Your Holiness,
When I stopped by the Tibetan Center in Bloomington, Indiana and was offered a sticker: “Everything is connected.”
You’ve said the great movements of the last hundred years or more have failed to deliver the universal benefits they sought to provide, despite many wonderful ideas. But there’s one idea that’s been overlooked Your Holiness, and with your assistance it can and will bring peace, compassion, and understanding to the world immediately—nothing less than a spiritual awakening as a species.
As it turns out, the American constitution contains a convention clause in Article V. It’s a right of the people to a convention when governance begins to fail, and/or corruption becomes institutionalized, and/or legislation endangers our futures. In other words, the American Declaration of Independence is written into Article V of the Constitution of the United States.
Before such a convention can be called requisite states must cast applications, that legal requirement has been met many times over. Thus, the USA is currently mandated by its high law to convoke and convene a convention of state delegations in order to formally discuss our collective situation.
As you’ve said, people have an innate desire for freedom, and the human race can neither tolerate nor function properly under tyranny; and that you’ve long looked forward to the time when we could devise a political system, suited both to our traditions and to the demands of the modern world—a democracy that has nonviolence and peace at its roots. Your Holiness, I believe that system does exist, and since everything is connected, it begins with a formal discussion, which is all the Article V Convention is.
You’ve said the Buddha saw life’s very purpose is happiness, what the Hopi have voiced also; and that while ignorance binds us in frustration and suffering, wisdom is liberating—that modern democracy is based on the principle that all human beings are equal, each with a right to life, liberty, and happiness. Your Holiness, the convention clause of Article V is common sense written into law based on this principle; power corrupts, and a convention to formally build consensus destroys a status quo detrimental to humanity and its rights.
If, as you’ve said, the truth is the best guarantor and the real foundation of freedom and democracy, then we must not only recognize why the convention clause was placed into the American constitution, but that it’s currently mandated based on the rule of law.
You’ve said that each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind; that universal responsibility is the real key to human survival; that it’s the best foundation for world peace, the equitable use of resources, and proper care of the environment. If so Your Holiness, based on all we know to be true today—and again, that everything is connected—it’s then logical that advocating for the Article V Convention is the most profound act of compassion a person can practice, as it checks the forces which deceive, corrupt, and enslave humanity, through the act of formally discussing them.
If you were to advocate for the Article V Convention, your action in this way would usher in a peaceful revolution of freedom and justice. I imagine that if you held a private meeting with a group of American celebrities who are Buddhist, that a plan of action could be devised to create a tipping-point majority of their fellow citizens calling for the Article V Convention, which in turn would coax the call from the U.S. Congress. From there, in a natural progression of events, a global revolution of freedom and understanding would ensue based on the reckoning that the way things are is not they way they must be. I believe this to be the answer to bring about the changes we’ve all looked forward to:
I’m at your service.
Sincerely,
John De Herrera
PO Box 5888
Santa Barbara, CA 93150