Search This Blog

De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Did Michigan just trigger 'constitutional convention'? Bid gains steam

By April 02, 2014

Momentum is building behind what would be an unprecedented effort to amend the U.S. Constitution, through a little-known provision that gives states rather than Congress the power to initiate changes.

At issue is what's known as a "constitutional convention," a scenario tucked into Article V of the U.S. Constitution. At its core, Article V provides two ways for amendments to be proposed. The first – which has been used for all 27 amendment to date – requires two-thirds of both the House and Senate to approve a resolution, before sending it to the states for ratification. The Founding Fathers, though, devised an alternative way which says if two-thirds of state legislatures demand a meeting, Congress “shall call a convention for proposing amendments.”

The idea has gained popularity among constitutional scholars in recent years -- but got a big boost last week when Michigan lawmakers endorsed it.   Michigan matters, because by some counts it was the 34th state to do so. That makes two-thirds.

In the wake of the vote, California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter pressed House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday to determine whether the states just crossed the threshold for this kind of convention. Like Michigan lawmakers, Hunter's interest in the matter stems from a desire to push a balanced-budget amendment -- something that could potentially be done at a constitutional convention…..To Read More….

My Take - This all sounds good, but if all they're going to ask for is a balanced budget amendment it will all be for naught, because Congress and the President have always found way around this. The progressives always understood that if they wanted to destroy the Constitution (both Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were subscribers to be belief in l'état, c'est moi - I am the state – and yet believed the Constitution was an impediment to human progress) and takeover government it could only be possible if they could get as much money as they wanted and destroyed states rights, thus they promoted the 16th and 17th amendments.   

In the spring of 1913 the 16th and 17 amendments were passed giving them the foundational tools they needed to fulfill their progressive (socialist) vision.  If those two foundational tools of the left aren't repealed nothing will be fixed.

No comments:

Post a Comment