[FreedomCalls]

And in fact, the state legislatures have the specific power to bypass the Congress completely, by issuing a call for a new Constitutional Convention. Power never before used, but definitely available to those "irrelevant" state leigslatures.

They did use that power once -- in 1787. They called for a Constitutional Convention to amend the Articles of Confederation to fix the tax problem. But those gathered for the Convention started out not by amending the Articles of Confederation, but by throwing the whole thing out and starting from scratch. In all probability the same thing would happen with a new convention and we would end up with a 150-page beast like the European Union Constitution guaranteeing everyone a new pony, making "Kumbaya" the National Anthem, and declaring smoking a capital crime.

[Wonder Warthog]

"They did use that power once -- in 1787. They called for a Constitutional Convention to amend the Articles of Confederation to fix the tax problem. But those gathered for the Convention started out not by amending the Articles of Confederation, but by throwing the whole thing out and starting from scratch."

The difference being that the Articles of Confederation contained no authorization for them to do so---they basically usurped that authority. The Constitution, OTOH, specifically contains authorizing language allowing the states to do exactly that--no usurpation necessary.

[Cboldt]

In all probability the same thing would happen with a new convention and we would end up with a 150-page beast like the European Union Constitution guaranteeing everyone a new pony, making "Kumbaya" the National Anthem, and declaring smoking a capital crime.

LOL. I'd like my pony to be a painted one.