendments to radically alter American government and society by making much of what the federal government now does unconstitutional.
Earlier this month, right-wing activists hoping to one day hold such a Convention of States held a simulated convention in Williamsburg, Virginia, that managed to draft a handful of potential amendments.
Following the event, Convention of States founders Mark Meckler and Michael Farris did a livestream where they reminisced about the progress they have made over the last decade in persuading state legislatures to support their effort and looked forward to the day when their work will finally, they hope, succeed in bringing about an actual Article V convention.
The Constitution requires that two-thirds of the states call for such a convention and while a handful of states have already done so, organizers still have a long way to go, which is why Farris is hopeful that supporters will be able to win control of state legislatures in traditionally Democratic states by turning out large numbers of voters during low-profile off-year elections.
“The average state legislative election in off years is voted on by an incredibly small number of people in the state,” Farris said. “In some states, it’s as small as 13 to 14 percent.”
“There is a huge number of people that are our kind of people, and we can win any state with this formula,” he added. “If all of our people turn out and the other side turns out in the same way they historically have done, we could control the legislature in every single state.”
“To change a biblical message a little bit, ‘We have not because we ask not.’ ‘We have not because we vote not’ would be the twist on that,” Farris declared. “And so, if our people will turn out, there is no state that is impossible.”
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