Posted on 11/08/2012 9:58:12 AM PST by Para-Ord.45
So, listening to The Great One, Mark Levin last night in regards to the election. He stated his ideas haven`t quite congealed yet but would comment sometime in the future while mentioning the GOP now had 30 Governors across the nation.
Upon hearing this I could come to no other conclusion as to what he was refering to:
"Article. V
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, ..."
But the process requires that the Convention's proposed amendments are later ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures.
Was Mark Levin thinking this? If so, is he at wits end as to how rescue what`s left of the Constitutional Republic?
Interesting...so the house & senate really can be avoided if we get the states to act?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2956370/posts?page=108#108
Good points all. Clearly the GOP model has failed and its adherents seem poised to acknowledge final failure. Time to consider new models and paths to success.
What is of interest and of substantial potential power in a new model is drawn from your statement:
“Fortunately we still hold the House and something like 3/4 of the State legislatures. And those facts will become far more important as the Obama downward spiral continues on toward next summer.”
If somehow the Red States comprising 3/4 of the total could start a State Convention movement, then the process of such a movement could bypass both Senate and the Presidency, and the Supreme Court.
As an example, look at the number of states pushing for Voter ID and having it moved through the courts with subsequent wins or imminent wins.
The same could happen with issues such as gay marriage, tax reform, education, energy etc. all brought under an umbrella of a States Convention process. The breadth of such a process would be too diffuse and difficult for the MSM to fight as they would need to define, caricature and demonize thousands of targets in geographical regions where they are not welcome.
The Founders left us the States Convention route as a last resort to withstand tyranny.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) could be a vehicle to organize a States Convention movement. The fact that leftist groups hate it is a good sign that its leadership is conservative.
Here’s a couple of leftist orgs and their take on ALEC:
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/07/10887/cmd-special-report-alecs-funding-and-spending
The chief complaint of a States Convention movement arises from fear that leftists can seize control of it and fundamentally change the Constitution. But a States Convention process to power requires 2/3s of state to pass proposals and 3/4s to implement passed proposals into the Constitution. So there is a strong barrier that the left would need to overcome in order to control power from statehouses.
The left has seized *federal* power from urban centers of population to steer a state to its US Senator picks as well as urban mayorships to service union demands, primarily government unions including public teacher groups. This is the source of their strength. Such a network of urban power strongholds was referred by Obama’s handlers in 2008 as the “Urban Archipelago” that can ignore Statehouses because power at the statehouse level is lacking.
But statehouses tied together and unified can trump the Urban Archipelago.
Statehouse power stems from people that inhabit the land outside the urban strongholds, the “Country Class” and this ‘country power’ when mobilized and impassioned yields power in the US House of Representatives as exists now.
In such areas there exists a diffuse republic in the form of distributed districts that lend considerable opportunity to steer state power. The Left has abandoned this route to power because the centralization of federal power has rendered Statehouses weak and ineffectual, but only because they are not organized together.
What is needed is a groundswell of solidarity to empower leaders of a State Convention movement to unite, organize and train cadres of people to effect Statehouse power.
It comes down to solidarity and the ability to organize and maintain it.
IIRC, 34 states are required to make up 2/3 of the states.
A Con-Con is a very bad idea, no matter how bad things seem right now. With a Con-Con, anything would be up for grabs.
Delete the 2nd amendment?
New amendment enshrining socialised medicine as a “right” (or anything else, for that matter)?
4th amendment needs to go?
Abolish the 10th amendment?
All could happen in a Con-Con.
I’m not following you. Please explain more. 2/3 or congress Vs. 2/3 of State Governors? We need 33 governors obviously. But doesn’t Congress have to initiate the process in the Senate with 2/3 majority? Per the constitution, the Senators represent the states while the Reps represent the people.
Grassroots in action.
The Alinskyites would hijack it.
They would like nothing better.
That is what I thought.
What we will hear is we cant have con-con because you don’t know what they will come out with in the end. I call BS on that argument.
What ever they come out with have to be ratified or else it will die. In fact, the ratification our Constitution there were 78 Amendments offered by the State conventions.
I would like to see the repealing of the 17th out the gate. Harry Reid should represent the State of AZ interest. I think you would find him behave very differently if he had to be appointed by his state legislature after some of the garbage he has forced down their throats.
This would be a disastrous move.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments ...The United States Constitution
’ Hostage’ posted an explanation that sums it up.
2/3 of the States can call for a ConCon and need 3/4 of State Legislatures for ratification, Washington not required in any way shape or form.
In this scenario they could define “Commerce” specifically to mean what the Founders meant, Free Trade between States. Repeal the income tax, remove all unconstitutional socialist spending. Define enumerated rights to spell it out what the federal govt. can do ,all else they could not, etc.
A possible way, but unlikely to end-run around Congress the White House and USSC and hit the reset button for a Constitutional Republic
I agree, it is a very dangerous idea. Our Congress is no longer populated by virtuous men like those that wrote the Constitution. The best we can hope for the next four years is gridlock.
be careful what you ask for...
and if the republicans cannot beat the worst president in history, what makes you think that they can magically control a constitutional convention? the libs will OWN it. and then you can kiss just about every amendment in the bill of rights goodbye, especially the second.
bad idea,. really, really bad idea
There isn’t going to be a constitutional convention. People on both sides have been trying to get one forever and there just aren’t the votes for it.
Besides, we may have 30 governors - but we don’t have 30 truly conservative governors that are in any mood to fight the current system.
The majority of the public wants to keep the freebies coming and that isn’t going to change until the economy collapses. It will at some point and then there will be a chance to rebuild things and change the constitution. At that time hopefully we will more clearly write any opportunity for socialism out of the Federal Government. That will require clarifying the “general welfare” clause and other areas the left uses to ram through their agenda. Thing is, the ability of the powers that be to kick the can down the road is incredible. While slowly imploding, the whole house of cards may not fall for many years to come.
Not all states agree though. What Texas and Alabama would like to do vs what, say, New Jersey might want to do are entirely different things.
@Yashcheritsiy “A Con-Con is a very bad idea, no matter how bad things seem right now. With a Con-Con, anything would be up for grabs.”
I disagree. They can do whatever they wish at the convention. It would need to be then ratified by 2/3 of the the states legislatures to be approved. Also, the state delegations can amend what comes out of the con-con.
Progressives have argued against con-con since 1913 because they realize the garbage Wilson got ratified would be pulled out.
Think about what state would ratify a Constitution without the 2nd Amendment. As the 10th Amendment goes they would strengthen it by repealing the 17th Amendment.
I don’t think Levin was hinting at that. He would have just come out and said it. I think he was reminding everyone that the GOP brand isn’t the problem.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress;
This would be an astoundingly bad idea. If opened, there are no limits, everything is on the table. Don’t fall for the “limited” con-con.
If we are not winning elections, how could we EVER carry the day at a constitutional convention?
A constitution written today would incorporate Soviet concepts like “right to a job”, UN concepts “Rights of children”, EU concepts like “right to free speech as long as it is not hurtful, or insulting”.
There would be no second amendment as we know it. They might give lip service to classic upland bird hunting and say we can use guns via the National Guard, but the hated 2nd would be gone for individuals. There would be no ethos of defending against a tyrannical government.
10th amendment reserving rghts to the state unless specifically given to the feds? Gone.
Right to peaceably assemble? freedom of religion? Yeah,,right.
This nigtmare is best left alone. There is no shortcut. We have to win elections, and live up to the original. We have to roll back the usurpations that have already occurred. That is the only path.
There is no magic path where we can do an end run and create a new set of rules, suddenly enshrining what we cannot win in elections and in congress. And if we did, the same political realities would destroy it just the same as before.
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