Eternal Vigilance

Our determination to preserve the U.S. Constitution is never-ending. In 1990, one of our patriotic friends in New Hampshire began a vigil to keep the Constitution out of the clutches of radical reformers. The specter of subjecting the Constitution to destructive changes came by the action of 32 states (including New Hampshire) as a result of their applications to Congress to call a federal constitutional convention (con con). The number of states needed to trigger a convention is 34 (two-thirds of the states), meaning the nation was on the brink of a constitutional disaster, for a con con is a sovereign assembly having no higher authority to limit or control its work.

By 1990, two of the 32 states (Alabama and Florida) had awakened to the reality that the U.S. Constitution could never survive a modern con con, and they took the lead by formally withdrawing their con con requests.* New Hampshire was among the remaining 30 states where alert citizens tried repeatedly to get a resolution passed to kill that state’s con-con application.

For the next 20 years faithful citizens, led by Bill McNally of Windham, New Hampshire, kept draft legislation on the desks of their state legislators, constantly reminding their elected officials of the dangers of a modern-day con con. Finally, this year their vigilance paid off with passage of a rescinding resolution, HCR 28. It was titled: “A resolution rescinding all requests by the New Hampshire legislature for a federal constitutional convention.” We are especially heartened to note that this legislation passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate.

*As of this date, the final score shows 13 state withdrawals. Adding this to the original two-state deficit, we now have a safety margin of 15 states preventing a constitutional crisis.