By FRITZ PETTYJOHN
The inflection point, the moment things really started to turn around, was in October of 2013. That’s when Obamacare was introduced to the American people. Politically, it was catastrophic for the Democrats. A policy they’d been pushing since Truman actually went into effect and began to impact people’s lives. And people were pissed. They’d been told, repeatedly, that if they liked their health insurance, they could keep it. But that was always a lie,
When I saw all this happen, I decided to get back into politics after a 13 break. I figured things were going turn to around, and a lot of things might be possible. A red wave was coming, maybe big enough to enact an Article V amendment!
I was 68 years old, but figured I still had some gas left in the tank. I started a blog at ReaganProject.com, and did an internet search for an Article V movement. Any Article V movement. I found the Convention of States project (CoS), called them up, and they explained their proposal.
I told them that it would never work. You don’t combine three controversial proposals into one package and try to pass them all at one fell swoop. Politics doesn’t work that way. There are different majorities for all three ideas, but they don’t correspond to each other. This isn’t the way majorities are assembled.
So I did a little research, and found out Lew Uhler, an 80-year-old Reagan veteran in Sacramento, was still pushing a balanced budget amendment. I’d last seen Lew in Orlando at an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) meeting 24 years earlier, when I was in the Alaska legislature, and was pushing a term limits amendment.Here Lew was, still growing strong.
He had Mark Meckler, the head of Convention of States, and Mecker’s wife, over to his office. They lived just up the road in the foothills. Lew asked him to explain where he came up with the three ideas, (balanced budget, term limits, and cutting back the federal government). Meckler said he just asked the people who came to his Tea Party events, and these were the most popular ideas.
This is a stupid and sloppy way to put together a political initiative. It’s not how you draft a proposal that you try to pass in a state legislature. But it’s a good way to raise money, and that was Meckler’s principal goal. He’d learned how to raise money online for the Tea Party Patriots, which he co-founded. Naturally enough, Meckler has found his three-headed idea a tough sell. He’s raised and spent a fortune (taking a nice bite out for himself, thank you very much) to get around half the states he needs. These are the low hanging fruit, and he has little hope of getting any further.
It’s a waste of money, but it’s worse than that. Meckler actively seeks to undermine and destroy any rival Article V organization. He’s a snake. Other proposals are a threat to his. His whole operation is kept going so that Meckler can continue in the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed.
But things are about to change, fairly quickly. Meckler’s scam will soon be exposed, and he’ll need to find another line of work.
I’ve been at this a long time (since 1983, actually), and I’ve never felt better about our chances. The wave hasn’t crested. An Article V Convention will be called. And I will live to see it.
Fritz Pettyjohn was a prosecuting attorney for the City of Ketchikan, Alaska in 1973 and served in the Alaska Legislature in the 1980s. He blogs at ReaganProject.com
I have been a huge advocate for term limits for years. In my opinion, this would be the key and 1st step for draining the swamp. 2 terms maximum.
That is a good way to make sure the parties control the people in congress. As much as people despise RCV it is the best way to break free from the 2 party system. The article V amendment will not happen in the next 100 years. As for the opening about the Affordable Care Act, it is one of the most popular programs in modern times. The reason the GOP keeps calling it Obama Care is that it confuses people. Remember Trump Care? I was going to be the greatest health care plan in the world! Now it is just a concept, well not really even that it is an idea with no details. The red wave was a ripple, and will swing back in 2026.
The Affordable Care Act is not affordable for those who are having to pay for everyone else that is free-loading on the system. According to your statement, we must have a sh*t ton of freeloaders!
Yeah a ripple. We the People have finally had enough and this “ripple” clearly illustrates that. Now that we’re in charge of brining about some political and social change sanity, the polite and tolerant conservatives amongst us are crawling out of their slumber and finding their voices. Hey you Marxists should run AOC as your 2026 candidate for the White House. Please!!! Just do it!!!! It’ll be a sure thing…
One term maximum. Five them zero incentive for re-election. Give US Representatives 1-term 4-yrs and Senators 1-term 8-yrs. Every office in the land, right down to dogcatcher, should follow the same restriction. Its the biggest mistake our founding fathers made; not having this restriction. We need to make a degree in political science irrelevant.
One term maximum. Give them zero incentive for re-election. Give US Representatives 1-term 4-yrs and Senators 1-term 8-yrs. Every office in the land, right down to dogcatcher, should follow the same restriction. Its the biggest mistake our founding fathers made; not having this restriction. We need to make a degree in political science irrelevant.
This article confirmed ‘MY TAKE’ on M.Meckler and ‘his’ COS process – his need for money(lifestyle).
You know wht they say. They should all serve two terms. One in congress and one in jail😂 Actually not all of them but definitly some. Not pointing the finger at California or the east coast of course😒
PS Nice moniker. It’s a shame they quit making them.
The GOP used the Obamacare issue over several election cycles to retake the presidency, senate and house.
They promised to dismantle this monstrosity and the public believed they were serious.
The GOP had no intention of dismantling it, John McCain, who was terminally ill, was chosen to vote to keep Obamacare, for plausible deniability, and in any case his seat was soon to be vacated, making this bulwark neocon senator expendable.
This is the game the GOP plays, pretend to represent the people and our constitution, but always go along with the conversion to a top down, totalitarian governance. With only a thin pretense of conservatism.
Wanna bet?
“……….. Meckler actively seeks to undermine and destroy any rival Article V organization. He’s a snake. Other proposals are a threat to his. His whole operation is kept going so that Meckler can continue in the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed……….”
Classic conservatism. Even if he’s just in love with his ideas and not just feeding off of it, it’s all the same. It’s always like this.
I hope we see real change, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Even after the Civil War and Reconstruction. change was limited, slow, painful, and a century later, another snake named Johnson created another monster from it.
When you find yourself proposing something to change how the founders set things up, it is a good sign to stop and take a breath. Term limits are sold as an easy solution to all our problems. We know that won’t be true. People who take advantage of the system will do the same with a new one. Democrats have shown this, the state races in Alaska are a prime example. They punch well above their weight and have far more representation than the general interest of the population. Washington especially is run by the staff. Term limits would increase their power exponentially and their power would be “behind the curtain.” Politicians would need to rely on staff even more to get up to speed on issues and the process. Also the lobbyists would have even more influence as they understand how things really work in DC. Also think about having half or a third of the elected body not worrying about reelection. They wouldn’t even have to pretend about listening to voters. Redistricting being run by the parties has worked to ensure that incumbents are more easily reelected so they are more partisan. Likely the representation likely will not change much their either. The solution is a hard one. The scope of government has been greatly increased and it is going to take finding people to reduce that and therefor reduce their own power. That is going to take electing representatives that have the power to do that. A tall order for sure. Another problem with term limits is it would give power to large state voting blocks to determine leadership. That would be especially tough on states like Alaska.
Amen! Can you also imagine how much havoc some of our elected officials could accomplish if they didn’t have to worry about re-election? Term limits are like rank choice voting–something that sounds good until all the details are considered. Our main issue is the ignorance and apathy of most voters. I’m not sure how to overcome it but THAT is the real problem.
Gretchen, yes, I can “imagine how much havoc some of our elected officials could accomplish if they didn’t have to worry about re-election?” That’s precisely why we need term limits. Business as usual in government is killing us.
California has hadterm limits fora long time now. It cementedl eftist democrat control of the state into place. The legislative staff controls everything. Especially the elections. Note how Jerry Brown slithered back in , even after his endless time as governor .he set the stage for the odious Gavin Gruesome
Okay, Joe. Let’s “think about having half or a third of the elected body not worrying about re-election.” That would mean their votes would not be merely tactics to get re-elected. Rather, they might actually fulfill promises made during their campaigns. Humans are driven by incentive. If the incentive it re-election, the campaign promises are secondary.