No matter which side of the issues you find yourself, this last election shows the pendulous nature of American voters. As the new guard arrives in Washington next month, legislation no doubt will be passed to reverse the last government’s laws, and executive orders will be issued that nullify the prior Administration’s actions.
The one thing that remains is the United States Constitution.
Our Constitution is the ultimate law of the land, the standard that all other laws, policies, and Executive Orders are measured against. We often hear that a law is unconstitutional. That means it conflicts with our Constitution.
This 236-year-old document sets us apart from other governments in that it begins with all power being given to the people, rather than the state government. Then certain powers are given to state governments, with the least amount of authority granted to the Federal government.
The authors of the Constitution realized there may be the need to amend it as new things came up, or as times changed. In Article V they included two methods to do this. First, a two-thirds vote of both the U.S. Senate and Congress can recommend amendments — or, lesser known, two-thirds of the state legislatures can call for a convention to make recommendations for amendments. Either way, three-quarters of the states must ratify an amendment for it to be added to our Constitution.
Realizing that there is little chance of the federal government putting forth amendments that limit its own power, there has been a grass roots campaign to use the second path, a Convention of States. The goal is to create amendment recommendations on federal term limits and a balanced Federal budget. (We have both of these already in the Montana Constitution.) The scope of a Convention also would include reviewing other areas where the federal government has usurped authority from the states.
Nineteen states have already approved Convention of States legislation, and nine more have legislation in the works. Montana will again have legislation introduced to join this group of states to discuss returning our federal government to our Founders’ original intent.
This legislation will be introduced early in the coming session, so if rebalancing power back to the states is important to you, please contact Representative Marta Bertoglio at Marta.Bertoglio@legmt.gov or Senator Becky Beard at Becky.Beard@legmt.gov.
Goodner, a Boulder resident, is a precinct chairman for the Montana Republican Party.
