Posted on 10/02/2017 1:19:11 PM PDT by Jacquerie
THE I’s had been dotted; the T’s were crossed. The 55 delegates to America’s first and so-far-only constitutional convention had hammered out compromises on the separation of powers, apportionment of seats in the legislature and the future of the slave trade. But on September 15th 1787 George Mason, a plantation owner from Virginia, rose to his feet to object.
Article V of the draft text laid out two paths by which future amendments could be proposed. Congress could either propose them itself, or it could summon a convention of representatives from the states to propose them. Mason warned that if the federal government were to become oppressive, Congress would be unlikely to call a convention to correct matters. To protect the people’s freedom, he argued, convening power should instead be vested in the states. Should two-thirds of their legislatures call for a convention, Congress would have to accede to their demand: a convention they should have.
The constitution was signed two days later, with Article V changed as Mason had suggested. Since then 33 amendments have been proposed, with 27 subsequently ratified, a process which requires approval in three-quarters of the states (see chart 1). Whether the issue was great (abolishing slavery) or small (changing the date of presidential inaugurations), all 33 of the proposals came from Congress. Mason’s mechanism for change driven by state legislatures has never been used. Even politically informed Americans often have no idea it exists.
That could soon change. In recent years the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force (BBATF)—a shoestring group that received just $43,000 in donations in 2015—has been campaigning with great success for such an “Article V” convention. There are now 27 states in which the legislatures have passed resolutions calling for a convention that would propose a balanced-budget amendment . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
Dang, you’re not only a sniper but a liar.
Go away, you’re wasting my time.
Don’t mean to pick your cotton, but what would be the immediate effects of repealing the 13th and 14th? I trust you have thought this one through.
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