> “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!
“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.”
It also demonstrates and recognizes the fact that the people — via the states — ARE the government. I think that is implied in the comment but I want it to be clear to everyone reading this. The Founding Fathers truly were brilliant.