\u201cSmashing the DC Monopoly: Using Article V to Restore Freedom and Stop Runaway Government.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\nArticle V of the U.S. Constitution provides two ways for amendments to be enacted. The more common way is for both chambers of Congress to approve an amendment by two-thirds majorities, followed by three-quarters of the states ratifying the proposal. However, Article V also allows for two-thirds of states to convene and approve amendments which would still require approval by three-quarters of the states.<\/p>\n
Coburn says business as usual in Washington proves politicians are not up to the task of reining in government.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody said things would change in 2010. Then they said things would change in 2014. Then they said things would change in 2016,\u201d said Coburn, who contends there\u2019s a very simple explanation for why those campaign promises are not kept.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost members of Congress are conflicted and the conflict is this: Do I do what\u2019s best for the country and maybe lose my election or do I do what\u2019s best for my political career so I can maintain my status as an elite?\u201d said Coburn. \u201cThe desire for power, which our founders very well knew, trumps everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/i>Among Coburn\u2019s biggest frustrations is how public service has become a career for so many, rather than lawmakers serving for a brief time and then returning to their private lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you didn\u2019t have career politicians, they wouldn\u2019t be looking for the next office. It\u2019s not the public service is in any way dishonorable. It\u2019s that motives for most of those that run today is to get and hold and advance power,\u201d said Coburn.<\/p>\n
As a result he says people who want to make tough choices to tackle problems like debt and spending are scorned for putting their colleagues in a difficult position.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir peers say, \u2018Don\u2019t do that. We\u2019ll have to make all these hard choices. We\u2019ll get beat up here.\u2019 What they need is an excuse to do the right thing,\u201d said Coburn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need an excuse to be able to come home and say, \u2018I\u2019m sorry I had to cut this program because we have to balance the budget. It\u2019s dishonorable to borrow against your children. We\u2019re going to make these hard choices and if you don\u2019t want to re-elect me it\u2019s fine. I\u2019ll be happy to go back to my real job,’\u201d said Coburn.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the problem is two-thirds of the people in Washington have never had a real job,\u201d said Coburn.<\/p>\n
Coburn says the 1995 federal government shutdown is a perfect example of lawmakers refusing to stick to their principles and allowing government to spiral out of control. The Republicans eventually buckled in the face of intense media and political pressure, and GOP leaders have been very reluctant to even threaten such a move ever since.<\/p>\n
Coburn was a House freshman at the time and says Republicans snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we saw post-collapse of the Republican leadership was that the president was getting ready to cede the spending cuts that we wanted to make. Had we had those spending cuts, you wouldn\u2019t be running half-trillion and trillion dollar deficits,\u201d said Coburn.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeadership can either go on the basis of courage or on the basis of fear, and what you\u2019re seeing in Washington from the career politicians is fear.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to shut the government down, don\u2019t open it up until you\u2019ve won everything you need to win. Take the heat and lose your slot. Is it better for a politician to lose an election and the country to be better off or is it better for the politician to maintain power and the kids that come after us suffer dearly,\u201d said Coburn.<\/p>\n
Coburn was re-elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010, but walked away in January 2015 with two years remaining in his term. Was it because Congress was doing nothing to honor its promises to get the nation\u2019s fiscal house in order?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was 100 percent (that),\u201d said Coburn. \u201cI had told the majority leader two years before I left that I was going to leave if things didn\u2019t change, if we didn\u2019t start addressing the real issues, if his leadership wasn\u2019t going to address the real issues. If he didn\u2019t put people in position to address the real issues, there\u2019s no reason to stay there and participate and get an \u2018Atta boy\u2019 because you\u2019re a senator but you\u2019re not actually accomplishing anything for the future of our country,\u201d said Coburn.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing happened so I went to him and said, \u201cI told you I was leaving. I\u2019m leaving.\u2019 I did and it was a good decision because now I\u2019m working on the solution big enough to solve the problem, and that\u2019s the Article V amendments convention,\u201d said Coburn.<\/p>\n
He says this is America\u2019s best chance to get the ship headed in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe real question for you and the average American family, whether you\u2019re liberal or conservative, is who gets to decide. Is it an un-elected bureaucrat in Washington or is it you as a free citizen in this country,\u201d said Coburn.<\/p>\n
___
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