The new, Republican-led Congress convenes today, and conservatives are hopeful that, as Bob Dylan famously put it, "times, they are a-changin."
But can we really expect significant shift towards a smaller, less powerful federal government?
The short answer is, "Probably not."
This isn't to say Republicans won't do anything -- they'll push their agenda to fight Obamacare and illegal executive orders. They might even try to place more controls on federal spending.
But they won't do anything to seriously limit their power. I like the example Mark Meckler uses to illustrate this point. Imagine your favorite presidential candidate is elected. Now imagine that candidate's inaugural address -- what will he or she say? Will they, as their first presidential act, limit their power to what they possess under a strict interpretation of the Constitution? Of course not. They like their power, and they probably think they can do good things with it.
The same is true of this Congress. As Michael Farris explains in the first installment of the Facebook Federalist, electing good people to enact good policy isn't enough to preserve liberty. We need a structural change -- we need to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government by fixing the root of the problem.
This is what a Convention of States can accomplish. By proposing clearly-worded constitutional amendments, which are then ratified by the states, a Convention can restore the balance of power between the states, the federal government, and the people.
Article V gives us a means to scale back federal power once and for all. Congress won't do it for us, no matter who is elected. We must do it ourselves, and you can help make it happen.
