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> This would be their golden opportunity to transform us into the USSR or Venezuela

As explained in a previous post to another individual who appears to have allowed fear rather than reason shape his judgement, the reason for calling the convention in the first place is not to address what the government CAN do, but to address what the government can NOT do.

The subject of the convention is specifically limited to proposing amendments that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, that limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and that limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress. Any proposal by any delegate that would fall outside of these parameters would be declared by the chairman of the convention to be “void ab initio,” or dead on arrival, and there would be no further discussion of the matter.

Secondly, delegates to the convention will be selected by the various state legislatures. If you look at the numbers of Red state legislatures (26) versus Blue state legislatures (18)*, conservatives have a sizeable majority, and one that only stands to increase in the upcoming election, both in state governorships and chambers of the legislature controlled by conservatives.

Certainly there will be states like California, New York and Illinois that will send extremists, but it’s a one-state, one-vote system. Even if the liberal delegates were somehow able to approach the number of conservative delegates, no leftist proposal can be passed inside the convention without a 2/3 vote of the states, and that just isn’t mathematically possible.

Lastly, after the Convention of States has done its work and adjourns, nothing will have been changed. Nothing. All that will have happened is that a bill of proposed amendments, similar in process to the first ten original amendments - our Bill of Rights - will have been submitted to Congress, which then must in turn send them back out to the legislatures of the several states for ratification, either by convention or a vote of the legislature.

Again, math is our friend here. Article V of the Constitution requires that 75% of the states ratify any proposed amendment before it becomes the Supreme Law of the Land, which also means that it would take only 13 states to kill any hair-brained proposal that might have somehow managed to slip through. Remember, the proposed amendments must stand or fall as written - no state can make any changes, not even a single letter. If the states can’t agree in the numbers required, the proposal fails for lack of support.

The bottom line is that there are multiple levels of safeguards in place to prevent a “runaway” convention - we have nothing to fear from those who would “hijack” the process. What we DO have to fear is our current runaway federal government, and what will most certainly happen to our Constitution if we do nothing.

PS: There is one other aspect to all of this that bears mentioning. Even if this effort were to ultimately fail, either because the convention delegates are not able to agree on even one proposed amendment, or even worse, if we fail to muster enough states to force Congress to call for the convention in the first place, just the very fact that the people out here are fed up enough with the status quo to rise up, independent of Congress, and actually make an attempt at taking back the reins of power just might be enough to get their attention back east, to get Congress to change its ways… maybe just a little.

I read recently that it was the threat of a convention of states back in the early 1900s that drove Congress to enact the 17th Amendment, the direct election of senators. Now, whether or not that idea worked out as planned is another matter altogether, but you get the point. At this stage of the game, even if they only change a little, every little bit helps… at the very least, until we try it again!

* Source: https://www.statescape.com/resources/partysplits/partysplits.aspx