Here is a letter I wrote and sent off recently. Based on the letter, guess which celebrity it went to? If you have time and feel like it.
Dear [blank],
I’m writing today in regards to a political science project you may find hope and comfort in. I understand you’ve been politically aware for many years, and I imagine you have ideas as to what the country needs at this point. Also, as a father, I’m sure you’d like to see to it the world your children grow up in has a broadening of the horizon of possibility, instead of a diminution of it.
Over the years, each time there’s been discussion of a "constitutional convention" breached into the mainstream, the traditional concern has been that of a "runaway convention" where simply discussing ideas might somehow accidentally turn into new and unwanted laws. Of course it’s an irrational fear because a convention doesn’t have powers of ratification--only the approval of 38 states can turn an idea into an amendment--and to get 75% of any group to agree to any one idea is so difficult that it would need overwhelming and broad support. The 3/4 requirement for ratification basically sanctifies the popular will. The Framers, those old guys with funny haircuts and weird clothes, knew what they were doing.
If you yourself were tasked with proposing an amendment, I’m sure you could come up with something non-partisan your friends and acquaintances from across the political spectrum could agree on. In fact that’s what a convention is, a place to build consensus between the left and right as to what our country needs at this time.
Simply as a civic ceremony though, a convention would affect the status quo--it doesn’t need to be done away with, it simply needs to be broken so it can be reformed. In some ways we’re all tied to the status quo, which makes for a reluctance to examine it. But now it’s become increasingly untenable--indeed unconscionable--and folks are finally looking for answers outside politics as usual.
A federal lawsuit was brought before the Supreme Court last year, and it was concerned with the convention clause of Article V of the Constitution: should the states ever apply, Congress shall call a convention. The evidence in the suit was the Congressional Record, and low and behold, over five hundred state applications had piled up all these years and one Congress after another had simply ignored them--congressional laches--ignoring something on purpose.
A group formed, Friends of the Article V Convention, we’re now experiencing a rush of members to our website, and if a well-known American signed on, that might be the crack in the wall which brings about that horizon of possibility so many of us would like to see appear in our lifetime.
Below are links for you to examine if you’re so moved, but the second one is concerned with a documentary film. While a tipping point majority of Americans declaring they’d like Congress to convoke America’s first Article V Convention might do the trick, the issue has been tarred and feathered with so much misinformation over the years, I thought it might be a good idea to make something pleasant and entertaining to show the rest of the country we have nothing to fear. Specifically, the idea is to get 100 college students and Robert’s Rule of Order together in a ballroom and have them carry out the convention clause. I’ve made a couple of documentaries and I know that once you set down parameters, all kinds of interesting and delightful things can emerge. What’s more, the costs for such a documentary would by and large consist of flying students to a venue and putting them up for a weekend--something relatively inexpensive and simple to shoot. Ideally, alongside the exploration of ideas, some human interests stories would emerge, along with some charismatic and endearing personalities, and the country would be given the chance to fall in love with a group of young Americans doing something very American.
I’d like you to be the executive producer of that documentary. You would add a certain amount of élan and cachet to it, and you seem to be a natural choice based on the hue of your celebrity. Perhaps the ideal narrative is that you produce, we come away with a historic film which informs the country in an entertaining manner, it coerces the call out of Congress, and you end up as a delegate from California. Maybe. Something like that.
I can go on, but I’ll leave it to you to examine the websites and information, and if you are so moved, give a call. I’m sure there are a number of ways to approach this concept. Ultimately though, the reason for doing it is because we love our country, and we still believe it can lead the world into a better future--one where the levels of misery on the planet are much lower than they are today.
Please do consider this proposition. I’m up here in [blank], and I await your call.
Sincerely,
John De Herrera
www.foavc.org
www.articlev.org