When the campaign for an Article V Balanced Budget Amendment campaign began in 1975, it was a campaign of, by, and for state legislators. There was no BBA Task Force, or any equivalent organization. By 1979 these legislators, on their own initiative, had passed Resolutions in 30 states. After seven years of effort by the BBA Task Force, we now have 27.
It’s better, it seems, if state legislators themselves are the source of an Article V movement. The Convention of States (CoS) organization has 12 states, after five years of effort and spending millions of dollars. The campaign for term limits using Article V is dead. Other Article V efforts are going nowhere.
All of these Article V campaigns were conceived and operated by ordinary citizens. They were not led by actual state legislators. This may be their fatal flaw. Perhaps the first Article V Convention will come from a new organization, of, by, and for state legislators.
The place for such an organization to form is the Phoenix Convention of States. Conditions are perfect, and the time has come.
reaganproject.com 