by Aaron Warner

When asked by his fellow citizens what type of government had been created by the men exiting the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin is said to have replied “A republic, if you can keep it.”

The ominous qualifying statement implied republics, even those based in the innate freedoms of the individual and protected from government, are a thing to be treasured in their uniqueness and from schemes of those who wish to dissolve them.

Such a warning from over two hundred years ago is now being put to the test as the republic upon which we stand is being eroded from within by those elected and empowered to protect it. What did Franklin know that most might not? The same principle that makes the Constitution of the United States the most unique anti-authoritarian document of its kind; that people are not inherently good but inherently corrupt, and that power corrupts while absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In a very short time the United States became the most powerful country in the world, thanks primarily to a constitution limiting of government power with the protection of individual freedoms.

This combination of checks, balances and opportunity created the most coveted country in the world for those with the mind to be free and explore the opportunities it offers. With the door closed to tyrants and open to creativity America boasted unparalleled successes in ingenuity and exploration. Word traveled fast both here and abroad and so did America’s expansion into the world markets. In barely more than one hundred years-time we rose to the top of the economic production of the world and created a military to protect both us and others who wished to be free.

Yet Mr. Franklin’s warning was keen for he knew the types of people who would be working in the background to circumvent our republic. The kind of people who are powerful and wealthy beyond measure but never satisfied to leave it at that. The kind of people who have the opposite values to Americans.

What type of person could be against individual freedoms, you might wonder? A basic understanding of human history shows one of utter tyranny and rule by those who ascend to or assume power by dint of force or fiat. Franklin and the founders were students of history while being men of enlightenment era reasoning. Thanks to the fight for freedom wrought by hundreds of years effort to advance the teachings in the Bible, Franklin and his cohorts seized the opportunity to create the first experiment in freedom in all of human history. The United States of America, a constitutional republic, limiting government while promoting individual rights and freedoms deemed inviolable by virtue of their divine nature was born, and at that same moment would be under attack by the types of men who had suppressed individual freedoms throughout millennia.

Understanding this seemingly inevitable moment the framers included in Article V a provision if the people found themselves at a moment like the one we’re in now. A moment where government officials hold office not for honor, nor duty-bound to uphold the freedoms of its citizenry. Valuing profit over principles, fiat over freedom, spending over saving, corporations over citizens, and fraudulence over faithfulness, the governing class seeks the arms of a globalist system that will ensure, at least for a time, complete domination of the unilluminated.

We would know better the level of corruption throughout government were those tasked with keeping them accountable, namely the legacy and new Big Tech media, doing their jobs. They too have been coopted to tow the globalist party line while also being weaponized to disparage all who speak out against it. Hence the rise in alternative media. With all of these channels, checks and balances captured by the elite, we have one remaining course of action before waging a hot war. It is constitutional albeit unconventional.

Article V gives power to the people to form a Constitutional Convention thus circumventing a recalcitrant congress. How exactly does a Constitutional Convention work? As with the other forms of majority power with minority protections, the states need to sponsor a bill that must pass both chambers in order to be added to the list of states.

Once 34 states have agreed to join the convention each state then chooses delegates to represent them. With the goal of amending the constitution to include things like the bipartisan favorite term limits, which many believe would solve our biggest problem of an unaccountable legislative body, the member states debate the merits and language of considered items. With the wishes of people rather than the oligarchs hanging in the balance, this maneuver by the electorate offers a final safety valve to release the people and their frustrations from the inevitable conflict protected by the second amendment.

Like with most institutional initiatives this one has its obstacles. Primarily the same refractory politicians at the state level and those who’ve pledged allegiance to the globalist vision will be enlisted to undermine the will of the people, and have been, already handy with the counter-arguments to the convention. Arguments that imply a loss of freedom in case the convention gets hi-jacked by the very ideologists who oppose it to begin with. These arguments are a ruse intended to deceive the people from their very last hope at re-establishing their power and freedom promised under the Constitution.

Already the people of Vermont are adding quickly to the number who wish to join this Convention. The current number of supporters in Vermont sits around 3,600 with several legislators in favor of joining the COS. Record numbers of Americans who love the freedoms offered here are joining with nearly 40,000 signing their names to the COS registry in one week last month. The current number of states has grown to 18 and is moving at a steady pace all over the U.S.

If you find yourself stunned at the rapid assault on liberty being dubbed “the new normal’ you are far from alone. Like-minded people are looking for the avenue back to the old normal that held the freedoms of conscience, speech, religion and, most of all, the freedom from tyrannical and abusive governing officials who are actively undermining them.

To join this movement you can go to the Convention of States website. Monday nights also offers a call-in to speak to area leaders who have been leading this movement. The number to call is 605-472-5530 and the meeting code is 712320.

My advice? Don’t look for the easy way to join. This requires more than a form email to make a difference. In order for this movement to succeed it requires you to exercise the bravery needed to win our freedoms back. This battle requires a certain spirit if you will – the spirit of 1776.

The author is a Hartford resident.