Note by Jeff: For clarity’s sake, HB250 is proposing a convention to amend the GA Constitution with a provision reforming “state and local taxation and finance” only.
On December 16, 1773, a group of colonists known as the Sons of Liberty boarded three English ships at Massachusetts’ Griffin Wharf. They pulled over 90,000 lbs of tea from the ships’ cargo holds and threw it into Boston Harbor in a symbolic act of protest history would remember as the Boston Tea Party.
The Tea Party was a key step in the course from resistance to Revolution in the American colonies. Less than a year after the event, the first Continental Congress presented the colonies’ British hegemons with a united American opposition — and, less than a year after that, the Revolutionary War had begun and the second Continental Congress, which would adopt the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, had gone into session.
Fourteen years after Boston, America’s Constitutional Convention met to draft and ratify the document which governs our nation to this very day.
State Rep. Bob Smith (R-Watkinsville) hopes the modern day tea parties held in Atlanta and around the country last Friday in opposition to President Barack Obama’s budget, mortgage bailout, and “stimulus” proposals will help build momentum for a modern Constitutional Convention in a much shorter period of time.
As we reported first here on Peach Pundit, Smith introduced a bill in January to “provide for the holding of a Convention of the people of Georgia for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution of this state relating to state and local taxation and finance.”
The legislation, House Bill 250, provides for the election of delegates to a Constitutional Convention, and for the holding of that convention “in the City of Atlanta on the fourth Monday following the certification of the results of such elections by the Secretary of State.”
HB 250 is currently in subcommittee, but Rep. Smith is clearly hoping that grassroots activities like the Atlanta Tea Party will help build popular momentum for tax reform in the Peach State, and will motivate Georgians to get directly involved in managing and reforming their government’s revenue-generating efforts.
What do you think? Is a Constitutional Convention the answer — and is there enough of a pro-reform groundswell building in Atlanta and around the state and country to create real (as opposed to sloganeering) change?
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Some may recall, and others may prefer to forget, that I have used the nom de plume, Tea Party, in the past. I chose that nickname when my district was represented by Cynthia McKinney and then by GOP legislators during the north DeKalb (Atlanta) incorporation effort.
I felt both Ms. McKinney and those who wished to incorporate my homestead did not represent my political interests.
Whether the incorporation effort will make long term sense remains to be seen. I am hopeful incorporation will make sense, which is more than I could ever say about Ms. McKinneys’ brand of leadership.
In any case, I chose the Tea Party moniker because I did not believe my GOP was representing true fiscal conservation from about 1995 to 2008. Others, have written about the lack of fiscal restraint during the last 13 years. Now we see a group wishing to call themsleves a Tea Party because of our new Dem leaderships spending spree. But we expect that from he ‘tax and spend, butter instead of guns’ folks.
I submit, the new Tea Party is hypocritical. We saw largesse, lack of accountability, a complete succumbing to the greed cycle by folks we call RINO’s.
The only difference between GOP fiscal conservatives and Dem big spenders is that the majority of GOP fiscally conservative voters scream bloody murder when their folks spend. Witness SB31.
Whereas the majority of Dem folks now benignly acquiesce to the direction our Country is going.
Unless the American people get up off thier behinds and let the powers that be know that we will not stand for what is happening in this great country, we are doomed to become a second rate country. It is time to clean out Washington as we know it today, and this includes our own Sen. and Reps. When the new ones enter Washington, their first job should be to eleminate the beauracrats who have saddled us with their stupid regulations for so many years. It is up to each one of us to see that this happens. If we do not then, we are destined to see our country fall apart. Enough talk the time for action is now.
How about these guys start paying attention to the current one instead? And perhaps shave off some of the worthless amendments. They can’t even stick with the basics. For example, outsourcing the voting to a private corporation. nice.
Ballot Requirement – The Georgia Constitution requires all elections to be conducted by ballot. When E-Voting was implemented in 2002, Georgia law was modified to state that elections “shall be conducted by ballot except when voting machines are used…” State law cannot override a Constitutional requirement. Elections must be conducted by ballot, not by electronic record.
http://www.voterga.org/
@redcatcher Are you a Rip van Winkle clone? Where were you in the last 13 years? This fire has been burnin’, full-on since we lost ourselves to the seduction of unbridled greed.
Are you speaking of those annoying Glass Steagal Act regs gutted by our Party or perhaps those annoying SEC regs we ignored which are designed to snoot out the likes of Mr. Madoff-with-all -the -FREAKIN’-dough?
We should make alot of noise about what is going on, I AGREE, but smug and righteous needs to stay at the door.
Pay attention, WE STARTED THE FIRE. We outspent the spenders. We were silent, well, except for a few.
Maybe they’ll come up with some more gimmicks like term limits. This is all bs, and a distraction from reality.
If I understand the article correctly, we’re not talking about throwing out the existing constitution, we are talking about adding amendments to it. I think this is an issue that should be looked at. Many support the Fair Tax in Georgia. Let’s put that to a vote and see if it passes.
I am all for it. Our politicians are out of control.
I am curious to know how rich each of them has become since being in office. A $170k/year does not make a millionaire yet most of them are.
We have too many who are only looking out for themselves.
This doesn’t look to be what I thought. Neal Boortz has been talking about a Constitutional Convention to take power away from DC and put it back in the hands of the states. I like that idea.
A modern Constitutional Convention may be the only solution to the problems on the federal level. Our founders envisioned this so that we would not be in armed revolution.
It may seem improbable or unlikely. However, unless more responsibility & power reverts to the states (thus stripping the fed. gov’t of overarching power & spending)- how can any major change be made?
The reality is that there is no reality to much our present federal gov’t . Whatever you may think about our state gov’t-there is a higher degree of accountability.
Tea Party? Constitutional Convention? Dream on. This from people that have no concept of the either the history of our nation or the Constitution. You somehow are outraged over a $700 billion spending bill after smiling while the government racked up huge deficits over the last decade. You talk about your Constitutional rights after nodding in agreement as the government gutted the 1st and 4th Amendments and led us into occupying two foreign nations at huge cost in money and lives. You cheered on Bush and Congress while they kicked out the stops and stepped on the gas pedal of financial irresponsibility.
Now as the nation drops into a crevice of unknown depth, you want to become responsible, freedom-loving revolutionaries. Your timing is, as usual, really bad. Y’all need to drop this catchphrase partisanship and realize we are heading into a new , uncharted stage of our growth as a nation. Quit thinking of us versus them and start trying to come up with real ideas instead of “more tax cuts!” and “drill baby, drill”.
The person elected as President has come up with a plan and is acting on it. He may be all screwed up, but he was the choice of the majority. In 2010 you get a chance to change that plan, but right now you need to suck it up and go with it to help ALL Americans, not just your little clique.
Most of the posts have to do with what needs to be done at the Federal level. The Bill is a State bill.
It is an interesting question about whether there is enough support for a convention. In this day and age, we would have to have financial experts from all sides, and while we need changes, I don’t know if they could come to enough of an agreement to actually put something on the ballot.
What does the existing state law say about such conventions? What kind of clout or impetus would a constitutional consensus have that doesn’t already exist within the present legislative lobby?
Only a fool would trust the party that enacted SB31, a sales tax exemption on ice used in poultry operations a few years ago, and last year a tax credit (not an income exemption mind you) on charitable scholarships, among various other measures, with tax reform.
Does the bill say how many lobbyists, er I mean delegates, will be elected to partipate in the Convention?
A Constitutional Convention is a scary time for REAL Constitutionalists, because despite the rhetoric about “the discussion will be limited to” a Con Con by it’s very nature allows people to create an entirely new document. And once the doors close who knows what these “Delegates” are going to devise or who’s whispering in their ear. Let alone who’s paying the bar tab. There’s been a lot of this stuff lately, both Statewide and nationally. How about we reel in government and apply the current Constitutional limitations, or at least push the politicians back in that direction, kicking and screaming.
::facepalm, facepalm, facepalm::
I’m going to start drinking early today. The lack of applied logic usually doesn’t surprise me anymore, but on the issue of a constitutional convention to cure all our ills, I remain totally flummoxed. (Yes, I saw Jeff’s update, but the comments are speaking to another idea that’s been floating around.)
There’s a much bigger issue at stake here. Once I’ve had a few, I’ll try to get together a post that will quite possibly mark a new high water mark for my recent vituperativeness. (Thanks for that word, Rugby. I’m really enjoying it).
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