Tom Coburn - Smashing the DC Monopoly: Using Article V to Restore Freedom and Stop Runaway Government

CAMPAIGNING FOR THE OKLAHOMA SENATE more than six years ago, I realized that the majority of my fellow Oklahomans shared my concerns with the direction of our nation. Many believed that without better controls on our federal government, our nation was doomed. I vowed to find a way to regain the limited government that our nations founders first established.

During my first year in office as a state senator, I studied the uses of nullification and interposition to limit federal power, two concepts credited (inaccurately regarding nullification) to James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. I found these concepts unsuited for the dilemma facing the states.

Since late 2013, I have become committed to studying and championing the use of Article V in the Constitution, which provides for amendment proposals initiated by both Congress and the states. Our founders provided this right to the states to give the people a more direct means to correct any imbalance of power between the states and the federal government, and to attempt to solve problems that Congress could not or would not address.

I have been honored to help with an effort began by Oklahoma senator Josh Brecheen to secure Oklahomas application for an Article V convention of states to propose a balanced budget amendment. In spring 2014, I came upon the work of Michael Farris, founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association and Patrick Henry College, who had begun the Convention of States (COS) Project along with Mark Meckler, president of Citizens for Self-Governance.

The purpose of COS is to limit the federal government by way of an Article V convention of states. In my subsequent discussions with Farris, I realized we both shared a deep Christian faith and a sincere desire for solutions to a country on a pathway to destruction. The two of us debated opponents of an Article V amendments convention, and I believe our efforts helped persuade the Oklahoma Legislature to approve this application in spring 2016.

I have studied the origins of the Article V amendments convention and the states attempts to use this measure since our nations birth. I have also read the opinions of many Americans both for and against this action over the years. The founder of the John Birch Society, Robert Welch, strongly supported the use of an amendments convention, although the group is now opposed. Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly, an ardent conservative, argued against an amendments convention.

That two staunch conservatives like Welch and Schlafly could hold opposite views on an Article V convention underscores the lack of understanding of this inherently safe constitutional provision. To succeed in getting the necessary thirty-four states to apply for an amendments convention, I realized that an educational effort was needed to better inform concerned citizens on the origins, procedures, safety, and importance of this action. Authored by former U.S. senator from Oklahoma Dr. Tom Coburn, this book is meant to provide this information.

Having worked with Dr. Coburn to convince Oklahoma legislators and citizens that an amendments convention could solve some of our nations most critical problems, I asked the former senator if he might consider telling the nation how he lost faith in Washington and came to place his hopes in an Article V convention. I knew that most citizens could greatly benefit from hearing how he came to this conclusion following his years in the inner workings of our federal government.

Fortunately for the nation, Dr. Coburn agreed to put his thoughts on paper. In fall 2015, I asked my good friend Larry Floyd, an Oklahoma City journalist and college history teacher, to join us in the task of getting this important book written. After nearly a year in the making, this narrative provides not only the insight of one of Americas most respected leaders, but also a thoroughly researched and considered history of how we came to our current national crisis and how Article V can be an effective, constitutional solution.

Much of this book also concerns removing the mystery of an amendments convention and illustrating the safety of this constitutional process. Although baseless, fears of a convention of states have permeated many past writings on this subject opinions usually provided by proponents of big government. This narrative dispels myths about an Article V convention (it is not a constitutional convention) and illuminates the Founders intention that this constitutional provision provide a means for We the People to act through our state representatives to effect needed structural changes to the national government.

The nation owes its gratitude to Dr. Coburn both for his service in Washington and for putting his experiences and conclusions in written form. We all need to know more about how a former U.S. representative and senator came to the realization that we must look to our founders and ourselves for a solution big enough for our nations considerable problems. It may be a narrative some of us in the battle for limited government largely know, but one that will benefit all Americans who truly cherish our Great Experiment in self-governance.

Of course, the true value of this book will be measured in the number of citizens and state legislators who are persuaded to join this fight to preserve the American dream for their children and grandchildren.

OKLAHOMA SENATOR ROB STANDRIDGE
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA (JUNE 2016)

PREFACE

THE 2016 ELECTION YEAR PROVED the most chaotic and divisive in living memory, highlighting the distrust and anger shown by much of the electorate toward the ruling elite in Washington. The nominees of both parties had high unfavorable ratings.

I heard the pent-up frustration of many Americans that presaged this bitter election year when I visited twenty-one states in 2015, the year after I left the Senate. I listened to everyday citizens express their fears and concerns about their lives and their families future. Americans could readily see that their government in Washington was broken and that Congress and the president could not or would not address the nations problems.