MUSKOGEE — U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn urged Oklahomans on Wednesday to join the movement for a national constitutional convention to cut down an oversized federal government and counter what he repeatedly referred to as a “lawless” Obama administration.
“I used to have a great fear of constitutional conventions,” Coburn told about 300 people at the Muskogee Convention Center. “I have a great fear now of not having one.”
A national convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures is one of two ways the U.S. Constitution can be amended. Such a convention has never been called, largely because the Constitution itself was the product of a convention authorized only to amend the existing Articles of Confederation, but which replaced it entirely.
Thus, political leaders and scholars have long held that such a convention could be dangerous and even destructive to the nation.
But as conservative frustration with the Obama administration has grown, some factions have begun advocating for such a convention.
Coburn’s announcement that he had read what amounts to the national convention movement manifesto, Mark Levin’s “Liberty Amendments,” drew the loudest applause and reaction of the hour-long town hall meeting.
It might also have somewhat cooled the emotions of those in the crowd who were upset because Coburn has been so outspoken in his opposition to a proposal to “defund” the Affordable Care Act by holding the rest of the government’s discretionary spending hostage when current authorization ends on Sept. 30.
“If you’re going to do that, you’d be better off to do it through the debt ceiling,” Coburn said.
Pressed by questioners, Coburn said the proposal championed by conservative special interest groups such as Freedomworks and the Heritage Foundation — and Levin — would be “childish” and “intellectually dishonest.”
“I am 100 percent convinced it won’t work,” he said.
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