Benjamin Franklin famously told a Philadelphia woman after the passage of the US Constitution in 1787 our Founders had established “a republic…if you can keep it.”

Many conservatives are wringing their hands in 2013, fearing we have not. We see the Separation of Powers nullified, with the legislative, executive, and judicial branches becoming more and more blurred, acting in concert to nullify the Founders wisdom and the will of the People.

We vote, pen our letters to our elected representatives, and try to organize to reclaim our Constitutional heritage. Many of the conservative base simply no longer turn out, find form letters in response to our pleas, and see government agents monitor, short-circuit, and harass our attempts at representation. Many have given up, seeing the ship of state lurch faster and faster to the left cliff of command-and-control tyranny, regardless of the party, president, or judge.

But buried within Article five of the US constitution, the Convention included a firewall to keep the spirit of self-governance, a “last call”, to hold the line against tyranny throughout the ages.

Talk radio personality and former Reagan administration official Mark Levin lays out that roadmap in his latest book “The Liberty Amendments, Restoring the American Republic”.

Levin makes the case the founders, encouraged by George Mason during the last days of the convention, gave a remedy should our government become oppressive.

He argues, as do many others, the time of oppression has come and that we now live in a “post constitutional” era. Examples of oppression are many, ranging from unconstitutional overreach in healthcare (Obamacare), unrestrained spending and taxation, an unaccountable regulation state in the IRS, EPA, (and hundreds of other alphabet agencies) and the existence of an elite class of politicians and jurists who act with impunity in ignoring the will of the American people.

Under Article Five, Amendments may be proposed by either:

Two-thirds (super majority) of both houses (i.e. the Senate and the House) of the United States Congress; or

A national convention assembled at the request of the legislatures of at least two-thirds (i.e. at least thirty four [34]) of the currently fifty [50] united states. (emphasis mine).

Both require three-quarters of approval by the states.   Congress has used the first method 27 times. The second option, says Levin, “has remained dormant,” but now is the time to consider it.

Levin, an attorney, provides a roadmap back to constitutional sanity. He warns “The Framers anticipated this day might arrive, for they knew republics deteriorate at first from within. They provided  a llawful and civil way to repair what has transpired. We, the people, thorough our state legislatures – and the state legislatures, acting collectively – have enormous power to constrain the federal government, reestablish self-government, and secure individual sovereignty.”

Levin quotes heavily from arguments made by the founders during the Philadelphia Convention, the Federalist papers, and personal writings and reflections on the subject made by the Founders.

He proposes ten amendments, ranging from establishing term limits and dealing with taxing and spending issues, to having a super-majority override of federal regulations and supreme court rulings. Such amendments, he argues, would allow our Nation to return to the path our Founders envisioned.

He discounts the fear of a ‘runaway’ convention, pointing out A: this would be an effort by state conventions to only propose amendments that would still require three-quarters of the states for ratification, and B: the US Constitution, as envisioned, has already been harshly abused by the progressive Left.

Levin has hit the broadcast and print circuit arguing his case and says the success or failure of any such undertaking will not occur quickly or easily – it could take several years – and ultimately will boil down to whether the American people truly support the concept of our Founding principles and are willing to overcome the current top-down governance from Washington and be willing to fight for a bottom-up, grassroots, effort through local and state officials.

Levin says we must arm ourselves with knowledge and pass that knowledge on. Only then can we reclaim our heritage as citizens of a nation that has established the freest, most productive, and most equitable form of governance in history.

America is, after all, a republic – if we can keep it. And only if we dare mine the options given us by the Founders.