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A restorer works on an area of ink flakes on the Constitution in this file photo from 2000 as the National Archives prepared a new set of cases to protect the original United States Constitution and other key national documents. Some in Ohio and other states are seeking a never-before-convened convention of states to amend the Constitution.

(National Archives/The New York Times, File, 2000)

Bill Gross serves as a district captain for the Convention of States Project in Ohio

As election year 2016 progresses, citizens in this country are searching for a candidate who can offer solutions to the major problems they see, namely:

Overwhelming federal debt

Lack of employment opportunity

Failure of the federal government to secure our borders

Increasing fears of terrorist attack

Rising utility costs due to federal regulations

Growth of federal welfare

Politicians who fail to follow through on campaign promises

While many hope that a new president will lead us out of this quagmire, the problem is far too large for a single person.

It is time for tax-paying citizens to realize that the worst fears of the Founding Fathers are upon us. Our federal government has grown from "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people" to government in spite of the people. Slick politicians have figured a way around constitutional limits via new interpretations of old words that essentially allow creation of government for the purpose of more government.

There is a solution.

Fortunately, one of the primary architects of our Constitution, James Madison, recognized this potential and added a mechanism to give the people, through their elected state legislatures, a method of modifying the Constitution as needed.

The Constitution's Article V gives the states the power to unite, exclusive of federal government control, and form a convention of the states, for the purpose of proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Such a convention would provide an alternate route to amending the document, versus the only method employed to date, the congressional path.

It is important to recognize that neither route can create an amendment; they can only recommend changes.

Formal endorsement of a recommendation only occurs once three-quarters of the state legislatures agree to a proposal by ratifying it in both their House and Senate. This requirement serves as a check against ill-thought-out or radical proposals. It represents a high hurdle to achieve an amendment.

If either the House or the Senate of only 13 states to fail to ratify, the proposed amendment dies. Warnings from groups opposed to a convention of states based upon an argument of a so-called runaway convention ignore common sense and presume radical proposals would be accepted by state legislatures.

The Convention of States Project is a national activism group attempting to organize all 50 states for one purpose, the calling for such a convention. If two-thirds of the states pass bills asking for such, Article V specifies that Congress shall notify all states that a convention will be held.

The Convention of States Project's bill specifies debate will be directed toward eliminating federal government overreach. Included topics are: a balanced budget; term limits for federal elected officials and government employees; and establishment of limits on the interpretation of the Commerce Clause, used to create numerous federal departments. All of these are potential amendments many voters want but won't see the light of day without states acting independently of the federal government.

There is active Ohio legislation.

House Joint Resolution 3, the Convention of States Project's bill -- sponsored by state Reps. Bill Patmon (a Democrat from Cleveland representing the 10th Ohio House District) and Christina Hagan (an Alliance Republican representing the 50th Ohio House District) -- currently sits in the Ohio House Government Accountability and Oversight Committee awaiting passage.

All concerned Ohio citizens who are distressed by federal government overreach and excess should contact the 13 members of that committee and urge its rapid passage to the Ohio House floor. A committee roster can be found online here.

The federal government will not reduce its own size nor its control voluntarily. Belief that the government will fix itself flies in the face of history. We need to prune this organism before it consumes us and return Washington's usurped power back to the states where it belongs.

Bill Gross serves as a district captain for the Convention of States Project in Ohio and lives in Avon Lake.