Why are we promoting a People’s Constitutional Convention?  Because the state leadership is dysfunctional, irresponsible, and unresponsive…has been for many years…getting worse…and no one is doing much about it in a powerful way.  We all sit back and opine while the abuses continue.  We can’t afford to wait any longer.  Literally.

That government that governs best, governs least.

As NYS citizens, we have a constitutional sovereign right to “go over the heads” of our legislators and conduct a citizens’ convention to address and act on perceived grievances.  The voting public can then pass final judgment on the convention’s work.  They can say yea or nay…in part or in whole.

Here are some other reasons we must force a People’s Convention in 2013:

  1. It’s been 70-odd years since our last successful constitutional convention (1938; the 1967 convention failed as voters did not approve any reforms due to bad packaging, legislative apathy, and special interest opposition)
  2. Taxation without representation (unless your elected official is in or totally supportive of the leadership he/she can’t get bills out of committee)
  3. Taxation without representation (partisan gerrymandering stymies competition and favors incumbents)
  4. Taxation without representation (the people do not have the right of initiative—the right and ability to bring proposed laws or constitutional amendments to general elections)
  5. We are going broke and need a spending cap on state budgets and annual increases
  6. We need a property tax cap so state-mandated expenses don’t get “pushed down” into local taxes
  7. We need a constitutionally-defined immediate succession plan for when the governor dies, resigns or is incapacitated (and NOT when he or she is out of the state for an hour or a few days)
  8. Ethics reform is crucial but the Legislature doesn’t have the stomach to police itself

The constitution of New York State isn’t a musty old parchment preserved for eternity behind reflective glass.  It’s a living document, encoded with DNA that permits and even invites its evolution. Its stewards for over two centuries envisioned the periodic need to amend or re-write the constitution based on changes in society and the people’s sovereign right to redress perceived misgovernment.  Consequently, New Yorkers have seen more than 100 amendments and five distinct constitutions, the first one drafted at convention by John Jay in 1777.  Intervals between new state constitutions were 44 years (1821), 25 years (1846), 48 years (1894) and 44 years (1938).  If New Yorkers were to hold a citizens’ convention and adopt a new constitution in 2013 (effectively the earliest possible timeframe) that would be an interval of 75 years between constitutions—or nearly twice our state’s historic average.  Thus the human tides of history itself suggest that a convention may be long overdue.  Ironically, even those people who fear constitutional change, today enjoy its benefits.

Our group’s mission is to galvanize the people behind a People’s Convention, where the people have a fighting chance to win necessary political reforms and reign in runaway spending and taxes.

Please help us, and yourselves.

Citizens, groups, and local editors have been howling for an early NYS constitutional convention. The problem is that we are talking to ourselves.  Albany doesn’t hear anything except money.  Power.  Votes.  Losing seats.

Let’s make ‘em listen.