North Michigan News

An entrepreneur and now-grassroots activist with the Michigan Convention of States (COS) is expected to speak during a free town hall in Frankfort on Saturday.

Mark Smith "and the COS Team" are scheduled to lead a discussion about COS from 10 to 11:30 at the Benzie County Eagles building on Lake Street in Frankfort, according to an announcement provided to the North Michigan News. Smith plans to share his experience "as a grassroots patriot" and discuss how others can become involved in the movement for a convention of states to amend the U.S. Constitution.

“I was not happy with the direction our country had taken the past several years," Smith said in the statement. "To me America had always been the land of opportunity, a land where failure was not fatal. One could start over or do different things as economic conditions and opportunities changed. America represents the land of opportunity where our Freedoms should remain vested in We the People as intended by our Founding Fathers."

Smith started a chemical company with two partners in "something that now would be very difficult, if not impossible, because of the regulations imposed unnecessarily by the federal government in Washington D.C.," he said in the statement.

Convention of States Action (COSA) is a grassroots political organization with more than 5 million supporters across the United States, according to information on its website. COSA's primary focus is on calling for an Article V Convention of the States to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution. COSA only promotes amendments that would impose limitations on the size and scope of the federal government and for an amending convention, rather than a constitutional convention.

Amendments to the U.S. Constitution must be ratified by 38 states before becoming part of the Constitution.

"Our Convention of State resolution proposes amendment on the three subject matters, which include imposing fiscal restraints on Washington, limiting federal power and jurisdiction and setting term limits for federal officials," Iowa Convention of States Legislative Affairs Senior Vice President Rita Dunaway said during a Hawkeye Reporter interview.

The Convention of States Project has more than 3 million supporters nationwide and petition signers in every single state House district across America, according to information on its website. The Michigan Convention of States is using block walking programs to reach out to neighborhood residents to gain support for a Michigan resolution in support of an Article V convention of states.