Amendments Convention; Convention of the States; and/or Article V Convention
A GRIDLOCK OF FACT AND FICTION
A Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) is just that, regardless the various softened names it has recently been given. The call for a Con-Con is on the march throughout this country; it is armed and it is dangerous.
Its arms: Fabrications, confusing language, legal 'terms of art', and outright lies by advocates manipulating the current fast-paced movement by legislators.
Its danger: In today's economic climate states are broke; legislators are frantic, panicking and grasping at straws. They've been lulled and seduced into believing every deceitful lie they've been told, and are now rushing to get resolutions passed so they can "fix" the problem.
Their solution? An "Article V Amendment Convention (Con-Con) to add a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. . . or is it their solution?
Legislators know and admit that most officials in all branches of government pay no attention to the Constitution. In fact, today we could say the U.S. Government and Congress have trampled the Constitution, ignoring the Bill of Rights at every turn.
How, then, can any state legislator convince him/her self that a balanced budget amendment would be treated any differently?
We discover that "the fix" is being promulgated - again - by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a non-partisan membership organization boasting a membership of over 2,000 conservative state legislators. To set the fix, a 43 page handbook, titled: "Proposing Constitutional Amendments by a Convention of the States", was provided to their mostly-republican members, along with model legislation to carry back to their states. http://www.alec.org/docs/ArticleVHandbook.pdf
Reading the Handbook is like watching mainstream news: disinformation, spin and lies at every turn. However it gives us an understanding as to how the legislators are being harangued, goaded and shamed into taking this action. From the Handbook: (emphasis on this and following quotes are ours)
"...despite recurrent hopeful talk about how Congress might adopt a BBA [balanced budget amendment] or other corrective amendments on its own, history suggests reformers cannot depend on that. The states must do the job, as our Founders expected them to do." p 7"... thus far the states have never exercised their corresponding power to correct federal abuses. As a result, the constitutional design has become unbalanced." p 7"Move fast. America is in serious trouble; don’t be sidetracked by alarmism or by hope that Congress may propose an amendment limiting its own power. History shows this is unlikely." p 21
State legislators believe that they will have complete control over the process, electing delegates and managing the Convention. Here's why they believe it:
"Ron Natelson [author of the Handbook] encourages legislators to promote the right amendments, use the right amount of specificity, and keep the process within the states' control." p iv"The convention is a deliberative body whose members answer to the state legislatures they represent." p 9"Retain state control over the convention. (their emphasis) State legislators applying for a convention must send a clear message to Congress that this procedure is within the control of the states. Congress' obligations are to count the applications, call the convention on the states' behalf, and choose a mode of ratification. Those are the prerogatives of the state legislatures and of the convention delegates responsible to the state legislatures." p 21
FACT: There is no provision in Article V empowering state legislators to choose the delegates to a Constitutional Convention or to "limit" the scope of a Con-Con. There are no rules, no regulations nor instructions.
Some of the resolutions we've seen are calling for a Con-Con. However, many legislators who've taken the bait, insist that they are "not applying for a constitutional convention; it's an Article V Amendments Convention! ".
". ... also corrects common myths about the procedure ... the foremost of which is that the convention authorized by Article V is a "constitutional convention". p 6
"Other acceptable names for a convention for proposing amendments are amendments convention, convention of the states, and Article V convention. (For reasons explained in section II it is inaccurate and misleading to call a convention for proposing amendments a "constitutional convention") p 7
Natelson states that the amendment convention is not an assembly with...
"... wide authority, such as one charged with drafting or adopting a Constitution. Thus, it is simply incorrect to refer to a convention for proposing amendments as a 'Constitutional Convention'. They are different creatures entirely" [footnote] 4
The source to which his 4th footnote refers is the book Natelson himself wrote! He quotes himself. Maybe Natelson is the only constitutional expert who conjured up this notion.
Fact: There has never been a convention "charged with drafting or adopting a constitution"; for 225 years every amendment to the Constitution originated in Congress, then went to the states for ratification.
Section V consists of two pages attempting to prove The Myth of a Runaway Convention. None of it holds water because it can't be proven. In bold letters, he writes:
"The runaway convention scenario was conjured up in the 19th century to dissuade state lawmakers from bypassing Congress through the state application and convention process." [conjured: 'cause to appear as if by magic']
"Advocates of the runaway scenario . . . argue that the 1787 Constitutional Convention disregarded its instructions. Unfortunately for their position, the widespread claim that the 1787 Constitutional Convention disregarded its instructions is substantially false (see Appendix C)." p 18
When we go to Appendix C. the Q. & A. section, we find this:
Q 23. Isn’t it true that the 1787 Constitutional Convention was a “runaway” - that Congress convened it under the Articles of Confederation only to propose amendments to the Articles, but it ended up drafting an entirely new Constitution?
A. The truth is quite to the contrary: Most delegates had full authority to recommend a new Constitution. [see footnote] 22)
Here we find an interesting twist. First, the question is true. It was a runaway convention. The answer is an outright lie.
Secondly, he sent his readers in a circle. He makes a false statement on page 18, refers to Appendix (C), Appendix (C) refers to footnote '22' which once again refers to his own book as the source of information. One reader called it incestuous.
The advocates are offering false assurances that a convention can be limited to a single subject and that it will not, CAN NOT become a runaway convention. The truth is, they have no way of proving such a claim. There is no historical evidence to prove it because since the drafting and ratification of the Constitution there has never, ever been a Constitutional Convention called. All 27 amendments have been proposed by Congress and ratified by the states. Why? Because the dangers of a repeat of the 1787 Conference of States are too well known.
The Continental Congress, as well as the respective states of the attending delegates to that conference, gave strict instructions that they were only to "amend the Articles of Confederation".
Fifty-five men gathered in a 40' x 40' room at street level, where passers-by could hear the debates. To prevent that possibility, they locked the doors and nailed the windows shut, debating in secret. This took place from May thru September, the muggiest months of the year in sweltering Philadelphia. Ignoring both the Continental Congress and their respective states' instruction, when all delegates were present they commenced to form a committee of the whole, took a vote, and it was done. George Washington rapped his gavel and pronounced the Articles of Confederation "hereby dissolved" (or words to that effect one would imagine). The free-for-all began.
And it could happen again, just like that! The irony here is that Ron Natelson, the author of the Handbook, who's convinced hundreds of state legislators that there is no risk, that they can control the convention, choose the delegates and fix the economy by calling for a Con-Con - this same Ron Natelson has admitted in writing that:
* "Of course, abuses of the Article V amendment processes are possible."
Abuses such as throwing off the shackles of their instructions to amend the U.S. Constitution? Bringing forth a new constitution already mapped? Yes. He went on to say that "the possibility must be viewed against the clear and present danger to individual rights and freedom of doing nothing." In other words, go for it and let's see what happens!
* From Natelson's book, "Amending the Constitution by Convention: A Complete View of the Founders' Plan", p 2. Quoted in a "Position on an Article V Federal Constitutional Amendment Convention", by the Institute of Principled Policy. A worthy read. principledpolicy.com
The very first paragraph in the Handbook's "Executive Summary" states:
"The balanced budget amendment is overwhelmingly supported by the American people. Polls over the last several months by CNN, Fox News, and Mason-Dixon show that nearly three-fourths of Americans favor a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution"
Why are we not surprised by that statement? Mainstream news channels have been helping this along, first discussing the deteriorating economy, and then whipping viewers into a frenzied belief that "a balanced budget amendment" will heal it all. Many of the Tea Partys are also backing the plan.
State legislators who've bought into this trap of "moving fast" to sponsor the resolution should be aware of the following disclaimer in the Handbook. You'll find it in small, fine print at the very bottom of the "About ALEC" section on the first page of the Handbook. Caveat emptor!
"Nothing in this Handbook should be construed as legal advice; seek competent counsel in your own state."
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