Posted on 04/22/2015 9:13:57 AM PDT by cotton1706
The state House defeated a resolution Tuesday that would have added Oklahoma to the list of states petitioning Congress for a convention to alter the U.S. Constitution.
Senate Joint Resolution 4, which failed 42-56, was intended to have the state participate in a convention that may propose “amendments to the United States Constitution that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the term of office for its officials and members of Congress.”
Rep. Gary Banz, R-Midwest City, said the imperative to balance the federal budget outweighs the numerous questions surrounding such a convention, which is permitted under Article 5 of the Constitution.
“This is perhaps one of the most significant votes you will take in the time you are here,” he said. “The opposition to this is focused heavily on the how questions at the expense of why we are using Article V of the Constitution to address one of the biggest problems we face as a nation. When you are knee deep in alligators it’s hard to remember your original purpose was to drain the swamp.”
Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, said a convention of states could alter the Constitution in dangerous ways. “Members, we are venturing on grounds that are uncertain,” he said. “There are many who believe this would be a runaway convention.”
The U.S. Constitution requires petitions from two-thirds of the states, or 34 of the 50, to call an Article 5 convention. About 25 have done so.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsok.com ...
ping
Oklahoma!? Wow, I’m shocked. I would have thought this was a slam dunk. Anyone have any local background on this?
The Senate had already passed it. My guess is that the powers that be are stepping in to defeat these resolutions as they have already in Virginia, North Dakota, etc.
“There are many who believe this would be a runaway convention.”
This is demagoguery by those invested in the status quo. The CoS can propose as many amendments as it wants but 3/4 of the states still have to ratify them.
I am also shocked by this news!
They seem like a pack of sniveling cowards to me.
The corrupt, citizen-elected Senate is the core problem with balancing the federal budget imo. And I suspect that Rep. Gary Banz doesn’t understand this.
The 17th Amendment needs to disappear.
very bad news indeed!
Article V ping.
Frankly it WILL be a runaway convention. All sorts of absurd and obnoxious amendments will be proposed and debated.
But, we are running out of options. And time.
The unfortunate truth is that there are more defenders of the status quo in modern America than there are patriotic conservatives, even in the republican party.
You mean like the runaway convention Bob Corker is holding in the senate right now?
Fixed it....
Also, this is an extremely dangerous tool. There is no restriction on what they can visit when a Concon is convened.
How would you like the first, second and 4th amendments revisited?
Its magical thinking to think that a constitutional convention would be a conservatives playground only.
Exactly, so remember when they come up for reelection just who voted for what..............
Very disappointing.
No matter what comes out of a CoS, the states have to ratify them, so this is just a preliminary process, at best..............Dangerous? No. Necessary? YES..............................
I want to hear the mechanism by which we totally dominate the concon, when we cannot win a presidential election, or remove Beohner, Mitchell, Manchin, Lindsey, etc.
Im all for it if we can dominate it somehow. That old Sun Tsu thing about winning the battle before it is fought, choosing where and when the battle will be.
I don’t want us to charge in and think we can debate our way to a conservative victory. It should not be left to chance.
I know Levin thinks it is achievable. Anyone know why he thinks conservative agendas would prevail in a concon? He has to have a solid line of reasoning.
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