Convention of States Simulation and Virginia Ratification

Article V Blog ^ | October 10th 2016 | Rodney Dodsworth

[Jacquerie]

Over the course of my three years in support of an Article V State Convention to propose amendments, a regular fear expressed by Article V opponents is that the convention will conduct itself in the same Animal House atmosphere of our sorry US Congress. While no one can predict the future of such things with certainty, recent experience points to a different place, one where ladies and gentlemen firmly, yet decorously, stood to express the will of the state legislatures that commissioned them to restore the American republic.

I wouldn’t have bothered with this post had not 137 commissioners from fifty states convened this past September at Williamsburg in a simulated convention of the states.

The great and feared red, blue, and purple divide that threatens to tear our nation asunder was . . . gone! Where was the runaway convention so feared by the John Birch Society and Eagle Forum? State commissioners rose to the occasion and conducted themselves as if the eye of history was actually upon them.

Passions run high in any gathering of strong willed people; they must be restrained and directed toward productive work. That is the essence of the often demanding job description of those who lead conventions, their presidents.

Every organization takes on the character and demeanor of its leaders. From the parents of a family, to the CEO of a corporation, to the President of the United States, they all, for better or for worse, have great influence over their institutions. Here, I wish to highlight the psychological environments set up by convention presidents Edmund Pendleton at Richmond in 1788, and Utah state representative Ken Ivory at Williamsburg in 2016.

[wita]

OBE!

The exercise was just that, an exercise with hand picked delegates or commissioners. I offer my personal guarantee that the same selection process will NOT be used in any future exercise of a real Article V Convention.

I will also guarantee that should we get to the point of a Convention call by the Congress, we will be much further down the road of cultural destruction and tyrannical abuse than we are today, which makes me wonder if the Congress will be so far gone they will never make the Call.