Page Six

Subjects Inside: Article V Applications FAQ, Application Counts By Congress, Articles, AVC Legislative Report, CRS Reports, Convention of State, Compact for America, COS, CFA--Which States are Which?, The Historic Record of COS, COS, CFA Laws, COS Articles, CRS Reports on COS/CFA, COS, CFA Financial Records, CFA Financials, COS Financials, COS/CFA Financial Conclusions, John Birch Society, Con-Con, Runaway Convention, Who Called the Convention, Congressional Vote on a "Runaway" Convention, "Obey the Constitution, Only Two More States", Illegal Rescissions, The Phony Burger Letter, The Madison Letter, Fotheringham Exchange, JBS Articles, Sibley Lawsuit, General Interest, Article V.org, Robert Natelson, History of Article V, Counting the Applications, The Numeric Count History, Congressional Decision of May 5, 1789, Development of Article V, The Committee of the Whole, The Committee of Detail, August 30, September 10, Committee of Style, September 15, Official Government Documents, History of FOAVC, Founders, Audio/Visual, Links, Contact Us, Legal Page, 14th Amendment, The Electoral Process, Packets, Definitions, Numeric, (Applications grouped by numeric count as required by the Constitution), Same Subject (Applications grouped by amendment subject, not required by the Constitution for a convention call).

Go To Page 6: A, B, C, D, E, F, G

Page 6--A Discussion of JBS, Eagle Forum

The most vocal political opponents of an Article V Convention are the ultra conservative political groups the John Birch Society (JBS) and the Eagle Forum. JBS was formed in 1958; the Eagle Forum was founded in 1972 by Phyllis Schlafly. Beginning in 1983 JBS began its political opposition to Congress calling an Article V Convention. Eagle Forum later joined the opposition. Because the two groups have chosen to align themselves against an Article V Convention and frequently quote each other's statements, FOAVC will refer to the groups jointly in its discussion of JBS and Eagle Forum as JBS/Eagle Forum.

This opposition occurred despite the fact the Constitution mandates Congress call a convention when two thirds of the states apply. Public record proves two thirds of the states have applied for a convention call eleven times. Nine of these sets of applications happened before JBS/Eagle Forum even began their anti-convention campaign (1910, 1943, 1952, 1965 (twice) 1971, 1973, 1978 and 1979). In addition the states have applied two more times since the JBS campaign began (1992, 2015). Congress, which has only recently begun to count applications, showed a sufficient number of applications were received as of 1930 to cause a convention call in an earlier count which was ignored. Another tabulation of applications begun by Congress in 2015 has already affirmed 35 states applications sufficient to cause a convention call.

Thus politically the JBS/Eagle Forum anti-convention campaign is an utter failure. The states had already applied nine times before it began and twice since it commenced.

The political reason for JBS/Eagle Forum opposition to an Article V Convention was a proposed balanced budget amendment which, as proved by public record shows by 1979, four years before JBS/Eagle Forum began their anti-convention campaign, the balanced budget amendment (BBA) had already received sufficient applications on that issue alone to cause a convention call. (As of February, 2017, the current count of states submitting an application for a BBA stands at 44).

It is believed JBS/Eagle Forum is aware of the vast number of applications and the fact sufficient states had submitted sufficient applications to cause a several convention calls. To counter this fact of public record JBS/Eagle Forum concocted several "arguments" about an Article V Convention which will be examined in more detail later in this site.

FOAVC uses public record to prove the accuracy of statements of any group regarding an Article V Convention. FOAVC examines the statement and its supporting evidence. During its research of the "information" supplied by JBS/Eagle Forum to support its claims, FOAVC discovered many were false, unsupported, or contrary to documented public record or historic fact.

FOAVC will present these defects in discussing JBS/Eagle Forum "information" about an Article V Convention. If any member of JBS/Eagle Forum presents any documented evidence to support its claims not presented by FOAVC, FOAVC will present that evidence on this site. JBS/Eagle Forum may use our Contacts Page (Page 16) to inform us of this evidence.

The political goal of JBS/Eagle Forum is to prevent an Article V Convention call by Congress. Given the public record of applications and unequivocal peremptory language of Article V, the only political solution for JBS/Eagle Forum is congressional veto of the Constitution. This veto permits Congress not to call a convention even if the states satisfy the terms of Article V.

FOAVC believes permitting Congress veto power of the Constitution raises grave questions as to the consequence of allowing the Government to veto any portion of the Constitution. Before such authority is obtained based on the "information" of JBS/Eagle Forum, FOAVC believes a detailed examination of this "information" as to substance and reliability is obligatory. This "information" will be examined in the following pages.