States Reclaiming Power Through Article V and Lessons from New York’s Urban Turnaround

On this Tuesday, August 15, 2023 broadcast, Kim Monson explores two parallel themes of reclaiming power and reversing decline. Colorado Convention of States advocates Laura Neimeister and John Graboski explain how Article V offers states a constitutional path to rein in federal overreach, while documentary filmmaker Matthew Taylor reveals the policy decisions that transformed New York City from America’s most dangerous metropolis into one of its safest.

Article V: The States’ Constitutional Remedy

Start listening at 36:58 – Hour 1

Laura Neimeister and John Graboski from Colorado Convention of States break down Article V of the Constitution, the mechanism George Mason insisted upon just two days before the Constitution was signed. Neimeister explains that if two-thirds of states (34) call for a convention, they can propose amendments addressing fiscal restraints, term limits, and federal overreach. Currently, 19 states have passed the resolution, with momentum accelerating in the past 18 months.

Graboski, who serves as Colorado’s legislative liaison, reports that while the resolution was killed along party lines in committee during the 2023 session, the testimony was robust and compelling. He notes that a simulated convention in Williamsburg, Virginia just last week produced six proposed amendments, including one that would prohibit Congress from delegating rulemaking authority to executive agencies, directly targeting the administrative state that Kim identifies as a growing threat to self-governance.

“Two days before they actually signed the Constitution on September 15th, George Mason realized that if this government ever became tyrannical, there was not a way for the states to amend the Constitution. And you’ve got to realize these people knew what tyranny was. They were living it. They were fighting it.”

Laura Neimeister, Colorado Convention of States

New York’s Remarkable Turnaround: A Blueprint for Urban Recovery

Start listening at 80:44 – Hour 2

Matthew Taylor, director and writer of the documentary “Gotham: The Fall and Rise of New York,” explains how the city went from 2,200 murders per year and 1.2 million people on welfare to becoming one of America’s safest cities. Taylor emphasizes that most of the transformation happened in the first four years of the Giuliani administration, with crime dropping 39 percent in just 18 months.

The key, Taylor explains, was realigning incentives and demanding accountability. When they actually examined the welfare rolls, they discovered 40 percent of recipients already had jobs, including police officers collecting multiple checks. Garbage collection improved dramatically when workers were paid per pound collected rather than flat rates. The broken windows theory proved that maintaining public order encouraged community self-policing. Taylor warns that cities like Denver, San Francisco, and Chicago face similar death spirals due to policies that incentivize idleness rather than work, creating the fear that drives businesses and taxpayers away.

“If someone breaks a window in a healthy neighborhood, it will immediately be fixed because it’s a healthy neighborhood. But if someone breaks a window and it doesn’t get fixed, it just incentivizes the fact that this neighborhood is not worth anything and everything can degrade and be destroyed.”

Matthew Taylor, Documentary Filmmaker