Title: Educating and fighting back Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/educating-and-fighting-back|educating-and-fighting-back]] Login Required to view? No Created: 2023-01-04 16:27:00 Updated: 2023-01-12 03:00:02 Published: 2023-01-05 00:00:00 Converted: 2025-04-14T21:22:09.217870866 ---- In the prologue to his brilliant book //[[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13531850-the-man-who-saved-the-union|The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace]]//, author and scholar H.W. Brands points out one of the eternal frustrations of political battle: //"In politics the ignorant and venal have as much right to their votes as the educated and upstanding." // This striking observation should resonate with and motivate those of us associated with the Convention of States movement.  New legislative sessions have begun across the Republic, [[https://malegislature.gov/Events/Sessions/Detail/4321|including Massachusetts on Tuesday]]. More state legislatures will commence sessions in the days ahead. With the new year and new sessions come opportunities to do what COS grassroots volunteers do best: educate legislators and citizens who are unfamiliar with Article V and work to defeat the forces that would -- for various reasons (some of them that are venal indeed) -- deny American citizens a chance to circumvent Congress and call a Convention of States.  No doubt every COS volunteer has had the experience of speaking with fellow citizens and even legislators who are unfamiliar with Article V and the power that state legislatures have in the amendment process. But our grassroots education effort can change that rapidly. The co-chair of the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, in front of whom the Massachusetts team presented testimony a year ago, commended the team for bringing to light how Article V came about, its purpose, and its use -- facts with which he had not been familiar. Such an effort led to Massachusetts becoming the first "blue" state to pass the COS Resolution out of committee.  Those who have been in meetings with legislators or presenting testimony to legislative committees know that opponents of COS will stop at nothing to distort, disfigure, and dissemble in order to paint us as Constitution shredders who would drop the Bill of Rights in an instant.  The new year brings forth more opportunities to educate and edify. Talk to your representatives and fellow citizens about Article V; explain the process and why it's necessary and right. Prepare yourself for the arguments against us, and cheerfully disabuse the hesitant or the resistant notions that a Convention of States would do anything but strengthen the power of the people at the expense of the swamps of the Potomac. Take the latest opportunity to educate and fight; to demonstrate that Article V is for //every //American and persuade as many as you can to sign the petition and join this noble cause.  In doing so, you can most effectively combat the ignorance and venality that permeates American politics.