My opposition is this ... a Constitutional Convention puts EVERYTHING on the table for discussion. Want to re-write that pesky right to bear arms ... no problemo. Want to eliminate checks and balances ... easy peasy. Want to pack the supreme court ... go for it. Want to change America from a Republic to a Democracy, a Monarchy or a Dictatorship? You got the power baby! Everything ... and I mean everything from the Bill of Rights to each Amendment in the constitution gets to be RE-WRITTEN. People pushing this cr*p are the spawn of Satan because it literally would be the end of America.
Now, just who do you think would actually be at the convention and be allowed to vote? Can you guarantee that you can give me a majority of delegates that would actually stand up for America and not be socialists in disguise? ... Would it be you or me voting? Hell no! It would be the morons that got us into this mess in the first place ... and we would be taking off what little leash we have on them and telling them to do the right thing. Only a complete idiot would sign up for that ...
Proposal:
There are two ways to propose an amendment to the Constitution.
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:
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:
Implicitly forbidden:
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
If you wish to learn, I can provide some links to my posts on the subject. They are rooted in the federal convention, the federalist papers, and state ratification debates.
If the arithmetic lies and we have a convention which seeks to pack the Supreme Court as you fear, there is no constitutional prohibition against doing so now. If the left wants to repeal the Bill of Rights they have as much access today the amendment process as we do and to believe that they will not use it if they see a clear chance is naïve. So for conservatives to implement Article V in no way empowers the left to the degree to which they are not already empowered.
Who do I think will be at the convention? Some pretty bad actors but they will be different actors for the most part than those who hold center stage in Washington. Therefore they might not be more noble but their corruption will be different. That is the essence behind the basic constitutional principle of separation of powers. We do not seek salvation in politics through a Messiah-we leave it to the Democrats to find one every season- but through the system.
Finally, I ask you to consider the cost of inaction and in that context I invite your attention to a post I usually introduce at this point in the discussion:
Nathan Bedford's first Maxim of the American Constitution:
The Constitution has become so distorted in interpretation and application that it has become at best ineffective in protecting liberty and at worst an instrument inflicting tyranny.
Nathan Bedford's second Maxim of the American Constitution:
The American Constitution is being amended everyday without the consent of the governed.
In order to believe that a Convention of the States presents a greater threat to liberty than our current state of politics one must believe:
1. The Constitution is not being amended by three women in black robes +1 liberal in black robes +1 swing vote on a case by case basis.
2. The Constitution is not being amended at the caprice of the president by executive order.
3. The Constitution is not being amended at the caprice of the president when he chooses which laws he will "faithfully" execute.
4. The Constitution is not being amended daily by regulation done by an unaccountable bureaucracy.
5. The Constitution is not being amended by simply being ignored.
6. The Constitution is not being amended by international treaty.
7. The Constitution is not being amended by Executive Order creating treaty powers depriving citizens of liberty as codified in the Bill of Rights.
8. The Constitution is not being amended by international bureaucracies such as, UN, GATT, World Bank, etc.
9. The Constitution is not being amended by the Federal Reserve Bank without reference to the will of the people.
10. The federal government under our current "constitutional" regime has suddenly become capable of reforming itself, balancing the budget and containing the debt.
11. The national debt of the United States is sustainable and will not cause the American constitutional system and our economy to crash and with them our representative democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution, such as it is, itself.
12. The Republican Party, presuming it gains a majority in the House and the Senate and gains the White House, will now do what is failed to do even under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and balance the budget, reduce the debt, stop regulating, reform the tax system, end crony capitalism, appoint judges who will not betray us and, finally, listen to the people.
13. That a runaway Convention of the States will occur, that it will persuade the delegates from conservative states, that it will be ratified by three quarters of the states' legislatures among whom conservatives control with a supermajority, and the end result will somehow be worse than what we have now.
14. If we do nothing everything will be fine; if we keep doing what we have been doing everything will be fine; we have all the time in the world.
What is under discussion is an Article V Convention. This is NOT a "Constitutional Convention".
And given the astronomical number of times this has been explained it's really difficult to comprehend how we still see posts like yours. It's as if you walked in on the middle of a conversation and made some pretty embarrassing assumptions about what the conversation was about.
On the other hand you may know very well that you are spewing crap and are doing it with a purpose.
Finally, after building your fictitious straw man you dispense with it with the remark, "only a complete idiot would sign up for that". Fortunately "that" is a bunch of crap that exists only in your fevered mind, and that no one is asked to "sign up" for any such thing.
There’s a difference between a Constitutional Convention...and what Levin is speaking here reguarding a “State” Convention....
Everything that you’ve posited here is either the product of a massive misinformation campaign to which you have fallen victim, or are deliberate lies.
Most of us here know better.
If you had even a clue as to what you’re talking about, you’d be embarrassed to toss such a load of bunk out there and expect anyone to buy it.
We are NOT morons. You? I dunno.