This menacing idea had the backing of a number of leading “conservatives” around the country.
But it’s also backed by a large number of socialists as well.
That’s why George Soros is all smiles now that misguided “conservatives” are renewing a push for this dangerous scheme.
So-called conservative lawmakers around the country have decided that rather than win elections, they will instead mount a new push to call a constitutional convention (Con-Con) to get a balanced budget amendment and term limits for members of Congress.
This misguided and very dangerous effort is their attempt to rein in what they see as a runaway federal government.
State legislators met at the American Legislative Exchange Council’s policy conference and hope to use Article V of the Constitution for their purposes.
Article V allows state legislatures to call a convention to propose new amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
At least two-thirds of the 50 states must pass a call to force a convention; so far, just 15 states have passed the legislation proposed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
These bills have passed at least one chamber in another nine states and have been introduced in at least 17 states. The 15 states that have passed measures so far all have Republican-controlled legislatures and Republican governors.
Passage in two-thirds of the states is just the first hurdle.
Once the required number of states have approved the call to a convention, Congress must set the initial rules.
Article V then says any proposed amendments passed out of the convention would then have to be ratified by three-quarters of the states to take effect.
But these so-called “conservative” leaders pushing this dangerous scheme ignore the pitfalls and dangers.
The pitfalls and dangers have people like George Soros and other socialist billionaires frothing at the mouth at the possibility of an Article V Convention.
Because nothing in Article V’s 143 words about a convention describe or explain the actual process by which a convention would be run or who the delegates would be, who meets, and who votes on potential amendments.
In fact, even the founding document’s requirement that any new amendments be ratified by three-quarters of the states was a requirement the last constitutional convention ignored completely.
The simple fact is, Congress can make whatever rules it wants for the convention, the same Congress supporters of a Con-Con claim is out of control and out of touch.
The convention can then throw all of the rules established by Congress in the trash can, which is exactly what the 1787 convention in Philadelphia did.
Simply put, there is no guarantee, nor any force of law that will require the convention to follow the ratification procedures.
And there is no reason to believe the delegates to the convention will be anyone other than the handpicked choices of the GOP and Democrat establishments.
Meaning a convention run by the very same people who refuse to act on a balanced budget now.
Even more frightening is the fact that state calls for a Con-Con don’t necessarily need to be limited to just a balanced budget and term limits.
In fact, other state calls have already passed including items such as limiting Congress’s ability to levy taxes, repealing the 2nd Amendment, pro-life and pro-abortion language, the ERA, and a host of other issues.
Five Democrat states — California, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont — have approved convention calls for campaign finance reform.
Soros and the socialist activists want to put all of these into one package and claim that combined they are only a few states away from the number needed to call for a convention.
The so-called “conservative” supporters of the Con-Con say they aren’t concerned about a runaway convention. They believe that simply means nothing would pass the states.
In other words, to the Con-Con supporters, the best-case scenario is it’s all just a big waste of time.