There are a few important issues where Mr. Levin and I disagree. Mark Levin wrote the book ‘The Liberty Amendments’ in 2013, which outlines the Convention of States and the type of amendments Mark Levin would like to see as the result of the convention. A COS is the lesser known of the two ways that constitutional amendments could be proposed. As opposed to the traditional method of congress proposing amendments, a COS allows for the state legislatures themselves to call a convention for the same purpose if 34 of the 50 states pass a resolution declaring that they would like to call for the convention. If a convention were to be called, each state would send a delegation of any size to the COS, but each state would only have one vote, regardless of how many people it had or how large its delegation. It is unclear how exactly these delegates would be chosen. This article will generally outline what would happen if the delegates were chosen by the people and/or legislators of each state.
After the amendments are proposed at the convention and passed with a majority vote, they would need to be ratified by 38 state legislatures in order to become amendments to the US constitution. After initially being very excited about the COS idea (so excited that I signed up to volunteer for it) I have come to realize that there is no possibility that it could improve the constitution, and it is very likely that it would turn the constitution into something out of Chuck Schumer’s dreams. In fact, I’m going to prove it using sources solely from ConservativeReview.com, which is Mark Levin’s magnum opus website.
At the time of this writing, the COS resolution has been approved by 12 states. They are all among the most conservative states. By virtue of them being conservative states and approving it first, it could safely be surmised that the next 22 (34 states are required in order to convene a COS) states would be more difficult than these first 12 were. For argument’s sake, let’s pretend that even purple states approved the COS (which I would bet my entire net worth would not happen) and a convention was formally called. Without even mentioning what any entry-level political observer knows about the federal government statists being capable of infiltrating anything, we are going to explore what type of delegates would represent the 50 states at this convention in Levin’s best case scenario. We are going to assume that each state would send the same type of representative(s) that the state has chosen in its latest state-wide elections. We know that most states would send statists. CA would send a socialist authoritarian like Jerry Brown or Diane Feinstein, NY would send someone like Cuomo or Schumer, and so on. But who would the conservative states choose to represent them?
Let’s take a look at Texas: While Texas did elect senator Cruz who has advocated for liberty, they also elected John Cornyn, who was given an F rating for his Liberty Scorecard by Mr. COS himself. Since 2002, Texas has consistently asserted that this man best represents them. The US representatives from Texas combine for an average rating of F.
Many people consider Alaska to be the most conservative state in the US. They have no income tax and they don’t really have any gun laws. It may actually be the most conservative/free state. Surely, Alaskans would send strong liberty-minded conservative delegates to a COS. If you want to know who they would send to represent them, take a look at their 2 senators and 1 representative. You would find that Murkowski, Sullivan, and Young all receive an F rating on their Liberty Scorecard, which was graded by Mark Levin’s ConservativeReview.com.
Let's move on from the bitter cold truth that Alaska taught us, and check out what is generally considered the warmest state and to many people, the most conservative state in the US. Arizona has the most gun freedom in the US according to most lists and they have very conservative voters. Would they send delegates to the convention that Mark Levin would support? If you visit Mark Levin’s magnum opus, you’ll find that both US senators from Arizona receive an F rating on their Liberty Scorecard. In fact, John McCain and Jeff Flake may be bashed by Mark Levin more than any other US politician.
Wyoming has the smallest population of any US state, and it’s filled with liberty-minded conservative voters who are very intelligent and very politically active from what I’ve seen when traveling around the cowboy state. There’s no way that they would elect anything less than a perfect libertarian conservative who scores A ratings and 100% on their Liberty Score. I, too, was saddened to learn that the 2 US senators from Wyoming receive D & F ratings on their Liberty Scorecards. Governor Mead and their sole US representative, Liz Cheney are also less-than-consistent conservatives.
Unlike its neighbor to the north, Utah is a different type of conservative. While much more religious, Utah is still home to some of the most conservative/libertarian voters in the US. While senator Mike Lee has a 100% rating on his Liberty Scorecard, senior senator Orrin Hatch receives an F rating from Mark Levin. Their 4 congressmen combine for an average rating of D.
South Carolina is another one of the most conservative states. Their US senators receive A & F ratings from Mark Levin’s site. Their US representatives combine for an average rating of D.
Oklahoma was the only state in the entire US in which every single county voted Republican in the past presidential election. Like you, I assumed that Oklahoma votes for consistent conservatives to represent them. Unfortunately, the US senators that the people of Oklahoma elected receive C & D ratings from Conservative Review. Their US representatives combine for an average rating of D.
South Dakota is another low population conservative state. I was discouraged to learn that both of their US senators, Rounds and Thune receive F ratings on their Liberty Scorecards. Their sole representative also has an F rating.
Its conservative neighbor, North Dakota also chose 2 senators with F ratings to represent them in Washington. Their sole representative also has a pathetic F rating.
This proves that the absolute best delegates from Mark Levin’s dreams still do not have any chance of producing any libertarian amendments at a COS. Considering that 45-50 of the 50 delegations would surely be comprised of statists who support an omnipotent federal government, the chances that a communist/authoritarian amendment would be passed are quite high.
Ratification: Regardless of what were to take place at a COS, any good or bad amendment would need to be ratified by 38/50 states. The politicians who are currently state senators and state representatives are the authoritarian US representatives of tomorrow. It could be understood that state legislators are largely statists by looking at the laws that states have passed during this past decade. They include forcing interior designers and barbers to obtain licensure, raising taxes so high that people are forced onto welfare, and most importantly, state legislatures have not stood up for the 10th amendment. Keeping in mind that almost every single governor, state house, and state senate are authoritarian in nature, which type of amendment is likelier to be ratified, an authoritarian one or a libertarian one?
I rest my case.
Where does this leave us? If a COS is hopeless, what should we do to fix this country and to stop its rapid descent into authoritarian communism?
I have been saying for some time that the US is hopeless to ever return to the libertarian ideas of private property, limited government, and individual rights upon which it was founded. Mark Levin does not agree with me, but after seeing how poorly he rates even the most conservative representatives, I cannot understand why he is still in denial and why he still thinks that the GOP or a Convention of States has any chance of returning this country to the principles of its foundation.
Yes, I do have some practical ideas. I welcome you to contact me if you're interested in my opinion on the next step in the fight for liberty.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views held by The Liberty Block or any of its contributors or members.
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