Dear Senator Schultz
Please assign a hearing for SJR 7 (A Joint Resolution calling for an Article V convention) to the subcommittee for State Government. This is important and deserves a floor vote.
Considering the current state of our Republic, the Iowa State Legislature, both the House and the Senate, have a Constitutional responsibility to act and to join the movement to amend the Constitution as outlined in Article V of the Constitution?
The Constitution serves one purpose, to protect the individual God-given rights of the citizens of America. The Constitution does not limit the rights of American citizens, it is intended to limit the size, scope, and power of the Federal government. Article V was meant for times when government exceeds its constitutional boundaries and starts to act in unconstitutional ways. When the government forgets it serves the citizens and starts to oppress the individual citizens. Amendments do not replace the current Constitution; Amendments are meant to clarify certain points, and by doing so protect the rights of the citizens of the Republic.
An Article V Convention as proposed will specifically deal with three areas of concern: Fiscal Responsibility – Limits to Taxing and Spending; Reducing the size and scope of the Federal Government – reducing the number of Federal Agencies, Bureaus, and Departments, reducing Federal employee headcount, dismantling the unelected bureaucracy that is doing most of the legislating at this point and limiting the timeframe and scope of Presidential Executive Orders; Term Limits for all elected officials and Federal Government Employees.
Amending the Constitution is the only way to restore the American Republic and put the country back on the right track? The Iowa Legislature can play a big role in making that happen, joining the movement to restore the founding concept of limited government, and three branches of government as opposed to the four we currently have place, one of which is unelected and unaccountable.
In a perfect world, our representatives in Washington would recognize the issues and take steps to correct them. The world is not perfect, and it is obvious that Congress will never act to correct these problems. Our Founding Fathers knew this might happen at some point, so they included the ability to amend the Constitution in Article V. They gave the power and responsibility to do so to two entities, Congress and in the event they become corrupt and/or fail to act, the duty falls to the several State Legislatures.
It is common knowledge that Washington is out of control. Our US National Debt is over $34 trillion. Washington is doing nothing to deal with this debt problem. They spend more than they have available from tax revenues, and they print money to cover the shortfall. The constant increase in money supply results in inflation, the value of the dollar shrinks and the cost-of-living skyrockets.
If we continue on this path, eventually the US Dollar will be worthless, and the government will go bankrupt. If nothing changes, it is not a matter of if it will happen, it is when it will happen. Something needs to be done to address the problem, and the time for action is now.
Our federal government taxes too much, we have the highest taxes in the world. Our government spends too much, we run a multi-trillion-dollar deficit every year and we have debt totaling 34 million-million dollars. Our Congress allows unelected officials to legislate by fiat, or Presidents to legislate by executive order. Our elected officials stay in Washington too long, often until they are eighty or ninety years old and many amass millions in wealth. It is time to amend the constitution to put the Federal government back in its Constitutional box and restore limited government and the American Republic.
If there is a better, more efficient way to get the Federal Leviathan under control I would love to hear it. I do not believe there is any other solution.
Imagine the benefit to the American Middle class if there was a reasonable flat income tax, one Senator recently proposed a 5% flat tax, others have mentioned 12%. Imagine the impact that would have on our young people being able to afford a house, people saving for retirement, or the way things are going, even being able to afford a car or groceries.
Imagine having a balanced budget amendment to our constitution. Living in a country where we minimized debt and the Federal government lived within its means. We citizens have to do that, why should our government not be required to do the same? Our children and grandchildren will pay dearly for this irresponsible behavior in terms of their future standard of living. If the Iowa State legislature can act, don’t they have a responsibility to act to protect these future generations?
Imagine if our elected officials in Washington were citizen representatives, not a professional lifetime class of rulers. That is what we have in our State Legislature, citizen representatives that live by the same rules that apply to their families and the citizens of Iowa. I have a great appreciation for the job our state legislators do, but I wish they would step up and take advantage of their Constitutional duty to act and take steps to fix what is broken in Washington.
I understand there are many who are concerned about what might happen, what might result from an Article V Convention. But whatever Amendments that might come out of the Article V Convention will need to be ratified by thirty-eight State legislatures. That is an exceedingly high bar to surpass and will require the approval of all Red States and a few Blue States. I am more worried about what is currently happening in Washington than what might result from any amendment that will need to be approved by 38 State legislatures.
To conclude: I would ask that you please consider having a hearing at the subcommittee level, and then when it gets out of subcommittee, helping move this to a floor vote in the Senate.
Iowa is a great place to live, and the Iowa legislature has done a lot of good things the past couple of years. Let’s add fighting to restore the republic to that list of great things.
Yours very sincerely,
Scott W. Bates
West Des Moines, IA
NO!!!