The polling results I've seen from both sides of the debate say a plurality of you will vote for a state constitutional convention this November.

The numbers still aren't there yet. The question on the fall ballot must either be supported by 60 percent of those who vote on the issue, or by at least half of all those voting in the election itself. Still, it's getting there.

I'm one of those who supports a constitutional convention. And after 18 years of covering Illinois politics, I am not only convinced that a convention is necessary; I also believe I have a duty to tell you why.

My guess is that many of you are as enraged as I am over our elected leaders' latest financial abuses. How much is enough for each of us to take action? By action I mean, at a minimum, a phone call or e-mail to each senator and congressman in your district expressing your outrage, accompanied by a committed declaration that if he or she does not act to stop these subsidies, bailouts, and wholesale giveaways of our republic's future, then they will absolutely lose your vote next term.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, near seemingly endless steel mills that lined the Ohio River. These mills poured fiery molten steel out of huge melting pots and afforded opportunity to many new immigrants experiencing American freedom for the first time. My elementary school was next to the UP (United Presbyterian) Church, and my first-grade teacher also taught Sunday school. We started the school day with a Psalm, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance with our hands over our hearts, and we believed in those words. We sang patriotic songs in class and waved flags and sparklers on the Fourth of July.

Much of the recent revival of interest in the Constitution centers around the Bill of Rights and the war on terror, a subject I discuss elsewhere in this book. I could not be more sympathetic to these concerns. However, Americans must remember that the Constitution was designed not merely to prevent the federal government from violating the rights that later appeared in the Bill of Rights. It was also intended to limit the federal government's overall scope. Article I, Section 8, lists the powers of Congress. Common law held such lists of powers to be exhaustive.