April 15 marks not only our annual “Tax Day” but also the 113th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. So, now is a propitious time to conflate the two events into a civics lesson involving our national survival.
Titanic Captain Edward Smith and his officers knew well that dangerous icebergs loomed ahead of their ship. But their failure to properly anticipate disaster cost them and hundreds of others their lives. Now, our American ship of state is headed straight toward a similarly deadly—if metaphoric—threat that we can still avoid with decisive action. But time is running out. We’re closing in on a killer iceberg.
Our national debt grew by almost $2.5 trillion over the past year, an increase of about $6.6 billion a day. Around 15 percent of federal spending now occurs solely to service the debt.
Disaster looms.
This is no surprise. Analysts have long warned of grave danger. But Congress is inherently incapable of spending reform. Members get elected and reelected by “bringing home the bacon” via grants, earmarks, new programs, bigger programs, public works boondoggles, etc.
Some presidents sought remedial fiscal action. Both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton enjoyed marginal success.
But every 21st-century president has been part of the problem—especially our two most recent. Octogenarian presidents aren’t inclined to worry much about hitting icebergs when the collisions won’t occur on their watches.
Are we doomed to financial collapse? Is there any hope?
Yes. And that hope is tied to a COS, a “Convention of the States.”
Such a confab is provided for in our Constitution’s Article V. If two thirds of the states (34) call for such a convention to propose a constitutional amendment regarding spending, then such a gathering must occur. Depending upon the criteria, we are within a state or two of reaching that threshold. Indeed, New Hampshire could be the state that gets us to that tipping point whereby a convention would convene to recommend amending our constitution to address our deadly spending trajectory.
Unfortunately, opponents have successfully spooked lawmakers into opposing a COS. The foremost scare tactic involves stoking the fear of a “runaway convention” whereby the convened delegates run amok to create constitutional chaos. Such scary tactics spooked me when a COS proposal came up two terms ago, and I voted against it.
But since becoming Chair of our House Committee on State-Federal Relations, I’ve become better informed concerning a COS and am proud that last term our committee finally recommended passing a COS measure in bipartisan fashion. But opponents still spooked enough House members to prevent it from moving forward on the House floor.
This February, our committee again took up a COS measure, HCR3. Former Pennsylvania U.S. senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum traveled to Concord to plead with us to move HCR3 forward, which we did. Soon, the full House will again take it up. The challenge is to “unspook” enough members to move HCR3 to the Senate.
To be sure, fair questions need attention, such as how to select a state’s delegates. But answers are out there. And the notion of a “runaway convention” is easily countered. States (including New Hampshire) have conducted over 600 constitutional conventions with little or no evidence that any charges were exceeded. Any convention would only propose amendments—necessary measures that Congress and recent presidents were incapable of generating. And at least 38 states would still need to review and ratify any proposals for any amendment to take effect.
Truth be told, there was perhaps one “runaway” convention—one that came together in 1787 in Philadelphia to “amend” the unworkable Articles of Confederation. The result was a document that became the most enduring and influential constitution in human history. Check it out sometime—especially its Article V.
New Hampshire was famously the ninth state to ratify that U.S. Constitution in 1788, giving it the three-quarter support needed to become law of the land. It happened right in Concord.
Count me among those who hope the Granite State will again step up to help make an Article V COS a reality. Otherwise, our ship of state is destined to hit that financial iceberg and go down just as the Titanic did.
After Titanic’s deadly collision it was too late for Captain Smith to change direction. An Article V COS is probably our only chance to change our deadly financial course. And while the iceberg that sank the Titanic was obscured by darkness and fog, our deadly fiscal iceberg looms in plain sight, to be ignored at our own peril.
British Prime Minister William Gladstone—a contemporary of Captain Smith—claimed that our American Constitution was “the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.”
Our enlightened Founders clearly anticipated a time when we’d need to invoke that Article V provision.
That time is now.
