Ft Wayne Times

If watching the Convention of States (COS) website long enough, the ticker keeping track of the number of signatures on the petition to call for a Convention of States might inch just a few digits closer to two million. 

Before signing the petition, the first step is to understand what the convention is for. Dale Parrish, Indiana state director of the COS, said that the meaning behind the movement is simple: "To use the Constitution to save the Constitution."

Attorneys Mark Meckler and Michael Farris, who supported the Tea Party Movement and wanted to initiate a convention of states that would impose restrictions on the power of federal government, founded the COS in 2013.

COS logo | Provided photo

"They both love the Constitution and they saw that the progressive movement over the decades was taking this country farther away from the original intent of the Constitution," Parrish said.

COS was started under the umbrella of the founders' original movement, Citizens for Self-Governance (CSG). The movement calls on the second form of constitutional amendments outlined in Article V of the Constitution; two-thirds of all state legislators calling for a convention of states, a term from colonial American times referring to all states convening to solve a problem. 

If two-thirds of all state legislators called for a COS, Congress would be forced to hold the convention, and any amendments proposed would be entitled to the same ratification process that amendments proposed the traditional way go through. This would be approval by three-fourths of the legislature, or 38 states, to make the proposed amendments official amendments of the Constitution. 

Parrish explained that a convention must have a resolution with items it wants addressed. COS' resolution includes three action items including the national debt, the breadth/reach/control of the federal government over the people and federalism.

"[Federalism] is the sharing of the government authority between the federal government and the state government," Parrish said. "We think it's out of balance. It's too much in favor of the federal government, and we think the key part in this out-of-balance position is, in fact, career politicians."

So far, 15 states have formally signed a resolution calling for the convention. 

In terms of current political events in Indiana, Parrish said that COS supports several ongoing legislations, including House Bills 1123, 1369 and 1384. 

"Our state legislators are very, very important to us," Parrish said. 

Anyone interested in joining the COS movement and its over five million national supporters or 56,000 Indiana supporters is encouraged to go to www.conventionofstates.com.