Coburn OpEd: Oklahoma Should Use Its Article V Authority
Tom Coburn: Oklahoma should use its Article V authority
BY TOM COBURN
Oklahoma state legislators have a unique opportunity before them — the opportunity to use their authority under Article V of the U.S. Constitution to rein in the power of Washington, D.C. Senate Joint Resolution 4 calls for a Convention of States to propose constitutional amendments that will limit the scope, power and jurisdiction of the federal government.
I have spent enough time in our nation’s capital to know that the federal government will never limit its own power. That’s why I am now dedicating myself to promoting this historic effort across the nation. I am urging our state representatives to use the tool our Founding Fathers left to them for such a time as this.
I have joined the Convention of States Project because I believe it is our last, best hope for restoring our republic. I cannot sit idly by as my grandchildren’s future is bankrupted by an irresponsible, unaccountable and unrestrained government that was originally — and brilliantly — designed to protect their liberty.
In this present day, when the courts have effectively “interpreted” the constitutional limitations on federal power out of existence, it falls to us to restore those limitations in clear, unambiguous language that definitively binds all three federal branches.