Not a good idea. The Dems will rewrite the Constitution.
If state governments don’t like Congress piling on mandates that they spend more than they can afford on MedicAid, they can call for a Constitutional Convention and then appoint delegates to it who will propose amendments both prohibiting such mandates, and requiring repayment of some.
Every thread mentioning a constitutional convention sets off a storm of protest. But is the protest realistic.
Consider, that the constitution provides for the mechanism under Article V. VERY significantly, the 2/3 requirement of state legislatures to call a convention and 3/4 requirement of state legislatures to ratify any changes is an enormous advantage to conservatives.
The whole basis of the socialist takeover is the “democratization” of the “republic.” Look at a typical “red state - blue state” map. Now imagine what one accurately drawn since last week’s putsch would look like!
It takes 34 states to call a convention and 38 states to ratify the results. There is no way the socialists can muster the firepower (there I go again - typical conservative fostering violence-LOL) to win.
The entire basis for the socialist end run around the constitution started with FDR’s threat to pack the Supreme Court, with the resulting willful misconstruction of the “interstate commerce clause.” When they got away with that they added the “general welfare” penumbra of obfuscation.
Two spurious arguments, if refuted and their effects corrected would restore almost all the liberties eroded by 75 years of progressivism.
The use of one-half of one sentence, originally intended to prevent New York from levying an import tax on goods from New Jersey as an excuse to effectively nullify most of the rest of the constitution is absurd. As progressives interpret it, the “interstate commerce clause” overrides any and all limits to federal power whatsoever.
Similarly, arguing that pretending that “we the congress” believing it to be in the “public interest” can do absolutely anything, regardless of the will of “them the people,” is absurd.
Under the present effective dictatorship of the elite, our constitution is effectively dead. If we are afraid to risk the convention process, then we could accomplish the same thing with an amendment specifically prohibiting irrational expansion of the definition of “interstate commerce” and rationally defining the term “general welfare” The amendment should also specifically prohibit using either as a “nexus” to legitimize legislation with obviously unconstitutional effect.
A ping to our Article V Convention experts.
We can debate whether or not a particular amendment proposal at a convention should be an amendment. If we believe in the Constitution, we cannot debate that once the states have applied, which they have, the Constitution can be vetoed. To give the government that authority destroys the entire Constitution.
All of the amendments I see have problems that would probably prevent their passage. For example, although I support balancing the Federal Budget, a Constitutional Amendment doing so would not have allowed Reagan to run deficits building the military to defeat the Soviet Union in the cold war.
But there is one amendment I believe in:
Amendment 28 – Repeal of Public Law No. 111-148.
Public Law No. 111-148, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and any amendments thereto, are repealed.
It only looks back, so it doesn’t do anything except erase Obamacare. It would be a way for the states to exercise their authority over the Constitution (and therefore over the Federal Government), and let them know that there is a line they cannot cross. I have lots of details on the proposal at www.constitutionalrepeal.com
And as for those of you who fear a constitutional convention, respectfully, your fears are unfounded. There are only two ways to PROPOSE an amendment:
1. Congress
2. A Convention to Propose Amendments with delegates appointed by the State Legislatures
After an Amendment is proposed, there are only two ways for it to be RATIFIED:
1. Ratification by State Legislatures (used in all amendments except Amendment 21).
2. Through State Conventions (used in the ratification of Amendment 21). These are different from the convention used to prose the amendment.
There is no loophole where crazy left wing radicals can get an amendment through that redefines marriage or repeals the second amendment.
Here’s a thought experiment to dispel your concerns. Since all amendments must be approved by three-quarter of the states, if three-quarters of the states would be willing to approve some crazy amendment, those same three-quarters of the states would simply apply to Congress, propose the amendment then pass it. Since this hasn’t happened, we can rest assured that they would not pass a theoretical crazy amendment proposed from a convention – just as they wouldn’t pass a crazy amendment from Congress.