Mark Meckler is the President and co-founder of the Convention of States Project. He spoke last week in front of a Pennsylvania legislative committee, and he called the state representatives to fulfill their constitutional role given to them by the Founders.

"We are here in Pennsylvania where it all began because we aim to save this incredible experiment of a republic that was given to us," he said. "The Founders knew government close to the American people, and they designed a system with a fail-safe that involved [state legislators] because they knew you would be close to the American people."

The Founders didn't think state representatives would be more virtuous or competent than their federal counterparts, Mark explained. But they knew that because a national government would continue to expand its power, the American people needed a way to decentralize power and return it to the states, where average citizens would have a real voice in government.

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