secure.JPG

I’ve had my sport before and undoubtedly will again with Secure Arkansas, the anti-immigration group that once said Mexicans were plotting to build a super highway to Kansas City and whose leaders fear bike lanes are a medium for one-world UN takeover.

But when they are right, by golly, they are right.

Several have forwarded me the latest Secure Arkansas alert to followers about the Jason Rapert-led charge to enlist Arkansas in the fight to put a majority of state legislatures in charge of the federal budget. His proposal, if enough state legislatures pass it, would set in motion the first state-called constitutional convention in U.S. history to amend the Constitution to allow their terrible idea. A majority of state legislatures (not a majority of the American people, even) would be required to approve increases in the federal debt.

Advertisement

Secure Arkansas is less worried about putting yahoos in charge of national defense spending than it is in who’s behind the movement, their motives and unintended consequences.

The Koch brothers and their proxies, the American Legislative Exchange Council and Americans for Prosperity, are among those shilling this plan, which would merely cut the knees out from under federal government and its services to U.S. citizens on the whim of people like, well, Jason Rapert. Read on the jump for the Secure Arkansas e-mail missive on the point. Here’s a recent link to their website on the issue.

Advertisement

Unintended consequences? The backers of this nutty idea assure all that convened delegates would stick to budget matters if a convention was called. That’s bad enough. But there’d also be no limitation to subject matter and this group, particularly given its roots, could cause some great mischief to the U.S. Constitution. Do you think for a minute that religionists like Jason Rapert and Jerry Cox wouldn’t seize this moment to correct all the ills imposed by judicial interpretation of our founding document? Do you think for a minute some little ol’ add-ons wouldn’t be added to agenda? Rapert, for one, would surely be happy to allow religioius proselytizing with public dollars; criminalization of homosexuality; bans on not just abortion but also contraception. Trans-vaginal probes for all women! Check the list of Arkansas sponsors if you think I exaggerate.

Rapert may get a hearing in the Senate on this terrible idea next week. Sad to report that three Democrats are on the list of Senate sponsors, so it could pass that end of the Capitol, unless some of the tiny GOP Sanity Caucus declines to go along. Gene Jeffress and Jerry Brown Taylor are not too surprising as sponsors, neither particularly inclined toward the Democratic Party’s principles or common sense. David Wyatt is a slightly more disappointing addition to the loony list. PLEASE NOTE MY CORRECTON: I goofed and wrote Jerry Brown when I meant Jerry Taylor in original post.

Advertisement

For your study: Ernie Dumas’ explanation of Rapert’s Folly.

So there it is. Debbie Pelley, Jeannie Burlsworth and me. Together at last. They do occasionally make sense. See some good, factual stuff on the Kochs and ALEC in Secure Arkansas’s e-mail blast:

Advertisement

Help to Keep Great Journalism Alive in Arkansas

Join the fight for truth and become a subscriber of the Arkansas Times. We've been battling powerful forces for 50 years through our tough, determined, and feisty journalism. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, our readers value great journalism. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing and supporting our efforts, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be helping us hire more writers to expand our coverage. Together, we can continue to hold the powerful accountable and bring important stories to light. Subscribe now or donate for as little as $1 and be a part of the Arkansas Times community.

Previous article Congrats to Laundry for the Apocalpyse Next article Head Start agency to be audited — finally