I’ve read a few things by Angelo Codevilla, and been highly impressed. His 2010 Ruling Class, How They Corrupted America and What We Can Do About It is, or should be, required reading for any American who calls himself a conservative. This man is one of the sharpest knives in the drawer.
He’s got an article out (hat tip, Instapundit) in Claremont Review that is a cry of despair. After the Republic, he calls it. When Cruz lost, we as constitutional conservatives lost our last best hope. The Constitution’s gone, and we won’t get it back. In this regard, he doesn’t think Trump is much better than Clinton.
He may not be right about that, and as Exhibit “A” I offer into evidence the Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Mike Pence. Pence is another Reagan, as far as his politics and commitment to Constitutional government are concerned, and I think he will be the most important Vice President in American history. Trump and his family like and trust him, as they should. He’s a loyal soldier, and a lot more. He served six terms in the House before being elected Governor of Indiana, and he was a solid, hard core Reagan man the entire time. Trump will rely on him in dealing with Congress, and he will have to explain to Trump (as if Trump didn’t already know) that there are only around 30 real conservatives in the House, and three or four in the Senate. Everybody else is in the middle of a lucrative and prestigious career in government. Trump’s going to get real sick of them in a hurry.
At that point Pence can explain the role Article V can play in the Trump Presidency. Trump wants to balance the budget, eventually. It may take eight or ten years, but all that really matters is that we’re heading in the right direction, slowly reducing our annual deficit. Trump and his economic team can come up with a time table for when they think the budget should balance. They ask Congress to propose this in the form of a Trump approved Balanced Budget Amendment. Congress won’t do it, so Trump says he’ll ask an Amendment Convention, called under the provisions of Article V of the Constitution, to propose it instead.
By this time the BBA Task Force should have 32 of the required 34 States, and with President Trump behind us we’ll get to 34, have a quick and orderly Amendment Convention, and put out the Trump BBA for ratification.
I feel confident about getting to 32 because I’ve been talking to the founding father of the modern Article V movement, Lew Uhler, of the National Tax Limitation Committee. Lew’s in his mid 80’s, and more active than I am. We agree that we should get Arizona, Idaho, Wisconsin and Wyoming early in 2017, getting us to 32. We’ll need help getting from there to 34, but it should be forthcoming, and the obstacles in our path are surmountable.
Lew is flying back to Wyoming, to see a man he met there 25-30 years ago when Lew was trying to get the BBA Resolution through the Wyoming legislature. This guy was a State Senator back then, and a big believer in the cause. It turns out that he may now be the richest man in Wyoming, or in the top two or three. I’ve been personally working on Wyoming for the last two years, and I’ve made three trips to Cheyenne to appear before the Legislature. We almost made it, in both 2015 and this year. With this gentleman behind us, I think Wyoming is a piece of cake.
Once the Amendment Convention for the BBA is over, we can start work on the Second Amendment Convention. I like the sound of that. It’s got nothing to do with the 2nd Amendment, it just sounds good. And that’s when things get interesting, and Constitutional government in this country can be revived.
So take heart, Angelo. All is not lost.
reaganproject.com 