March 30, 2017 12:42 PM UTC

Big Bad "Convention of States" Rally is a Joke

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• by: Colorado Pols

The event notice went out with great fanfare for a rally today at the Colorado State Capitol in support of a nationwide constitutional convention–a recent-ish pet cause for the far right that has received some funding from the far-flung Koch Brothers empire of conservative political advocacy organizations. As Salon reported this week on the pitch:

A “Convention of the States” has never been invoked before, but Republicans and Koch-backed organizations like Citizens for Self-Governance have been salivating over the possibility for years, even holding dress rehearsals in Washington, D.C., with representatives from across the country. With the federal deficit presently hovering just below $20 trillion, their ostensible plan is to add a balanced budget amendment. This alone would likely shred the country’s meager social safety net, but as Assembly Minority Leader and Kenosha Democrat Peter Barca warns the Wisconsin State Journal, a constitutional convention could put citizen’s very rights “up for grabs.”

Scot Ross, executive director of liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now, puts it more bluntly: “The balanced budget talk is a fig leaf to let them change America into a right-wing alternative universe.”

Local Convention of States™ organizers were thinking big:

Rally at the State Capitol

NOW is the time to GET BIG GOVERNMENT FROM D.C. OUT OF YOUR LIFE!

Show your support in the most effective possible way for the Convention of States resolution in the Colorado legislature! Join us at 12:00 NOON for a rally at the west steps of the capitol building to voice your support directly to state legislators! Volunteers arrive early at 10:00 AM to help beforehand!

Are you tired of your future hanging in the balance of just a few federal elections? Do you want more control over the future of your state and community? Then join us!

RSVP is not required but highly encouraged for planning purposes!

See you there! Bring friends and family! Our time is now! Let’s do this!

Well folks, at noon today as scheduled, here’s what the Convention of States hullabaloo amounted to:

To which we can only say, start the revolution without us.