Around 100 people braved the frigid 23-degree temperature in Harrisonburg, Virginia, to attend a COS presentation at James Madison University Tuesday night. After a warm welcome by a representative of the JMU College Republicans and the local Republican Unit Chair, the crowd tuned in for a tag-team presentation given by myself and Bob Bailie, the Co-Founder of COS Virginia’s ally, The Middle Resolution.

It was the same presentation we have given, with great success, in other parts of the Commonwealth, and it goes something like this:

Mr. Bailie presents clear facts and statistics about where we are, as a nation, and where we are headed if we don’t do something decisive to change our course. The numbers speak for themselves, and they are enough to make the average, reasonable person weep. Mountains of debt that continue to escalate. Failed social welfare programs expanding. Government intrusion into every area of our lives—from what kind of cars we drive, to what kind of light bulbs we use, to what kind of health insurance we carry.

After the audience is shown the bleak picture of our current reality, I have the privilege of giving the message of hope that is sweeping America: the Constitution we know and love offers the solution to federal tyranny, and it is found in Article V’s Convention of States process. We can and must urge our state legislatures to take back what the federal government has stolen from us—our money, our liberty, and our dignity.

At the beginning of the program, Mr. Bailie asked how many attendees would be concerned about calling for an Article V Convention today. A few hands went up (as is usually the case). But at the end of the program, after questions had been answered, myths dispelled, and procedures explained, he asked again. Not a hand went up. The only question that remained was, “How can we help make it happen?”

If that is your question, please sign our online petition (which goes directly to your state legislators) and sign up as a volunteer to connect with your state leaders. Let’s do this.