The campaign to use Article V for a Balanced Budget Amendment is 42 years old, and its original founders, Rep. David Halbrook of Mississippi and Sen. Jim Clark of Maryland, are no longer with us. In 1983, with the vote in Alaska, 32 of the needed 34 States had signed on. Then the counter assault began, with Phyllis Schlafly taking point, backed by the AFL-CIO, the AAUP, the AAUW, the AJC, the ACLU, the AFT, the ADA and the AFSCME, and that’s just the A’s. The lengthy, complete list is in Lew Uhler’s Setting Limits: Constitutional Control of Government.

By the time Shlafly and the John Birch Society were done, half of the original Resolutions were rescinded, and for 25 years the movement didn’t move. Then Bill Fruth, Dave Biddulph and others formed the BBA Task Force, and began quietly beavering away in State Capitols across the country. Slowly and painstakingly they and the rest of the team have won 14 States, while losing Delaware and New Mexico to the Eagle Forum, the Birchers, and a number of left wing organizations funded by George Soros.

This has all escaped the attention of the media. A lot of that has to do with Mark Levin. His book, The Liberty Amendments, brought attention to Article V, and Levin personally channeled all that attention to the Convention of States Project. For over three years Levin has pounded the drums for CoSP, and all the attention they received meant no one was interested in us. Until now, with the Phoenix Convention of States. The story of that Convention will be written. It just a question of who, and when.

Dave Guldenschuh’s Article V Legislative Progress Report is out, listing the progress of the various Article V campaigns underway across the country. The Phoenix BBA Planning Convention will help them all.

I just checked, and the D-backs will be playing in Phoenix during the Convention. It’s always fun to go to a major league ball park.