Jim Choate wrote:

Start a political party, but the likes of which has never walked the face of the Earth.

Ok, what kind?

The individual states when acting in a clear majority (>=75%) may pass Constitutional amendments without the involvement or interference of federal processes.

Ok, lets look at Article V. of the US Constitution. Article. V. The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate [Possibly abrogated by Amendment XVII]. As per Article V, two thirds of the States can call a Convention to propose Amendments. I believe this would be 33 of our current 50 states. Territories and other holding would have no say in this. At this point, if three fourths of the states agree to any proposed Amendments, it becomes the law of the land. We only need two thirds of the States to start the process, but this must be done by their Legislatures.

The IRS, for example, could be shut down tomorrow or significantly modified via this mechanism without involvement at the federal level.

I assume this would be either by nullifying Amendment 15 or modifying it to a great degree. Nothing else would work.

What is needed is a political party that has a representative site in each state capital. Their job is to get proposed amendments to the Constitution on the floor of each body for vote.

Actually, it would not be to get the proposed amendments on the floor. You would be putting the proposal for a Convention to amend the Constitution on the floor. In addition, depending on the State, the party would likely need to have a member elected to that States Legislature. Another possibility, again depending on the State is to have a State Constitutional amendment directing that States Legislature to vote for a Convention by a specific date.

Think nationaly, act by state.

There could be no appeal to the Supreme Court for constitutionality because it IS the Constitution.

There are no requirements in the Constitution to notify or otherwise register such acts with the federal authorities. In short, it's none of their business if the people acting at the state level change the laws at the federal level. They must either comply or quit their jobs.

That is why Article V was written as it was. It provides a backdoor to keep the federal government from getting out of control. -Doug www.TheServerFarm.net