Title: Alaska Surge Article

Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/alaska-surge-article|alaska-surge-article]]

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Created: 2023-10-04 17:33:01

Updated: 2023-12-27 13:16:51

Published: 2023-10-22 03:00:00

Converted: 2025-04-14T20:34:13.661349173


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Alaska is called the “Last Frontier,” an appropriate title, although we were also the second State to pass the Convention of States Resolution after Georgia. There was a reason for that, and the reasons to keep pushing forward are more compelling today than they were then. Let’s look at the broad scope first, and then we will dive into some particulars:\\
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**A Grassroots Army of Self-Governing Citizens**\\
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The Convention of States is a non-partisan group whose expressed purpose is to build an army of self-governing citizens. Not conservative citizens or liberal citizens, but educated and informed citizens who vote for their conscience and their values. We need an army of self-governing citizens to understand the nature of our Republic. We hear a lot about the danger to “American democracy,” and we need to understand why our Constitution was set up as a “Constitutional Republic” and not a democracy. To quote John Adams in his letter to John Taylor on 17 December 1814, “Remember Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a Democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is vain to say that Democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious or less avaricious than Aristocracy or Monarchy.”\\
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The greatest threat to our Republic is that so many in power think we are a Democracy. The first task of the Convention of States organization is to educate the American populace on the principles of our founding. Once people understand the principles, they will understand the importance of staying educated and informed about the issues of the day.\\
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**What We Are Asking For**\\
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The first convention of states would seek to propose amendments in the following areas:\\
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1.     **Term limits for Congress--and possibly bureaucrats and federal judges.** Public service was never meant to be a way of life.\\
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2.   **  Fiscal responsibility.** One must only look at the national debt picture to understand that this country is desperate for fiscal responsibility on the national level. You can also look at Congress’ penchant for “continuing resolutions” instead of passing an actual budget. This country has not had an actual budget since the mid 90’s.\\
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3.     **Federal overreach. **Most of what the federal government does is not by mandate or law but by regulation. One only needs to consider the statement of a former Speaker of the House who proclaimed, “Let’s just pass the bill and then we will see what is in it” to understand that our elected officials are as clueless as anyone as to how the government operates.\\
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**What This Will Look Like**

The exact verbiage of the proposed amendments is unknown; that will be up to the delegates from the several states. Some things are known:\\
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1.     Every state will be invited to send delegates selected by the State legislatures.\\
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2.     Every state will get one vote at the convention. This means that Alaska will have the same number of votes as California and New York, providing a level playing field.\\
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3.     The convention can only //propose// amendments. Under Article V, each proposed amendment must be ratified by 38 states in order to become part of the Constitution. \\
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**Moving Forward**\\
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Once we are again a nation of self-governing citizens who are informed about the issues of the day, we will no longer be subject to the capriciousness of an unaccountable government and will be able to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Once we have succeeded in calling the first convention of states, it will be easier to call others. That is the long-term goal, to establish a concerned citizenry who will hold government to the will and the “consent of the governed.”\\
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If we are to continue as a nation, we must have a government that is accountable to “We the people.” Never in the history of mankind has this type of experiment been tried. Our success is a testament to our resilience and our strength. Our success, or failure, at this point in our history, will be no less of a test.\\
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//“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We don’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on to them to do the same.” - Ronald Reagan//