Convention of States believes some state governments have gone to far with their stay-at-home regulations.
Beyond its serious public health challenge, COVID-19 has had a widespread sweeping economic impact across the U.S. as people and businesses are at a standstill and record numbers are filing unemployment claims.
Arizona's estimated non-farm unemployment rate currently stands of 9.8 percent, according to data from the Department of Labor and the U.S, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Additionally the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, whose COVID19 projections have been widely referenced by the public, media, and state and national administrations, recently downwardly revised the severity of COVID-19.
For these reasons Convention of States Action (COSA) has announced that it has activated a nationwide response to government overreach in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. President Mark Meckler, who gained national media attention as co-founder and national coordinator of Tea Party Patriots, said the organization is encouraging citizens to adopt an "attitude of defiance, while practicing common sense compliance."
COSA does not, however, advocate ignoring CDC guidelines, such as social distancing recommendations.
The new initiative includes a website clearinghouse to provide information about citizen activist groups in all 50 states pushing back on the government overreach. This information will be updated in real time.
The site also contains information about potentially unconstitutional state executive orders that might go too far in restricting citizens' right to travel, gather for worship, engage in leisure and business activities, etc.
The clearing house also provides a platform through which citizens can send messages to their elected officials asking them to reopen the nation and their states for business.
"America was built on the understanding that our right to support our families through work, to engage in trade and reap the rewards of our labors is a fundamental, God-given right," Meckler said. "I know that elected officials at all levels of government are concerned about the public health and welfare of their fellow citizens, and I appreciate that. We all need to be self-governing, use common sense and take precautions in the midst of the pandemic.
"But heavy-handed and sometimes unconstitutional government orders that interfere with our most basic liberties do more harm than good to the American people, and they must be opposed. We cannot sit idly by while officials ignore our Constitution and destroy our economy."
Other actions COSA is encouraging citizens to take include:
- Participating in "COS Serves" by reaching out to state legislators and offering to help provide needed services in the community in response to the pandemic
- Urging state legislators to continue meeting electronically rather than adjourning early and ceding too much power to the state’s executive branch
- Petitioning governors to respect civil liberties and "err on the side of freedom" as they consider how to use emergency powers.
The Convention of States organization has a grassroots network of 4.3 million citizens, with an organized team of volunteer leaders in every state. Its mission is to restore a culture of self-governance in U.S. and to curtail federal overreach through a limited Article V convention to propose constitutional amendments that impose limitations on the size and scope of the federal government, including a balanced budget requirement and term limits for federal officials.
However, amid the current public health crisis, the group has begun monitoring and pushing back against abuses of power in the states as well.
Learn more about Convention of States at its website, www.conventionofstates.com