I would think that Mark Levin knows a WHOLE lot about the US Costitution than YOU do(Oh and “nice” Kraut Flag YOU fly)!
If, as you elucidate, congress does not initiate a call for an amendment convention can the State governors 'declare' such an event? Why not?
And there is value in repeating the response to those who reject such a convention for the possibility of a runaway train - the states will need to ratify. That's part of the deliberate process embedded in the Constitution.
Thank you for your post. That Navy guy is having a bad day.
The Article is nonspecific as to time, date, etc. that Congress MAY set for this convention.
So Jan. 13 in Barrow, Alaska is a possibility.
Mark is a standout among conservatives and a man who puts his money and his time to work for the causes he espouses.
But realistically there is no chance at all of getting two thirds of the states to apply to Congress to conduct a convention to propose amendments.
In 2012 only 24 states went republican.
Maybe it could happen after a SHTF collapse and 100 million are dead from race riots and starvation.
But not in the current political climate.
I think you've mis-parsed this section:
Case 1 — 2/3rds of both houses deem it necessary to propose amendments.
Case 2 — The Legislatures of 2/3rds of the states say we want to propose amendments
.
Both cases then join together on the flow-chart not seen for the rest of the sentence.
Tax Reform Amendment
Section I
No tax, federal or state, shall ever be withheld from the wages of a worker of any citizen of either.
Section II
No property shall be seized for failure to pay taxes until after conviction in a jury trial; the right of the jury to nullify (and thereby forgive) this debt shall never be questioned or denied.
Section III
The second amendment is hereby recognized as restricting the power of taxation, both federal and state, therefore no tax (or fine) shall be laid upon munitions or the sale thereof.
Section IV
The seventh amendment is also hereby recognized, and nothing in this amendment shall restrict the right of a citizen to seek civil redress.
Section V
No income tax levied by the federal government, the several States, or any subdivision of either shall ever exceed 10%.
Section VI
No income tax levied by the federal government, the several States, or any subdivision of either shall ever apply varying rates to those in its jurisdiction.
Section VII
No retroactive or ex post facto tax (or fee) shall ever be valid.
Section VIII
The congress may not delegate the creation of any tax or fine in any way.
Section IX
No federal employee, representative, senator, judge, justice or agent shall ever be exempt from any tax, fine, or fee by virtue of their position.
Section X
Any federal employee, representative, senator, judge, justice or agent applying, attempting to apply, or otherwise causing the application of an ex post facto or retroactive law shall, upon conviction, be evicted from office and all retirement benefits forfeit.
Fiscal Responsibility Amendment
Section I
The power of Congress to regulate the value of the dollar is hereby repealed.
Section II
The value of the Dollar shall be one fifteen-hundredth avoirdupois ounce of gold of which impurities do not exceed one part per thousand.
Section III
To guard against Congress using its authority over weights and measures to bypass Section I, the ounce in Section II is approximately 28.3495 grams (SI).
Section IV
The Secretary of the Treasury shall annually report the gold physically in its possession; this report shall be publicly available.
Section V
The power of the Congress to assume debt is hereby restricted: the congress shall assume no debt that shall cause the total obligations of the United States to exceed one hundred ten percent of the amount last reported by the Secretary of the Treasury.
Section VI
Any government agent, officer, judge, justice, employee, representative, or congressman causing gold to be confiscated from a private citizen shall be tried for theft and upon conviction shall:
a. be removed from office (and fired, if an employee),
b. forfeit all pension and retirement benefits,
c. pay all legal costs, and
d. restore to the bereaved twice the amount in controversy.
Section VII
The federal government shall assume no obligation lacking funding, neither shall it lay such obligation on any of the several States, any subdivision thereof, or any place under the jurisdiction of the United States. All unfunded liabilities heretofore assumed by the United States are void.
Section VIII
The federal government shall make all payments to its employees or the several states in physical gold. Misappropriation, malfeasance and/or misfeasance of funds shall be considered confiscation.
Senate Reform Amendment
Section I
The seventeenth amendment is hereby repealed.
Section II
The several states may provide by law the means by which their senators may be removed or replaced.
Commerce Clause Amendment
Section I
The federal government shall directly subsidize no product or industry whatsoever, saving the promotion the progress of Science and useful Arts.
Section II
The federal government shall never prescribe nor proscribe what the Several States teach. Neither the federal government nor the several states shall ever deny the right of parents to teach and instruct their children as they see fit.
Section III
The congress may impose tariffs, excise taxes, and customs duties on anything imported or exported, provided that they are applied uniformly and in no manner restrict, subvert, or circumvent the second amendment.
Section IV
No law may impose prohibitions of any sort on the commerce between the several states due to the item itself.
If we had modern day Thomas Jeffersons or James Madisons to send to the convention then I might support it. But we don’t. Any Constitutional Convention will be populated by the Boehners and Pelosis and McConnells and Reids of the world. And the damage they could do to us at such a convention is mind-boggling.
No. Congress has no authority other than their previously enumerated areas found under the Powers of Congress, nor does Article V itself give them any authority over the process.
In fact, none of the branches have any say-so in the matter.
However true, therefore, it may be, that the judicial department is, in all questions submitted to it by the forms of the Constitution, to decide in the last resort, this resort must necessarily be deemed the last in relation to the authorities of the other departments of the government; not in relation to the rights of the parties to the constitutional compact, from which the judicial, as well as the other departments, hold their delegated trusts. On any other hypothesis, the delegation of judicial power would annul the authority delegating it; and the concurrence of this department with the others in usurped powers, might subvert forever, and beyond the possible reach of any rightful remedy, the very Constitution which all were instituted to preserve.
James Madison, Report on the Virginia Resolutions
The first is from the American Legislative Exchange Council. It can be downloaded from their website in PDF format.
Proposing Constitutional Amendments by a Convention of the States: A Handbook for State Lawmakers
The second is a 1973 report from the ABA attempting to identify gray areas in the amendatory process to include an Amendments Convention.
Report of the ABA Special Constitutional Convention Study Committee
The third is from Alexander Hamilton. Skip to Verses 62 through 66.
Very cogent and dispassionate analysis of the logistics.
I do not see that Congress has any option in summoning the state plebiscites should the legislatures so petition. That Congress might shun that duty or fail in its execution does not invalidate the material outcome of the process.
As to Congress’ ostensible “option” of submitting the proposed amendments to the states for ratification, a failure to do so in the face of such an accomplished plebiscite would, I believe, precipitate a constitutional crisis of a degree not seen since the Seccessionist Movement that sparked the Civil War. In the end, it would not be possible for Congress to so brazenly defy the will of the people and still demand respect for the laws it enacts.
So either Congress would have to yield to the will of the people or the people would withdraw the authority of Congress to make law.
I see this as a clear case of social contract. Either Congress acts in the capacity to which it has agreed, or the contract is dissolved and it becomes disempowered. Then its only defense is force. And there are only 535 Congressmen ...
I’ve been hearing Mark talk about this on his show, but I’ve not heard anything about a specific amendment to the constitution that he is proposing. Anyone know if his discussions are just educational, or if he has something specific in mind?
I have been collecting notes for years with the vague intention of writing a book somewhat along the lines of Levin's effort. One of the conclusions that I have come to is that the Constitution is faulty in many places due to the absence of 'or else' clauses. While the authors were brilliant in their conception I'd have to give them a poor grade as programmers. Their "IF...THEN...ELSE" structures are often defective. It is these defects that cause what we might call leakage of authority. By that I mean situations where one branch, exceeding its authority by some act[the "IF"], was intended by the Constitution's authors to be checked by another branch [the "THEN"]. When that other branch fails its duty to check we are generally left with no recourse. Thus, the leakage of authority from the people as sovereigns to the runaway branch due to the fecklessness of the non-checking branch. There is no "ELSE" that allows us to yank the choke-chain and say "no you don't". The Senate might have originally served as part of this "ELSE" apparatus but 17A broke that. And, elections only partly serve this "ELSE" function because it is nearly impossible to ever get anything repealed even if the feckless "authrity-leakers" are replaced. So once the leakage of authority occurs there is currently no way to get it back.