JEFFERSON CITY — So many aspects of the federal government are out of control. Deficit spending continues to skyrocket – our national debt now stands at over $18 trillion with no end in sight; the president is issuing unconstitutional executive actions, ignoring our law and border security; and federal agencies are enacting regulations and policies without congressional approval that are killing jobs and hurting small businesses. Simply put, the federal government has assumed too much power at the expense of the state.

This is not the way the Founding Fathers intended our government to work. The federal government was meant to perform a few specific functions. Unfortunately, since the adoption of the Bill of Rights, the federal government has slowly exceeded the limits of the 10th Amendment and begun appropriating, legislating and regulating far beyond what the Founders envisioned. With this in mind, most would agree that federal overreach has reached the point where something must be done to restore the rightful place of state and federal government in our system. But, how do we go about doing that? Many citizens probably believe there is nothing they can do about it and, unfortunately, many state legislators feel the same way.

There is a solution though. Many may know that Congress can propose amendments to the Constitution at any time if 2/3 of both houses of Congress agree. To this point, Congress has not been able to muster the political courage to go this route and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon. However, most Americans probably don’t know that Article V of the Constitution also allows the states themselves to call a Convention of States where they can propose amendments if 2/3 of the states submit applications for such a convention. These applications must all deal with the same issue and, then, if an amendment is ratified by 3/4 of the states, it will become law. 

Such a call for a Convention of States has been filed in Missouri in the form of Senate Concurrent Resolution 21. SCR 21 calls for a Convention of the States for the purpose of imposing fiscal restraint on the federal government; limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government; and imposing term limits for members of Congress. As I mentioned earlier, we must make our call for a convention the same as other states and we have been working in conjunction with legislators across the country to ensure our resolution is consistent with their efforts. By far, these issues stand out as the most pressing in reining in an out of control federal government and reasserting state sovereignty.

Some worry that a Convention of States could not be limited to a single subject and I would worry, too, if a convention could affect our Second Amendment rights or other freedoms guaranteed under the Bill of Rights. However, extensive scholarship and study suggests this wouldn’t be the case. For example, a convention under Article V is limited to “proposing amendments.” There is no process by which a convention can ratify its own proposals so a convention would simply recommend amendments that the states then ratify. Just as Congress can propose amendments for specific purposes under Article V, so can the states. There is a reason the Founders allowed for the states to have the ability to make changes to the Constitution in addition to Congress. They knew it was important that states have the ability to act when Congress wouldn’t. This is certainly the case in our country today.   

A lack of leadership from Congress and our president to respect the proper role of the federal government means the responsibility has fallen to the states to return to our nation’s roots of state’s rights and personal freedom. We must begin by limiting the federal government to its Constitutionally defined powers.