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(AP file)

Are you aware of the grave and serious problem that is threatening your liberty and the security of the United States? The current Congress gives Washington, D.C., including the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency, more and more power to "legislate" and enforce laws that illegally circumvent the Constitution.

Our political process has been corrupted and the federal bureaucracy has produced severe regulatory burdens that have caused our national debt to grow to $19 trillion.

And there is another $100 trillion coming due in

. We are in a financial crisis that is unsustainable.

Congress has turned state legislatures into their regional agencies rather than respecting them as truly independent sovereign governments.

If we "citizens" do not intervene, then the federal government will continue to bankrupt this nation, embezzle the legitimate authority of the states, and destroy the liberty of the people.

Thankfully, the Founding Fathers were prepared for what is happening today, and provided us with

, which empowers individual states to propose amendments.

It was George Mason who wanted

for "application of the legislatures" for "proposing amendments" because he believed that Congress and the individual states should have equal authority in this matter.

Article V of the Constitution recommends amendments to be sent to the states for further debate where the people can lobby directly. This gives back the power to the states, which are much closer to the people than Congress is . . . or ever will be.

A "Convention of States," which is not a constitutional convention, can propose amendments if two-thirds of states submit applications for such a convention.

These applications must all deal with the same subject matter .... i.e., limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.

Two of the most popular suggestions for amendments include a required balanced federal budget and term limits for all members of Congress and all federal judges. This would include the Supreme Court.

After the states propose, debate, and vote upon the proposed amendments, they will be sent to all 50 states for ratification. Three-quarters of the states must agree for any of the proposed amendments to be ratified.

Currently, about 30 states have begun this application "process" and three states have already passed their resolutions. Congress has no authority to stop such a process. The Founders made sure of that.

The COS "Convention of States" project is actively working with thousands of grassroots volunteers, like myself, to petition our state legislators directly with mail, emails and phone calls.

The COS is headed by

, who is the founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association. He brings with him over 30 years of grass-roots leadership and activism in all 50 states.

Ohio State Sen. Bill Coley will be sponsoring our application shortly, and m

any have endorsed the COS project, including Gov. John Kasich, author Mark Levin, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Gov. Bobby Jindal and Lt. Col. Allen West.

We are running out of valuable time to stop the tyranny of the federal government.

The problem is enormous, but we have a "big" solution. We must use Article V of the Constitution to "save" the Constitution and our nation.



We need your help, and it takes a few hours a week to use your "pen, the Internet and a phone."



Please share this information with your family and friends and ask them to please go to www.conventionofstates.com.

This is our last best hope to save the Republic.



May God Bless you and the United States of America.

Jim Petsche of Macedonia is a grass-roots volunteer for the convening of a Convention of States.

Editor's note: This op-ed was updated at 3:39 pm to include information from the author that