Coburn:The only way to fix Washington is to have a Convention of the States and limit their power

Right Scoop ^ | January 15, 2014

[Bigtigermike]

It turns out that Senator Tom Coburn is a big supporter of Mark Levin’s new book The Liberty Amendments. When asked last night about this new 1000 plus page spending bill and the fact that the Senate will vote on it before anyone gets a chance to read it, Sen. Tom Coburn told Mark Levin that you can’t prevent this stuff from happening because all we have is a bunch of career politicians who only care about getting reelected. He says the only way to fix Washington is for the states to convene a Convention of the States and limit their power, something he definitely supports.

Listen:

[Publius]

An Amendments Convention will reflect all facets of the country, both Left and Right. He's some boilerplate I usually toss in on these threads to put it all in perspective.

*** BEGIN ***

The amendatory process under Article V consists of three steps: Proposal, Disposal, and Ratification.

Proposal:

There are two ways to propose an amendment to the Constitution.

• The Congressional Method requires the House and Senate to pass an amendment by a two-thirds majority.
• The Amendments Convention Method requires the legislatures of two-thirds of the states to petition Congress to call a Convention for Proposing Amendments. The states may request a single-subject convention or a general convention open to all subjects. Once the two-thirds threshold is reached, Congress is required to set a time and place for the convention.

Article V gives Congress and an Amendments Convention exactly the same power to propose amendments, no more and no less.

Disposal:

Once Congress, or an Amendments Convention, proposes amendments, Congress must decide whether the states will ratify by the:

• State Legislature Method, or the
• State Ratifying Convention Method.

The State Ratifying Convention Method has only been used twice: once to ratify the Constitution, and once to ratify the 21st Amendment repealing Prohibition.

Ratification:

Depending upon which ratification method is chosen by Congress, either the state legislatures vote up-or-down on the proposed amendment, or the voters elect a state ratifying convention to vote up-or-down. If three-quarters of the states vote to ratify, the amendment becomes part of the Constitution.

Forbidden Subjects:

Article V contains two explicitly forbidden subjects and one implicitly forbidden subject.

Explicitly forbidden:

• No amendment may be added to the Constitution concerning slavery until 1808. We’re past that deadline.
• No amendment may be added to the Constitution to change the principle of equal representation in the Senate. If California wants five senators, every state has to have five senators.

Implicity forbidden:

• Throwing out the Constitution of 1787 and replacing it with a new document. Article V only authorizes “a convention for proposing amendments to this Constitution”; therefore, the Constitution of 1787 is locked in place forever. Congress and an Amendments Convention have exactly the same Proposal power; therefore, neither Congress nor an Amendments Convention can start over. Both bodies can only propose amendments.

I have two reference works for those interested.

The first is from the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative pro-business group. This document has been sent to every state legislator in the country.

Proposing Constitutional Amendments by a Convention of the States: A Handbook for State Lawmakers

The second is a 1973 report from the American Bar Association attempting to identify gray areas in the amendatory process to include an Amendments Convention. It represents the view of the ruling class of 40 years ago. While I dislike some of their conclusions, they have laid out the precedents that may justify those conclusions. What I respect is the comprehensive job they did in locating all the gray areas. They went so far as to identify a gray area that didn't pop up until the Equal Rights Amendment crashed and burned a decade later. Even if you find yourself in disagreement with their vision, it's worth reading to see the view of the ruling class toward the process.

Report of the ABA Special Constitutional Convention Study Committee

[Howie66]

Surrender really is easier than fighting for what is right.

I am just grateful that our Founding Fathers did NOT take the path that you recommend.

[Jacquerie]

Oh, I'll keep plugging away.

I just wonder at the conservative bona fides of those at FR who oppose an Article V amendment convention after the Bamster so much as told the world he was going to govern by decree.

There is an abundance for our dying republic to learn from the founding/framing generation. They knew human nature and designed a government that accounted for the worst of it. I admire them collectively not because they were perfect, but because they got so much so right.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”I am just grateful that our Founding Fathers did NOT take the path that you recommend.”

HAHA Right Mark,

I listen to his first half hour a day usually and his explanation for why his listeners should buy his book of ideas none of which will ever be tried is because the 13 colonies revolution was impossible too, but they did it.
I wonder where you got the above idea from ? (not really)

One difference Mark :They actually did it, your true believers will buy your book and that's about it, it will collect dust till they throw it out.

[Jacquerie]

The Leftists right now have ALL power in Washington.

[Jacquerie]

What do you think we do to reverse tyranny and restore freedom?

[GeronL]

Because we keep electing “lesser of 2 evils” and being shocked that we keep getting evil

[Count of Monte Fisto]

We can not expect the people currently in power to fix the problems that they themselves have created by design!

They would simply use a Convention to create more mayhem.

The only solution is to remove those currently in power and forever bar them from participating the political system.

[GeronL]

bump

It isn’t the Constitution that needs fixing

[sickoflibs]

RE :”What do you think we do to reverse tyranny and restore freedom?”

Duh, lets see. The way Dems imposed tyranny and removed freedom was to, ??? I remember: win elections and get power.

But How did they do that?

When Pelosi took over house in 2007 she didn't allow her lib members to :
1) Shut down the government
2) Try to impeach Bush.

But I know that's not in Levin's book. Listening to him one would think that's how they got the power they got to pass Obamacare.

[Jacquerie]

Thank you for sharing your feelings.

[sickoflibs]

Even better is when he compares shutting down the government for some unknown or undecided objective, to D-day 1944,.

He is great on the meaningless analogies.

[Billthedrill]

The Leftists right now have ALL power in Washington.

There is certainly an entrenched ruling class, yes, and it does tend to lean toward statism and collectivism, which is broadly left. Its occupants consider themselves centrists if they bother to think about it at all.

My concern is simply this: given how cavalierly they discard the clear directions within the Constitution as it stands, what would it take to force them to conform with it as it might be modified? Changing the rules only affects those who play by them. I don't actually have a position on that, just the question.

[GeronL]

Harry Reid/Obama shut down the government

[bestintxas]

38 is the magic #

38 states coming together can accomplish anything.

The can fire Obama, dissolve Congress, even abolish Supreme Court

[GeronL]

The leftists own the House and the Senate and the White House and the courts because people keep voting for the same old RINO incumbents

[mjp]

He says the only way to fix Washington is for the states to convene a Convention of the States and limit their power

Also

1) balanced budget amendment
2) 100% reserve gold standard
3) eliminate the Federal Reserve
4) repeal 16th and 17th amendments

[sickoflibs]

A more direct reply for same answer is to convince more Americans that what Dems are doing is bad for them and/or their families, so they will go out vote against it.

But that takes more than repeating 30 year old arguments to the choir, for 30 years.

[Publius]

Not exactly. Go to Post #21.

The states can propose amendments at an Amendments Convention do everything you suggested. But it would take 38 states to ratify those amendments to make the things you suggested happen. It's a three-step process. The convention merely proposes; it doesn't have ratification powers.

[ThomasMore]

Not only limit their power...but also TERM LIMITS. No more than 8 years. Moratorium on working for a someone/firm who donated to your campaign for 5 years.

The corruption has to end.