We WILL Fix the Government

​

Our Path To Reform is the necessary, simple, and effective way to ensure we can enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

Failures of Previous Reforms

A number of reform groups have been working for years to utilize Article V of the US Constitution to effect reforms of the federal government, but we feel that the approach of the leading reform programs is problematic:

​

• We believe that to achieve ratification of a constitutional amendment by the required minimum of 38 states, it must be non-partisan; the leading programs fail this test.

• Also, their programs deal with public policy issues, which naturally lead to strong partisan controversy.  We believe that reforms should work first to improve the organization and workings of the government; after that is accomplished, we will be better able to deal with policy issues.

 

In 2013 we began working on a reform program that avoided these problems: it was non-partisan and did not directly address policy issues.  We called it Act 2 to suggest that, after implementing its reforms, we would enter the second act of our national political drama.  The first act, of course, stretched from the colonial period up to today.

​

The Mission of Act 2

We established this mission for our reform effort:

​

“To define a program for reform of our federal government that will transform the dysfunctional mess in Washington into an effective, disciplined, and respectful government that acknowledges the sovereignty of its people.”

​

You will note that this does not call for changes in specific public policy issues; it is focused on the of the government.  Among active reform programs, it is unique in its approach and broad scope.

​

Mission Accomplished

The work of defining and refining this program, writing literature, setting up a website, and test marketing ideas in several public venues took five years, and by late 2018 we felt it was complete and ready for prime time exposure.  It consists of five constitutional amendments and the logic structure that supports them, all as described on our website act2blueprint.org and in our body of literature.  In all five of the amendments, the reforms are simple in concept yet profound in impact.  This is a mark of good law.

​

Hesitation

But as we contemplated following the conventional wisdom path and starting the process of calling on state legislatures and convincing 34 of them of the merits of our reforms, and of the need to call a limited-agenda convention, we hesitated.  Mindful of the failures of other reform programs to achieve this goal, we suspended promotion of the Act 2 reforms and began looking for a new, quicker and more certain path to an Article V convention of states.  With the help of a convention advocate, Neal Schuerer, we found answers to our questions.

​

The New Strategy

Our search led us to a new strategy, and on February 1, 2019 Schuerer joined us as Executive Director of Act 2 with a mission to help state legislative leaders form and build an organization to convene an open (plenary) convention of states which can consider all reform proposals presented to it.  This will eliminate the confusion of the conventional wisdom with ten or more reform groups each approaching 34 state legislatures, pressing for consideration and adoption of their individual proposals in the already busy schedules of those legislatures.  Our new approach, which should require only 34 political “events” in state capitals rather than the 340 that the conventional wisdom requires, will be much more efficient, more likely to realize success, and more likely to develop thoughtful, comprehensive federal government reform.

​

We are looking to state legislators to lead this drive to a convention, but have pledged to help define and support their effort, including writing essays that explain the flaws of a limited-agenda convention and the strong appeal and advantages of an open convention.

​

Launch

Starting in late August 2019, Schuerer and legislative leaders from Ohio, Wisconsin, and Iowa launched recruiting drives at the annual meetings of the National Conference of State Legislatures, the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Emerging Issues Forum of The Heartland Institute.  We made several pieces of new literature available to them for these meetings.  Recognizing the importance of political balance in this new organization, they are working hard to attract members from both sides of the political aisle.

​

Looking Ahead

When a convention of states to consider amendments to the Constitution is convened, the Act 2 proposals will be presented to the convention for consideration, along with many others.  All serious reform voices will be respectfully heard and their suggestions carefully considered.  It will be a glorious celebration of the strength of our constitutional republic, and will be watched with considerable interest in countries around the world.  It will send a strong message to our autocratic adversaries that we, as a people, are capable of effective self-government.  It will be a sharp rebuke to their flawed systems of governance.