The outcome of an Article V convention will be determined by those who are chosen by the state legislatures to represent the states. Will they be virtuous people who understand history, philosophy, western civilization, and human nature? Will they be individuals with high morals and faith in God? Will they be visionaries who care about the future of their communities? Or will the convention be comprised of corrupt political insiders, retired politicians (Illinois sends Barack Obama for example), academic “experts”, and people chosen specifically to add diversity? My state legislature is not comprised of men and women with the intellectual caliber of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James Madison, John Adams or George Mason and I cannot see the legislature identifying and appointing great men and women who believe in limited government and individual liberty.
Will Kentucky send Rand Paul or someone Mitch McConnell and the good old boys choose in a back room? There is no way California will send a Victor Davis Hanson. More likely someone like Gavin Newsome, Willie Brown, Kamala Harris, or a radical university president. Bill DeBlasio would love to represent New York as would AOC.
The people at an Article V convention will at best be representative of the people we currently send to Congress and our state legislatures. The left will use every tactic in its playbook to control the majority of people chosen to attend, the rules of the convention, and the leadership of the convention. If they can’t dominate the convention they will do everything possible to disrupt the proceedings and prevent it from doing anything to reign in the power of big government.
The problem with governance in the US today is not the Constitution. It is the people we elect to represent us who choose not to follow the Constitution. Any piece of paper describing the contract between the government and the governed is only as good as the people of the nation and their elected representatives. How many voters today have read the current Constitution, from beginning to end, even once in their lives?
Therein is the problem. At least a third of the people today do not really care who governs them and how they are governed. At least a third of the people want more government and another third want less. A similar situation existed in 1776 where 1/3 wanted freedom, 1/3 were loyal to the king, and 1/3 were indifferent. Conservative are not a majority in the US today and neither are the leftists. Whichever side dominates an Article V convention will replace or dramatically change the current Constitution. Do you trust the legislatures of the 50 states to pick delegates wisely? In 1860-61 a number of unhappy states did not and chose secession over an Article V convention to resolve issues of governance.
Our big difference is that I have no trust of the system. That’s not enough to put our nation’s future at full-risk. Too much can go far too wrong.
Now, what good does it do to change something we don’t follow in the first place?
The Article V convention is the political version of a time share. Sounds great! But...