You can call a convention if 38 states (3/4ths) call for it.
We had one. In the 1700s. There have been calls for another since then. In 1947, in the 1960s, 2011 there was a movement started as well.
Many states have called for an Article V convention (to control the budget).
I'm posting this, because I received this in the mail from a friend of mine; retired Chief Master Sergent. He's a good man, and stands firmly with me on "Gun Control" - that is, "gun control is hitting your target".
In 2000 he helped me form an organization called MinuteMan2000 - which was a short lived militia group (because we rapidly were infiltrated by everyone from Leftist assholes, to government spooks; talk about 'setting up a honeypot' LOL!)
So, I am sure he has gone through and thought this through.
This is what Mark Levine has been talking about--a constitutional convention by the states to get back to the laws of the Constitution.
This will take less than thirty seconds to read. If you agree, please pass it on. This is an idea that we need to address.
35 STATES SO FAR...AND GROWING
One message to forward!
Governors of 35 states have filed suit against the Federal Government for imposing unlawful burdens upon them. It only takes 38 (of the 50) States to convene a Constitutional Convention.
This will take less than thirty seconds to read. If you agree, please pass it on.
For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Their latest stunt is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform that they passed ... in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite ruling class that is above the law. I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop.
If each person that receives this will forward it on to 15 people, in three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one proposal that really should be passed around.
Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators, Representatives of Congress; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States..."
You are one of my original 15. Please keep this going.
Of course, I don't see this happening, and I'm not entirely sure these days I want anyone to start one, and certainly am not sure I WANT anything that might come out of one. After all, if we want an amendment to the Constitution, it can be done in other ways. But, I sure as hell don't want anyone to "represent" me. I'll represent MYSELF in this country. I can, I will and I have the duty and RIGHT to do so.
I won't vote for anyone to stand in my stead.
Any thoughts from the rest of you on a Constitutional Convention?
Libertatem Prius!
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I think I had posted some stuff on this in the "Will America Break Up?" thread but it's probably a good idea to have a thread dedicated solely to it.
As I posted there, I think an Article V Convention like Mark Levin has proposed is going to be the only thing short of secession and/or internal conflict that will be able to right this ship.
You mind if I add the "Article V Convention" part to the subject?
The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature passed a Convention of States Resolution, becoming the eleventh. Article V of the U.S. Constitution allows for a Convention of States to restrict the power of the federal government.
Texas State Representative Rick Miller (R-Sugar Land), one of the authors of the measure, told Breitbart Texas there were 12 other states in the country waiting to see what Texas was going to do. He says North Carolina is poised to be the next state to pass a resolution.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted after the House vote, “BOOM. Texas has now passed a Convention of States Resolution. Thank you Texas House for today’s vote. @COSProject #txlege”
BOOM. Texas has now passed a Convention of States Resolution. Thank you Texas House for today's vote. @COSProject#txlege
“This passage of SJR 2 (HJR 39) culminated over three years of hard work by 125 thousand Texas patriots. I am honored to have carried the House version. This passed resolution now puts Texas on the list of states approving this Article V effort to reign in the federal government. As the framers of the Constitution envisioned, the time is now to send this message to Congress. Many other states have been waiting on Texas to take the lead in getting this passed. It is a great day for Texas, for Texans, and for the United States of America.”
The Texas Senate passed the Senate Joint Resolution on February 28.
After amendment by Miller on Thursday, the resolution of the Texas House and Senate are now identical.
The resolution will be given to the Texas Secretary of State for forwarding to President Trump and both chambers of Congress. Although the Governor’s signature is not required, a simulated signing is anticipated next week.
Governor Abbott released a statement saying:
Today marks an important step toward restraining a runaway federal government and returning power back to the states and their respective citizens as our Founders intended. The Texas Legislature has heard and responded to the voices of those they represent, and I applaud the efforts of the Texas House to pass this important resolution. A call for a Convention of States reinforces Texas’ status as a champion of limited government and individual freedom, and I want to thank Reps. Rick Miller, Phil King, Drew Darby, Andy Murr, Chris Paddie, Larry Gonzales and Ken King for their work and commitment in passing this resolution.
Passing a resolution for a Convention of States was one of Governor Abbott’s emergency legislative priorities. During his State of the State address in January, Governor Abbott declared legislation supporting an Article V Convention of States to be an emergency item for the session. He told legislators and those gathered for his address, “For decades, the federal government has grown out of control. It has increasingly abandoned the Constitution, stiff-armed the states and ignored its citizens.”
“The passing of the Convention of States resolution, SJR2 is a testament to the power of American citizens armed with the Constitution and a determination. That if we stand together–We can restore the Constitution and state sovereignty. Thank you Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for your support and believing that our states are best when the power rests with the people. Passing the COS Resolution is a great day for Texas, as we became the eleventh state to pass.”
Wes Whisenhunt, of Temple, Texas, said, “It is appropriate that we passed the resolution on the National Day of prayer.”
The grassroots activists expressed their great pleasure after the vote in seeing their hard work come to fruition:
BREAKING NEWS! Moments ago, Texas successfully adopted our Article V legislation! Congratulations, COS Texas warriors!!! pic.twitter.com/N1h8W087Fc
Breitbart Texas reported in January 2016 that Abbott asked Texas to join other states in calling for an Article V Convention. The governor released a 100-page “Texas Plan” which he said “fixes this government run amok” and “returns lawmaking to the process enshrined in the Constitution.” His step-by-step roadmap sets out how “We the People” can go about adding new amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Abbott’s “Texas Plan” proposes adding nine amendments to the Constitution.
When he announced his support for Convention of States legislation during his speech early last year, Abbott said, “Our government was founded on the rule of law rather the caprice of man. That rule of law flows from our Constitution.” He charged, “That Constitutional foundations is now so often ignored that the founders would hardly recognize it.” “Until we fix that foundation by restoring the rule of law all the repairs we seek through the policies you propose will never lead to lasting solutions.” At that time he called the U.S. Supreme Court a co-conspirator in abandoning the Constitution.
Abbott’s plan addresses the concern of preventing a “runaway convention” by setting an agenda in advance. His solution to prevent that problem is detailed in the plan.
It takes two-thirds of the states to call a Convention of the States, and it requires 38 states to pass the measure.
When Democrats launched into a spontaneous chorus of "Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye" on the House floor after the passage of the American Health Care Act last month, it may have marked a modern-day low mark in open hostility on the House floor.
It and numerous other cultural barometers – from cable news contributors losing their cool, to contentious town halls, to street fights – are signaling tectonic rumblings in America's political health.
In 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr and former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton settled their bitter political feud with a pistol duel that took Hamilton’s life, but Article Five of the Constitution offers a more civilized resolution – a Convention of the States.
It is an option not exercised since before the signing of the Constitution. But it's gaining new strength and new adherents.
"It is the only process that is available to address what Washington is doing. Washington is not going to fix itself," said radio talk show host and author, Mark Levin.
In his book, The Liberty Amendments, Levin dissects the remedy of a Convention of the States. With 9 million listeners a day on radio and a devoted following that shows up by the thousands for his book signings, Levin has helped increase its popularity, and lent grass-roots energy to the Convention of States Project. It claims 2.8 million volunteers, and is expected to grow to 10 million by the end of this year, with district directors in every congressional district.
While 12 state legislatures, most recently Missouri, have already supported a convention of the states, that number is far short of the 34 states the Constitution requires before a convention can be called.
"If people who believe in liberty get behind this, I think we'll get our 34 states," says Levin. "If we get 15, 18, 20, 22 states, I think Washington is going to begin to shake. And Washington is going to understand that this process in the Constitution, it actually bypasses Washington, bypasses federal government." he says.
With Republicans in full control of 32 state houses, supporters believe a convention is within reach. They say its agenda would form around a set of core principles. Among them:
*requiring a balanced budget
*reducing the federal regulatory burden on the states
*restoring state sovereignty by eliminating federal mandates and grants
*and allowing a two-thirds majority of the states to override Supreme Court decisions, federal laws and regulations.
"I said on the Senate floor in 2006, there’s a rumble in our country. You just saw part of that rumble in the last election," says former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, R-OK, a supporter of a Convention of the States, whose book on the subject is set to be released soon. "The Founders added this to the Constitution because they recognized that never in history has a central government ceded power back to its people. So this is a safety check."
Coburn bluntly told a Congressional panel last year after his retirement: "America doesn’t trust you anymore. That’s the truth."
He told Fox News this week that Congress's inability to balance its checkbook is his single greatest concern.
"We have $144 trillion in debt and unfunded liabilities. For every taxpayer that is a million bucks," he said. "But for the millennials, it's $1.7 million each that they're going to have to come up with over the next 50 years."
Opponents fear that given the lack of overseeing authority, and the dearth of specificity in Article 5 about how such a convention would be governed, could lend itself to abuse by special interests, and the potential evisceration of hard-won legislative and court victories.
"Any Constitutional right could be up for grabs from freedom of speech, the 2nd amendment, the right to privacy to overturning Supreme Court cases around marriage equality and healthcare and abortion," Jay Riestenberg of Common Cause told Fox News.
They also fear a convention would be tilted heavily toward a conservative agenda, given how Congressional and state legislative districts have been carved in red states to heavily favor GOP incumbency.
But the Founders provided yet another safeguard against such overreach. They required 3/4's of the states, or 38, to ratify any Constitutional amendment passed in a convention of the states.
Constitutional Convention/Article V Convention
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