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To: Vaquero

I could not agree with you more, well stated!

A constitutional convention will give the left the opportunity to rewrite the most basic law of our nation exactly the way they want it and the GOP will just play dead for fear of being scolded by the media or losing their privileged status in the beltway.

The Constitution is like any other good law, you cannot rewrite it to get people to obey it, it needs to be enforced just as written.


14 posted on 03/20/2015 7:12:24 AM PDT by redfreedom (All it takes for evil to win is for good people to do nothing - that's how the left took over.)
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To: 5thGenTexan; AllAmericanGirl44; Amagi; Art in Idaho; Arthur Wildfire! March; Arthur McGowan; ...

15 posted on 03/20/2015 10:36:40 AM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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To: redfreedom; Vaquero
It's not a constitutional convention. It's a convention for proposing amendments and nothing more. Here is the usual boilerplate I post to these threads for the uninformed.

***

The amendatory process under Article V consists of three steps: Proposal, Disposal, and Ratification.

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

16 posted on 03/20/2015 10:38:36 AM PDT by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius now available at Amazon.)
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