printContra broadcaster Mark Levin, the healthiest and most intuitive response to deep-seated unhappiness—political or personal—is not to hold a constitutional convention, but to leave; to exit the abusive relationship.
In Utah, it was U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby who did the honors of striking down “Utah’s voter-approved law defining marriage as between a man and a woman.”
In response, a “constitutional attorney” named Joe Wolverton spoke stirringly about secession:
The federal government does hundreds of things every day that are not in the “contract,” so states have the right to rescind it, he said.
“We are absolutely within our right to secede from a political union that no longer answers to the demands of liberty and justice,” he said.
Wolverton also went after elected officials who he says have betrayed the country.
“Have we elected traitors? Yes we have, absolutely. Both parties continue to grow the federal government and burden the states and the people.”
Mark Levin has trashed secession but looks to the states for salvation:
To reclaim the republic, Levin and his listeners look to the states and their role in the amendment process, as stipulated in Article V of the Constitution. Never mind that the states, contrary to the mistaken predictions and hopes of the Constitution makers, have never initiated a constitutional amendment; and never mind that even in the event that the states demand a constitutional convention, there is no mechanism to compel Congress to act.
The great constitutional scholar James McClellan was no “neo-confederate.” Yet even an ardent defender of the Constitution as McClellan conceded that, sadly, “the Framers relied on the good faith of Congress for the observance of the requirement” and that “there was no way to force Congress to act.” (“Liberty, Order, And Justice: An Introduction to the Constitutional Principles of American Government,” p. 310.)
Levin and his listeners are deluded if they think that from the “free” states—all four of them (New Hampshire, Colorado, South Dakota and Alaska)—will come our salvation. The legislatures of two-thirds of the states have to unite to call on Congress to hold a national Constitutional convention for the purpose of amending the dead-letter Constitution.
Incidentally, as a libertarian, I want to keep the state out of marriage altogether. “In furtherance of liberty, Uncle Sam’s purview must be curtailed, not expanded. On this score, let our gay friends and family members lead the way. Let them solemnize their commitment in contract and through church, synagogue and mosque (that will be the day!).”