But the Constitution also provides a second, more populist path to amending the document …First I ever heard that states rights is populism. Also the first time I ever heard that the Constitution wrote crisis into itself; the only times we have had constitutional crises, the Supreme Court caused them IIRC.
Obama and the Democrats bankrupted us to support their phony economy. And the Republicans did nothing to stop them.
But the Constitution also provides a second, more populist path to amending the document. If two-thirds or 34 states pass a resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention …The Constitution does not provide for calling for a convention on itself. Mr. Durden is twisting the language here.
There’s a group that has been pushing for a convention for years. The downside as I understand it is lots of things in our constitution could be changed such as limiting our 2nd Amendment rights for instance. It sounds good because we could change something for the better like requiring a balanced budget every year which I like but other things we don’t want changed could also happen.
It’s very likely both sides would get something they want but neither side would walk away completely happy. If we could for sure get everything we want like spelling out the 2A so no state could limit it or prevent legal concealed carry for example; I’d be all for it but not at the expense of losing any 1A rights for example.
Congress will always tend to overspend. Overspending buys support which leads to votes. An amendment requiring a balanced budget is an amendment that requires tax increases.
I care more about putting a ceiling on what the government can spend than a balanced budget. A balanced budget doesn’t reduce the size of government it only increases taxes.
And if we’re going to have a States convention, even more importantly I want to see two amendment passed. One severely limiting the bureaucracies and regulations, and another doing away with the courts having the last say on interpreting the laws and constitution.
Also we must make it harder to pass new laws. We have more than enough laws, make it so every new law must have 60% of senate and house votes. Old laws can be eliminated with 50% vote.
Following the Constitution cannot be a “constitutional crisis”.
I live in Tennessee. This is the first I’ve heard about
this subject.
Somehow, I’m sure this will result in my property taxes increasing.
A balanced budget is a fine thing.
But what, exactly, does it mean. Who’s accountants will decide whether or not the budget is in balance? Dynamic scoring?
We the people will continue to be hosed until the size and scope of government are reduced.
> “The State Senate of Tennessee has laid the legislative groundwork for something that hasn’t been done in the United States of America since the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia. With a vote of 27-3, the Tennessee Senate has voted to call a “convention of the states” in order to draft and pass an amendment to the Constitution that would require balanced budgets to be passed every year.”
Some gross errors of understanding here.
1. The Convention of States is not a Constitutional Convention.
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was convened with an awareness that grew during the Convention that the Articles of Confederation needed a complete revamp. If one compares the AOC with the US Constitution, one can see a lot of the original provisions carried over. The Bill of Rights was added as 10 Amendments to memorialize rights as a condition of ratification.
2. The Convention of States OR Assembly of States is not a Convention or Assembly for a new constitution. It would take 3/4’s of states or 38 states to ratify an amendment to repeal the US Consitution, this is not going to happen.
3. The Convention of States is convened for the sole purpose of PROPOSING AMENDMENTS, no different than Congress can convene and propose amendments.
4. Whether States or Congress convene to propose an amendment, each has no authority to pass an amendment into the US Constitution directly. Making an amendment become formally and legally a part of the US Constitution will require 3/4’s of states or 38 states to ratify the amendment and send on the ratification resolutions of each state legislature or state conventions to the National Archives. Neither the President nor Governors have any role in the process.
Incidentally, this is why DC and PR should never be granted statehood. If PR were to be formally incorporated into the United States, it should become a group of counties of Florida.
Presently, conservatives control about 38 states and liberals control about 12.
The Convention/Assembly/Meeting of states is constitutional and must be memorialized, meaning recognized and recorded, by Congress.
The reason that amending the US Constitution allows for States in addition to Congress to make proposals, is because there are some things that Congress will fail to do on its own, whereas States will do things that Congress will not do.
Example: TERM LIMITS.
For those that are easily whipped up into a hysteria and fear that liberals will take over the Convention, ask yourself why have they not done this before? The answer is because they can’t!
In 1911 there were only 46 states. Two thirds was 31.
Article V ping!
where the hell were these guys 8 years ago??
We must take the federal govt ability to raise taxes which they use against the people, state balanced budgets would help, what is left over we could allocate as we will to the federal gmint thereby avoiding the mess we are now in..defang the gangstamint..
It would have to be done quickly, while the GOP holds more than enough states to prevail at such a convention.
However, I am not sure of what can restrain such a convention from straying from singular purpose it might be called for, and then we are off into the unknown.
WE HAVE A BUDGET SURPLUS! RINO gov halsam want’s a damn gas tax raise. Our state gas tax is already higher than the federal gas tax. We are required to balance the budget yearly. TN is Open Carry State. NO INCOME TAX only a sales tax and what the call a Halls Income Tax on high investments. Rest is just sales tax.
Tenncare has been the biggest budget buster since it’s inception, and haslam wanting to import more refugees is going to make it worse. Tenncare has been downsized 4 times already due to cost over runs to the state budget.
This is BS FAKE NEWS.
Article V ping.
The article is incorrect. Georgia laid the basis for a convention of the states, and Tennessee was just one of 7 states that applied using Georgia's application language. As of today, there are 8 states that have applied for a convention to address term limits, a balanced budget and the restoration of federalism: AL, AK, FL, GA, IN, LA, OK, TN.
I apologize for the late flagging of this article and the extremely active thread that it has generated. I hit the hay early last night.
OK, folks. Let’s talk numbers and sense, here. I understand that this can sound scary, but since 3/4 of the states have to ratify ANYTHING that comes out of such a Convention of States, a grand total of THIRTEEN STATES CAN KILL ANYTHING THAT COMES FROM THIS PROCESS.
If we can’t count on at least 13 state legislatures to kill something stupid and/or dangerous, it’s way past time to pull the pin on the second amendment, anyway. And nobody wants that.
I say, call the amendment convention.
If you’re in a state that hasn’t already called for a Convention, contact your legislators.