There are 26 states that went for Obama in 2012. You would need 10 of them to agree to an Article V convention and 14 of them to ratify any amendments coming out of it. Good luck with that.
1. The current problem is not the Constitution, it is the willingness to defy the Constitution. How will changing the Constitution help?
2. A Article V convention is a pandora’s box. The Left would love to rewrite the Constitution, so that they could start being Constitutionally correct. Their rewrites will be a long list of group rights and a short list of individual right repeals.
The Electoral College has 538 electors.
Some of the states that reliably vote Democrat include:
California: 55
New York: 23
Illinois: 20
New Jersey: 14
Washington: 12
Massachusetts: 11
Maryland: 10
Total: 145
Number to elect president: 269
Percent of electoral votes of the above states = 145/269 = 53%.
Percent of electoral votes to elect a president represented by California and New York: 78/269 = 28.9%.
Should the States hold a convention to consider amendments to the Constitution as proposed by Mark Levin, the present Constitution requires 2/3 (66.67%) of the states to ratify such amendments.
Number of states required to ratify any amendments proposed by a Constitutional Convention: 34. Number of States required to block an amendment: 16 (33%)
Now compare the disproportion here. The mathematical reality that I want to point out is that in the setting of ratification of any proposed amendment to the Constitution, each state only has one vote irrespective of its size, population or the percent of voters who reliably vote for Democrats.
Since it is the states who have fewer electoral votes who tend to vote Republican, they suffer in the weighting scheme of the Electoral College, but that advantage is reversed when it comes to ratifying a Constitutional amendment.
In short, it now may be far easier to pass a well-debated amendment than to elect a Republican for president.
Several people including Mark Levin and Randy Barnett have suggested and advocated ways to amend the Constitution to repair the relationship that the federal government has with the States and the People. We have the opportunity to redefine the federal government in a peaceful way in order to stop such outrages.
As government expands, private liberty and decisionmaking must retreat. We have allowed government to create a self-funding, privately owned monster and given it the power to create near infinite amounts of money and debt by which to enable near-infinite government. We now give it power to continually monitor every time we spend our money, and now they are even monitoring what we spend it on. Our founding fathers did not debate and ratify a Fourth Amendment so government could be our Big Brother. No, quite the opposite.
Up until now, many have feared that calling for a Convention to amend the Constitution carried a greater risk to our rights than the status quo. By now it should be clear that the trajectory of government is chilling and wise people will see that we must return it to its proper cage and chains before we no longer have the means to do so.
Been calling for it for years now. Nice to see some finally waking up.
Brilliant. Power wants power and will seek it out. Pit the state legislatures which chafe under unfunded federal mandates against the overreach of the executive branch and you have a political winner. Well done.
The other part of this tiger is keeping a narrow focus. Repeal the 17th and a lot comes together for everyone and over time. No need for a revolution when liberty will evolve naturally. We’ll have to watch out for an Internet tax from a newly empowered Senate, but a House can stymie that.
The real risk is the push back you’ll get from the Left. They’ll call it undemocratic and a step backward once they see how their power in DC will be undermined. You’ll also have a stealth fight via the K Street crowd and every crony capitalist. What are the arguments you’ve seen countering the charge that this is a step backward? What kind of education do the voting public have (we can ignore those that don’t vote)?
I left this post at the site too:
I assume the author is referring to the IN law limiting the delegates ability to alter the amendments prescribed by the legislature?
This legislation was an assurance to not just the opponents of an Article V session would not result in chaos, but for themselves to maintain control of the outcome.
As this is a new procedure, the state legislators are stepping timidly to insure complete control. They understand that this effort must be able to withstand attacks of all opponents in the future.
Consider that complete control will guarantee that multiple versions of an amendment are not crafted. Exiting the session with multiple version will create the exact havoc the author describes.
This may be a one time shot and I do not blame legislators for wanting to get it right from the start.
In fact, Mr. Berry’s suggestion to not place clear limits on the delegates could create more trouble than actually doing so.
I like and commend the legislators for the clear, cautious and controlled path currently being created.
A constitutional convention would be an unmitigated disaster. The American people have been stupid enough to elect Obama. Twice. I therefore have little faith in their mental abilities. I can see “freedom of religion,” “freedom of speech,” and the 2A going right out the window if our feckless leaders get their mitts on them and whip the sheeple into an emotional frenzy.
The Constitution as written ain’t the problem. The problem is the gubmint don’t pay any attention to it. There’s no constitutional authority for ANY of the socialist programs that have driven us into bankruptcy.
So putting more amendments on the document, that they’ll ignore as well, won’t be helpful. Not to mention all the “corrections” they’ll insist upon when provided this golden opportunity.
Fantastic article!
Thank you for posting this interesting article, and carefully shepherding this thread in such a level headed way. If you have a ping list for this topic, please add me to it.
Gopherit