To the editor:

From the ratification in 1789 until 1913, 124 years, our Constitution was honored by our elected officials as it was written by the Founders. The powers granted to the Federal Government were limited and clearly defined. The powers granted to the States and the PEOPLE were numerous.

Two Amendments were ratified in 1913 that changed the original design of our Constitution.

The 16th Amendment granted the power to tax individual citizens directly by the Federal Government and the 17th Amendment removed the power of representation by the States in the US Senate. In other words, the destruction of our republican form of government. State Legislatures had a voice in the US Senate as equal to the people’s voice in the US House of Representatives and now they have none. How has that worked out?

In the last 109 years since those two amendments were ratified, the people have been taxed, regulated, and limited in the freedoms, liberties and property rights granted by our creator and protected by the original Constitution.

Those amendments alone have created an out-of-control Federal Government that has unfairly strapped the people with a debt in excess of 30 trillion dollars, regulated millions of acres of productive land, employed more people than any industry, controlled a failing system of health care, limited if not outright abolished free speech and limited the ability of citizens to defend themselves, just to mention a few.

The only peaceful and Constitutional way out of this mess is to convince our State Legislature to join the Article V Convention of States and propose an amendment to repeal or abolish both the 16th and 17th Amendments. Nineteen state legislatures have already agreed to the convention and Minnesota should be next on that list.

Until that is accomplished, we can only imagine how great it would be to have our country back and controlled by the people as it was designed to be.

Roger Baumann

Wabasso