Tulsa World photo
At his
Monday speech to the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn offered some details on his previous statements that it’s time for a national constitutional convention.
He repeated a statement he made
last week that “I used to have a great fear of constitutional conventions… I have a great fear now of not having one.”
At Monday’s speech, Coburn specified three things he’d like to see added to the Constitution through the convention process:
1. Congressional term limits;
2. An enforceable balanced budget amendment; and
3. Authorization for states to challenge federal regulations that
violate common sense and economics.
There are “lots of other ideas,” Coburn said, referring to the website: tulsaworld.com/conventionofstates.
The Constitution says: “The Congress … on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which ... shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof….”
Here are a couple of other highlights – mainly just good lines – from the senator’s speech.
On global warming:“I am a global warming denier. I don’t deny that.”
The climate is changing, and has been as long as there has been a climate, he said
As a physician and a man of science, Coburn said he thinks the evidence points that the Earth is moving into a “mini-ice age.”
On the effort of tea party Republicans to zero-fund the Affordable Care Act during the upcoming debt limit debate:
Such an effort could and probably will succeed in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, but in the Senate it would require 25 Democratic senators to vote against the signature achievement of their president.
“That isn’t going to happen,” Coburn said.
A Quixotic effort can be effective in politics, if it is done strategically, he said.
“I don’t mind losing,” he said. “I’ve made a career out of losing legislatively.”
But losing needs to set up ultimate victory, and Coburn said he didn’t see that coming from this effort against the Affordable Care Act.
On Edward Snowden’s revelations about National Security Agency data gathering:
“I don’t think Snowden’s a patriot. I think he’s a coward and a traitor,” Coburn said.
The NSA keeps the U.S. safe against the terrorists, but its efforts have to be balanced against liberty, he said.
The NSA doesn’t indiscriminately spy on American citizens. While its system picks up a huge number of electronic contacts, it can only look at the “meta-data,” i.e. who contacted who and for how long, after it has a judge’s authorization. Even then, it doesn’t get the content of the communication, just who was involved and how long it lasted, he said.
While oversight of the system is key, Coburn said he is comfortable with the system's design.
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