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Title: The Discipline of Article V

Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/the-discipline-of-article-v|the-discipline-of-article-v]]

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Created: 2022-09-01 14:06:03

Updated: 2022-09-08 03:00:01

Published: 2022-09-01 02:00:00

Converted: 2025-04-14T21:19:15.804984385


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The great Roman statesman and philosopher Seneca wrote: //"Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power."//

It would take an individual with imagination heretofore unknown to man to claim that the majority of members of Congress, the executive, and those filling posts in the Cabinet and bureaucracy -- in other words, those in power -- have themselves in their own power.

So out of control is the power, overreach, and corruption of the people who comprise the federal government that not even a compliant media can obscure the entirety of its malfeasance.

The attorney general signed off upon a raid of a former president that was of spurious legality, and has determined that it is unnecessary to answer to the few members of Congress who wish to conduct their oversight role and inquire as to why a bureau of the federal government is acting more like a secret police agency. 

Those members of Congress who would agree that particular attorneys general should exercise whatever power they wish against political opponents are themselves ginning up opposition against justices of the Supreme Court, profiting handsomely from insider information and conflicts of interest, or compromised by the country's primary enemy.

Despite the already-crushing tax burden upon law-abiding citizens, the Internal Revenue Service believes it necessary to hire nearly 100,000 more agents to bleed dry those of us who at least give the country the appearance of a functional economy.

Perhaps worst of all, in an effort to perhaps win a few votes and further demonize a political opponent, the compromised, crooked, and addled chief executive is prepared to call at least half of the Republic's eligible voters an existential threat to the nation. What mayhem and mischief may ensue does not take much of the imagination earlier mentioned.

The above are just a few examples of the complete lack of self-discipline among those in power. They are weak and soft, all too willing to dishonorably sell out the Republic for personal fame and fortune. As Seneca might have observed, they are the least powerful of individuals.

Unfortunately, these poisonous creatures have over us.

Fortunately, Article V of the United States Constitution is the antidote.

Article V provides the means for the people to instill discipline into those institutions whose members refuse to discipline themselves.

An Article V Convention of States would not only discuss and propose amendments to the Constitution that would require fiscal discipline and permanently term limit congressional and judicial parasites, but also require bureaucratic agencies to demonstrate their usefulness and justify appropriations for outlandish schemes such as the hiring of tens of thousands tax shock troops.

Article V was unanimously inserted into the Constitution because George Mason and his fellow delegates to the Constitutional Convention //knew //that power corrupts, and that Congress and that the federal government might become oppressive and tyrannical. 

A Convention of States will begin the process of bringing government and those who truly serve in government closer to Seneca's idea of what is truly most powerful in the individual.

It will also reinforce and reclaim the foundational idea that in this Republic, the people are sovereign.