Convention Of States Halfway There
By Bob Small
Article V of the US Constitution says that a convention may be called on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States for proposing Amendments, which, . . . shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by Conventions in three fourths thereof.
This is the alternative to way that starts in Congress, and has not been used since 1787.
Now my radical friend, Scott of Vermont, sent me an article showing that West Virginia, on March 3, became the 17th state to pass a Convention of States (COS), meaning that half of the necessary 34 States now support it.
As to how a COS might work, Rob Natelson gives a good summary.
A planning session for a true Article V convention was held in 2017in Phoenix.
Hillary Clinton attacked, which means it should probably have been supported. What happened at the 2017 session can be found here.
Though the 2022 proposal has not yet passed the Pennsylvania Legislature, one notable Pennsylvanian, former Senator Rick Santorum is actively stumping for it “We’re at the time in America where we have to break the glass and pull the cord that says “pull here in case of emergency,” he said. “I think we have to come to that collective realization, that things are not going to get better doing what we have been doing”. This is from a speech at The National Religious Broadcasters Meeting, where he went on to say that we were seeing “authoritanism that we never saw before. We’re seeing it from both parties.”
The Convention of States website lists 64 percent of Pennsylvania voters supporting a convention.
There is conservative opposition, though, well summed up by The Freedom First Society.
Among the possible topics to be discussed would be congressional and Supreme Court term limits both of which are attractive to both left and right.
In the meantime, there is a bill slowly winding it’s way through the Pennsylvania Senate that would “allow voters to call for limited constitutional conventions for government reform”, regarding the Pennsylvania Constitution.
More on that in a future post.
