Vogelsong letter: States’ rights

State claims to federal lands: See the Constitution of the United States, Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 16. The federal government should have never gotten title to virtually all of the lands it claims title on, in my opinion. I doubt that proper procedure was followed; and I believe that when statehood was established, it was to have conveyed title to all lands within the said state, to the said state excepting that land in private ownership. I believe the Constitution is clear when it limits the federal government to 10 miles square in and around Washington, D.C.; and most if not all other acquisitions to lands needed for defense of the state or nation.

There is a move on to organize a Convention of States, supposedly to bypass the Congress and calling for a Constitutional Convention under Article 5 of the Constitution, to amend the Constitution. Since Article 5 calls for the states to make application for the Congress to call a Constitutional Convention, in my opinion, this does not make sense. In addition, since no qualifications of any kind exist for delegates to such a convention; and no protective regulations of agenda, etc., we really need to amend Article 5 before any kind of convention is applied for or called.

This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 11:36 PM with the headline "Vogelsong letter: States’ rights."