“We are going to save this country. Never underestimate the resilience of the Sleeping Giant.”
-Bogie
That quote is from a good friend of mine and I took it from a recent conversation I had with him over the phone about the current state of the country. The statement was so powerful to me that I asked him on the spot if I could use it. He’s right, ya know. This country still has a lot exceptional people residing within it’s borders.
In this article I will list some questions and answers about a convention of states. They seem to be common questions most people have and they may be questions you may have. I certainly had a lot of questions when I first discovered this method of amending the Constitution and I intend to help others with their understanding of the process. So let’s begin.
Question: Why do we need to amend the Constitution?
Answer: We need to amend the Constitution to bring power back to the States so that unelected bureaucrats can no longer make sweeping decisions that impact millions of Americans.
Question: How many states does it take to call a convention?
Answer: It takes 34 States to call a convention.
Question: How many States does it take to ratify an amendment?
Answer: It takes 38 States to ratify an amendment to the Constitution.
Question: Is this legal?
Answer: Yes, Article V of the U.S. Constitution gives the States the power to call a convention to propose amendments to the Constitution.
What if they try to rewrite the Constitution? Is this Safe?
Answer: There are multiple safeguards built into the process such as the recalling of delegates from the convention and the adoption of rules for order during the convention. However, the ultimate safeguard lies within the States themselves. 38 States would be required to ratify anything coming out of the convention and they simply wouldn’t ratify a completely new Constitution with this convention. Public support simply isn’t there.
Question: Congress doesn’t follow the Constitution now, why would they follow this?
Answer: Congress actually does follow the Constitution, but it also follows the massive amount of case law handed down from The Judicial Branch, which appointed itself the power of Judicial Review. This can be directly addressed through the amendment process.
Question: Is the Convention of States Project against the Second Amendment?
Answer: No, no the Convention of States Project is not against the Second Amendment but rather the opposite is true. The Convention of States supports the Second Amendment.
It is important for me to emphasize that the Article V convention process is no less dangerous than having Congress propose Amendments. I believe it is actually safer because the wording of the text of the amendments is written by the delegates sent from the states. In many cases these people may be current or former state legislators from the states themselves. Many will have the experience of writing legislation or they will have a good enough knowledge of the process to be effective as delegates. Congress on the other hand isn’t proposing any amendments to fix our nation’s problems, let alone itself. Gee, why is that?
After a convention, the delegates will return home where they live among us. The amendment(s) will then be sent to the legislatures for ratification. This means that engaged people such as you and me will have the chance to call our local representatives to discuss any proposed amendments. So as you see, all roads lead back to the informed and engaged citizen. This is why it is absolutely imperative to inform yourself about a great multitude of subjects, including the Article V amendment convention process. At it’s very core is the principle of citizen self governance.
Those of us who are informed and engaged know that something is wrong. We know that something needs to change. In a recent Rasmussen Poll, only “23% of Likely, U.S. Voters think the country is headed in the right direction.” The link to that poll can be found here: https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/top_stories/right_direction_wrong_track_jun13
There are a lot of different ways to interpret or lie with polls, so I’ll leave it to you to interpret that one. We have all of the tools we need to fix the problem and now is the time to use them.
Please visit https://conventionofstates.com/
to sign the petition and to volunteer.
Another very well written article.