Faster horses
Well-known member
This is getting more attention in our area. I wasn't aware it existed.
http://www.conventionofstates.com/
http://www.conventionofstates.com/
The second clause of the first sentence gives America a second way to proceed, a way that’s never been tried. It says that two-thirds of the states can apply to the Congress to call a Constitutional Convention for the purpose of proposing amendments. All amendments proposed by such a Constitutional Convention would then have to be ratified by the legislatures or state-level Constitutional Conventions.
Note that Article V doesn’t say that the state legislatures can determine the agenda of a Constitutional convention. It only says they can petition Congress to call one.
There’s nothing that says Congress can’t decide how the delegate selection and seating process will work. There’s nothing that says Congress can’t mandate that THEY would comprise the delegates to the CON-CON. There’s nothing that says Congress can’t require the states to hold open delegate elections. There’s nothing that says how the voting within a convened CON-CON will be done, whether decisions will be made by simple majority or by some kind of super-majority. In fact, there’s nothing that prevents Congress from making any rule they want.
There’s a lot of chatter in the Internet that warns of a runaway convention. If I understand my history, the original Constitutional Convention (called the Federal Convention at the time) was called for one purpose, but ended up doing something else. Originally it was called to consider amendments to the Articles of Confederation, which was the original document that our government worked under. Once in session, though, the delegates decided the Articles of Confederation had too many structural and philosophic defects, so they decided to just scrap it and start over.
Now, just suppose the charter for a CON-CON is, for some strange reason, loose enough to allow the convention to determine its own agenda. If that is the case, everything would depend on the delegates; how they are chosen and how they are controlled by their state governments. Call me cynical, if you must, but my trust factor for politicians is exceedingly low. Just because my legislator tells me he and I are on the same page doesn’t mean it’s true and doesn’t mean he isn’t telling everyone else the same thing. It doesn’t mean that our delegates are actually chosen because they want the same thing I do and that many of us do. There are an infinite number of things that may result in a delegate voting in a way the public in his/her state doesn’t want. Once the doors of the convention are closed, those delegates are absolutely beyond the control of the citizens who sent them. The delegates are on their own, to wheel and deal, and determine what they want as an outcome.
Okay, let’s just get to the bottom line on all this. From my perspective the risk of a CON-CON is too great. There’s too little definition in how a convention would be formed and controlled. There’s too little there to convince me that the convention can’t run away and do something entirely different from the intent of the People.
9. Arkansas (TIE) — 45.3 percent Conservative
9. Nebraska (TIE) — 45.3 percent Conservative
8. Louisiana — 45.6 percent Conservative
7. Idaho — 47.1 percent Conservative
6. Oklahoma — 47.3 percent Conservative
5. Utah — 48.0 percent Conservative
4. Mississippi — 48.2 percent Conservative
3. North Dakota (TIE) — 48.6 percent Conservative
2. Wyoming (TIE) — 48.6 percent Conservative
1. Alabama — 50.6 percent Conservative
when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof,