Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Second open letter to Alabama delegation in Washington

TO: The Honorable Richard Shelby, Jeff Sessions, Bradley Byrne, Martha Roby, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks, Spencer Bachus, and Terri Sewell

CC:  6th district candidates

SUBJ: Convention of States under U.S. Constitution Article V; AL HJR49

As I previously informed you, I am a candidate in the Alabama 6th Congressional district primary election.

My campaign platform is that I think that, in Washington DC, there is NOT government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and I further think that the causes of that condition are also causes of Congress being dysfunctional and not able to do its job properly for the American people.  For the past month, I have been endeavoring to instigate debate about my platform among the 6th Congressional district candidates.

There has come to my attention a Convention of States (COS) Project, founded by an organization called Citizens for Self Governance.  Their website homepage baldly says,
The Federal Government is broken. Washington D.C. will never voluntarily relinquish its power. Left unchecked, the government will continue to bankrupt this nation and destroy the liberty of the people. It is time for citizens and the States to act and we have the solution.
The COS Project seeks to urge and empower state legislators to call a convention of states. The delegates at the convention would have the power to propose amendments to the Constitution for limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government. Article V of the Constitution gives them this power; the COS Project will give them an avenue through which they can use it.  The plan is for a grassroots campaign.

Alabama appears to be an early actor on an Article V convention of states application. and the Alabama House has passed HJR49. Information about HJR49 can be found at this link.

The COS Project and HJR49 buttress contentions I am making in my campaign platform, and I will use them to continue to press the debate I have been trying to raise in the 6th Congressional district.

It seems entirely appropriate to put questions to you, who have extensive direct experience and knowledge about Washington DC and the Federal Government:

Is the Federal Government "broken"?  How "broken" is it?  Why is it broken?  What do you recommend should be done to try to fix it?

As with my first open letter, please make reply as and to the extent you are willing to do so. Replies may be emailed to me at rdshattuck@gmail.com and will be posted in this blog.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Rob Shattuck

[The foregoing open letter is in the process of being disseminated (via website contact forms, email, and other means as may be needed) to the addressees and to the others designated as being copied. This entry will be updated as appropriate to reflect the progress of such dissemination, and responses that are received.]

[Update: Link to letter has been emailed to Bradley Byrne, Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks, and the 6th district candidates (except for Scott Beason).  Link to letter has been sent to Senators Shelby and Sessions and Representative Bachus via their U.S. Senate and U.S. House website contact forms]

No comments:

Post a Comment