Sorry to be a cynic, but this will NEVER, EVER happen.
At least half of our population are takers and low-information. They have no concept of what freedom is.
Interesting analysis
Not only does a new Const. Convention of any kind scare me...but also the continuance of any type of income tax
For the first 140 yrs our country raised revenue mainly thru TARIFFS. Now..everyone wants to keep Marxist progrssive income taxes
It is not a general convention. It is a convention for the purposes of proposing amendments to the Constitution. The State Legislatures would organize and set up the convention. Once set up they would suggest amendments to the constitution. They then send those to the state legislatures where 3/4 must pas that amendment.
It Is simply a process to bypass the Federal Legislature and the DC beltway.
Not only will it NEVER EVER happen ... most Americans don’t want limited government. You think we’re Liberal now? Try this. America may be dying but let’s not commit suicide.
I don’t understand why people think an an Article 5 convention means suddenly everyone turns conservative.
Does anyone believe that Obama would ever let this happen?
This Article 5 stuff WILL NOT come to fruition for these four reasons:
1) Marxist Dems
2) Establishment Republicans
3) Obama’s Liberal/State Run Media
4) Low-Information idiot voters
Sad.
Wake up, our country is gone. What Levin proposes is our last chance and if you listen to him you should know that what he is talking about is starting the process of presenting amendments and opening the dialogue to actually do something!
We don’t have to stick to the ones he proposes completely, we should be supporting him with constructive arguments instead of sniping. Remember, since Obama entered the white house, there have been tens of thousands of new regulations that have negated or rewritten the constitution and control every aspect of our lives.
Mark is not proposing a new constitutional convention. Article V is another way to add amendments to the constitution. A convention would only be called to propose amendments, not a new Constitution and would still require ratification from 3/4 of the state legislatures on each amendment. So, you either really don’t understand what Mark is proposing or you are choosing to misrepresent it. Try reading the book.
Having the State Legislatures call state conventions, and the state conventions propose amendments, does not “open up” the Constitution one whit more than when CONGRESS proposes an amendment to the Constitution.
As corrupt as the American people have become, leftist amendments would have NO CHANCE of getting the votes of 3/5 of the state legislatures.
This is a bunch of negativism from someone who gives no evidence of having read Levin’s book.
Simply repeal amendments 1-27, create a brand new amendment that simply says "Article V of the U.S. Constitution is hereby repealed and this change shall be permanent and eternal", and all remaining Constitutional laws will be EXACTLY as the founders created them in 1789, and stay that way as long as America exists.
Presto! No more evil demonic efforts to add stuff to the Constitution that the founders didn't have in place when they ratified the thing. Of course, slavery will be legal and we won't have a couple things like now take for granted like freedom of speech and trial by jury, but oh well! The U.S. Constitution was obviously PERFECT except for that pesky part about allowing non-founders to amend it!
Why? Because he’s trying to sell a book.
I don’t see why a convention would be needed to “re-new” the constitution. By holding a convention we’re admitting the old constitution is gone.
Here’s my take.
What is the difference between the government acting unconstitutionally with impunity, which they do, and them re-writing the constitution to make their activities constitutional?
Both are the same. We are still getting screwed. Grumbling about how unconstitutional something is does not actually stop the SCOTUS from giving it the thumbs up, and the feds enforcing it.
This has been the point Mark has addressed over and over, “what if the state legislatures vote to repeal the 2nd Amendment! Or put conservatives in camps! Or make homosexual instruction mandatory for 6 year olds!”
Well, then its over. If that happens, then we know we have lost America for good, and it’s time to start looking somewhere else.
But the facts are, we have some good state legislative bodies across the nation. North Dakota, Texas, Arkansas, South Carolina, North Carolina. These people are much more accountable to their constituents than the Washington class are. They’re much easier to lobby and coerce into doing what we want, and because they’re not high profile, they are easier races to win.
I personally find fault with Mark’s strategy in the very tough journey to getting a majority big enough to initiate this. That is a lot of legislatures we have to work on, many in states with rife corruption.
In spite of this, I see exactly where Mark is coming from. What is your proposal? Send more conservatives to Washington and hopefully one day we’ll have enough in the House, enough in the Senate, and one in the WH to save America? It sounds good, and by all means we should never stop hammering away at it, to knock off rats and RINOS whenever we can, but even when we elect 10 conservatives, only 3 ever end up being solid. Look at Flake, and Boozman. These two jackasses ran as conservatives. Now one is a McCain love-interest and the other is a slimy Obamacare operative.
I don’t see a problem with continuing our fight in Washington, but also paying close attention to the states and what role they could play, what powers they really have. Remember, the Founders intended the states to be a line of defense against government tyranny. Mark is right in saying we should use it if we can.
> “What Mark Levin does not caution his listening audience about is, that we the people, ordinary productive American Citizens, would not be in charge of that convention. In fact, Mark Levins Article V Convention if called would be controlled by the very people who now cause our miseries which are the various state Legislatures and Governors who work in concert with our federal government to enslave and plunder the wealth which Americas businesses, industries and productive working people have produced.”
The Tea Party swept the statehouses with more gains than anyone can remember.
Conservatives control far more states than liberals. Each state gets a chance to ratify an amendment. New York and California get the same weight as South Carolina and Oklahoma. No way in the world will liberals control the amendment process.
Note that 38 states are required to ratify an amendment. Only 13 are required to block.
It is the liberals that are worried about what conservatives can do with Article V, not the other way around.
This piece of hysterical commentary is just more of the same old guard panic trying to get the public to fear imaginary monsters in the attic.
John, This is a last resort because we have to use the last resort. Do you honestly think that the federal government will EVER disembowel itself? Grow a brain. Levin is over the target, leave this to the patriots and go back to your latest issue of the New Yorker.
What Levin proposes is the last and only remaining chance we have.
If the states will not take back their power and control this leviathan, then the leviathan is going to eat us whole.
It’s this, or something much, much worse.
I suggest you embrace it.
I would guess Levin is pushing this because:
1. He thinks it is an emergency and this is the only way to reverse the DC usurpation of the Constitution.
2. He knows the threat of this, even just some state legislatures start voting for such a convention, might bring the federal government to heel and get it to stop trying to be a national government.
3. He know that if anything terrible comes out of such a convention, it would still have to go through a very tough ratification process.
4. He wrote a book and has a financial interest in seeing moves in the direction of a constitutional convention.
My own guess is that the last is not very important to Levin. The others probably are.
Articles of Impeachment needs to come first.
Unless elected officials are held accountable for their malfeasance, any change to the Constitution is useless. The establishment politicians will just ignore it.
I have finally reached the opinion that every person that opposes this process is a liberal democrat/communist.
All the so-called arguments have been addressed. The language is plain. All the opposition are the enemies of America, whether they are trying to salvage the status quo system they subsist upon, or are “concern trolls” attempting to throw a monkey wrench in to the solution.
Either way. All opposition to this needs to be declared for what it is. SUPPORTING THE COMMUNISTS IN THE COMPLETE, FEDERAL TAKEOVER. PERIOD. Enemies of the free, American, person.
The first is from the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative pro-business group. That makes me believe they just might be the good guys. I like the conclusions to which the author arrived. This document has been sent to every state legislator in the country.
Proposing Constitutional Amendments by a Convention of the States: A Handbook for State Lawmakers
The second is a 1973 report from the American Bar Association attempting to identify gray areas in the amendatory process to include an Amendments Convention. It represents the view of the ruling class of 40 years ago. I don't like some of their conclusions, but they have laid out the precedents that may justify those conclusions. What I respect is the comprehensive job they did in locating all the gray areas. They went so far as to identify a gray area that didn't pop up until the Equal Rights Amendment crashed and burned a decade later. Even if you find yourself in disagreement with their vision, it's worth reading to see how the ruling class will try to dominate an Amendments Convention.
Report of the ABA Special Constitutional Convention Study Committee
Mark Levin is very misguided in this idea but on the other hand remember he is also trying to sell a book. I hate to be cynical but.
The convention is never going to happen and be thankful for it.