[Jacquerie]

Great post from eleven years ago. You are exactly right regarding national committee influence over each Senator. No matter what the legislation is, no sitting Senator who values his job can afford to blow off big campaign bucks.

Also, it is why a gang of eight is negotiating w/labor unions and business over immigration policy rather than hold open hearings on the matter. The 17th was supposed to make the Senate responsible to the people; it actually isolated us from lawmaking.

Off topic. Do you think Mark Levin is working up to calling for an Article V Convention?

[Political Junkie Too]

Here is another post of mine from 2003, Proposed Amendment Repealing the 17th Amendment.

Levin is hinting at doing something. I recall posts on FreeRepublic over the years that the Supreme Court ruled that the states can call for narrow conventions limited to a single amendment. I think that people fear that an Article 5 Convention would open up the Constitution to total revision. I'm wondering if Levin is researching the legitimacy of states calling for a narrow convention that is limited to just this one topic, before taking a stand on amending the Constitution.

It seems from reading Article 5 that Congress can limit itself to proposing a single amendment, but it's unclear what controls are placed over the states calling for an Article 5 convention.

Here is an essay by Publius from 2000 (revised 2006) on "A Convention for Proposing Amendments...as Part of This Constitution" that is good reading.

Here is another interesting post from November of last year: Mark Levin `s Cryptic Reference to 30 U.S. Governors (Con-Con ! ? ) to fan the fire.

-PJ