OPINION: Open letter to Idaho GOP chair Dorothy Moon
Mrs. Moon,
I appreciate your willingness to volunteer to be the Idaho GOP Chairwoman, but I was disappointed you chose to express your personal opinion of opposition to Article V written under your title as the Chair of the Idaho Republican Party.
There is no Resolution, nor is there any statement in the Idaho State Republican Platform opposing the U.S. Constitution Article V. In fact, the 2016/2020 Platform of the National Republican Party in the Government Reform section calls for a Constitutional “Balanced Budget Amendment.” In addition, the National Platform includes an endorsement of “Term Limits for members of Congress” to be advanced as a Constitutional Amendment by the States. The Platform expresses the Quiet Tyranny of the “Nanny State” by the multiple Administrative Agencies, to name only a few: Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Welfare, Department of Labor and the Federal Communications Commission. Under Education, the National GOP Platform states that the Constitution gives no role for the federal government in education, therefore the Department of Education itself is not constitutional. Education is entirely the responsibility of the States per their State Constitutions.
With the National GOP Platform in mind, during the last several years over 27,000 constituents in Idaho have signed petitions for the Idaho legislators to pass an Article V Convention of States Resolution to propose Amendments with these three subject Convention topics: 1) “Restricting federal spending reducing our national debt; 2) Term Limits for federal officials, members of Congress and unelected bureaucrats; and 3) Limiting federal overreach to return power to the States” To date, 20 States have passed by their legislative majority the same subject topic area Resolution:: Florida, Texas, Arizona, Utah, Alaska, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, West Virginia, Indiana, Mississippi, Kansas, Tennessee and Missouri. There was no fear holding these State legislators back!
I understand your husband may be or has been on a board of the John Birch Society (JBS) and JBS is opposed to Article V, but as the Chair of the Idaho GOP you do not represent the JBS. The original founders of the JBS were in agreement with calling for our Constitution’s “Article V Convention of States for Proposing Amendments” but with a change of leadership in the 70’s JBS chose to oppose Article V. What a shame, because in 1983, with President Reagan’s blessing, there were 32 States with Article V Resolutions for a “Balanced Budget Amendment” but JBS and the George Soros-funded multiple organizations like “Common Cause” convinced a couple of States to rescind their Resolution resulting in not reaching the 34-state threshold needed to move forward with the Convention. The federal debt was close to 1.5 trillion dollars at that time. Now, the federal debt is 34 trillion dollars.
The U.S. Constitution Founders added Article V to the Constitution by unanimous vote. Those Founders, in their amazing wisdom, predicted that in the future Congress and the Executive branch might become overreaching in their limited government role and usurp the States and their citizen’s ability to govern more locally.
As a former Idaho State Legislator, I and two other Idaho legislators attended the 2016 simulated “Article V Convention of States to propose Amendments” in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, with legislators and representatives from our 50 States. In August 2023, three legislators from Idaho attended a second simulated Article V Convention of States with legislators from 49 States to reconfirm how smooth and orderly a Convention of States to propose Amendments will be run in the future.
The Heritage Foundation, a Washington D.C. “Think Tank for Policy Impact,” and likely the most influential organization to the members of Congress, attended the 2023 simulated Convention of States and its leadership has since expressed full support to our three topics proposed in a Resolution for an Article V Convention of States.
Additionally, other endorsers include: Governor Ron DeSantis, Mark Levin,Tucker Carlson, Mark Meckler, Colonel Allen West, Ben Shapiro, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Senator Rick Santorum, Charlie Kirk, Constitution attorney Michael Farris (Home School Legal Defense Association and Alliance Defending Freedom), Constitution attorney and newly elected Congressional Speaker Mike Johnson, Constitutional Scholars Rick Green, David and Tim Barton, Pete Hegseth and Robert G. Natelson — Constitutional Scholar, law professor, attorney and the most published active scholar on the U.S. Constitution’s amendment procedure — just to name a few of the exceptional individuals who have joined the growing list of American freedom fighters.
The fact is true there has never been an Article V Convention of States called by We the People to propose amendments to the Constitution; but there has been many State Compacts by multiple States in similar convention mode. The States have ratified the 27 Amendments that began through Article V originated by Congress. Unfortunately our federal leaders have come to enjoy their power and will never entertain the topic of proposed Amendments in our Resolution. Let us use our Constitution to save our Republic to return the freedoms the Founders gave us.
Respectively submitted,
Eric Redman
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Eric Redman is a former state representative for Idaho District 2.
Dorothy Moon's opinion piece referenced in this op-ed can be found on the Idaho GOP website, idgop.org. It was published there Jan. 4 and is titled, "Turning to a Convention of States in Times of National Crisis is Not the Answer."