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Amend the U.S. Constitution, Say 27 States

posted by martyb on Friday December 11 2015, @05:50AM   Printer-friendly
from the pandora's-box dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

The U.S. Constitution has 27 amendments; each was proposed by Congress and ratified by the states.

However, the Constitution sets forth another procedure, never before used, for amending the Constitution. At the request of two thirds of the states, a constitutional convention would be held, at which amendments could be proposed. Any proposals would become part of the Constitution if three fourths of the states ratified them, either at state conventions or in the state legislatures.

Currently, 27 of the needed 34 states have petitioned Congress for a constitutional convention, for the ostensible purpose of writing a balanced-budget amendment (BBA). However, the convention might propose other changes in addition or instead of a BBA—even a total rewrite of the Constitution—if 38 states agreed, the changes would become law.

In November, legislators from 30 states met in Salt Lake City to discuss the matter.

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  • (Score: 3, Disagree) by FatPhil on Friday December 11 2015, @10:07AM

    by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Friday December 11 2015, @10:07AM (#274904) Homepage
    The bill of rights and the constitutional amemdments need completely rewriting - in modern American, rather than archaic English. They first need rewriting such that they keep exactly the same meaning as they do now, as agreed by decades of precedent, but such that they are unambiguous. After that, then you may find that you don't need to amend them at all, or, worse, that they absolutely need to be completely rewritten immediately.

    For example, you might find that one of your amendments actually says "even alcoholics with a history of mental illness and a criminal record for murder can carry guns". Which might not be what you want on your statute books.
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  • (Score: 1, Troll) by Gravis on Friday December 11 2015, @12:25PM

    by Gravis (4596) on Friday December 11 2015, @12:25PM (#274934)

    even alcoholics with a history of mental illness

    people usually just call him TheMightyBuzzard. ;)

    • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday December 11 2015, @12:50PM

      by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Friday December 11 2015, @12:50PM (#274943) Homepage
      There are probably about 20 accounts that are *queueing up* for that accolade!
      --
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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @12:52PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @12:52PM (#274944)

    As usual, interpretation is what counts.

    It was within living memory that having a few beers at lunch, several packs of cigarettes throughout your day, and the better part of a bottle of scotch after hours was considered a healthy practice of working professionals. It was hardly two decades ago that the majority of psychologists considered homosexuality a serious mental illness.

    Some would even say allowing yourself to get fat is a mental illness and clearly the mentally ill do not deserve the right to free speech or liberty of movement and should be institutionalized until cured. Amazing how easily the words of the unwise can be turned against them.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by MSC_Buff on Friday December 11 2015, @06:43PM

    by MSC_Buff (3322) on Friday December 11 2015, @06:43PM (#275089) Homepage
    I would suggest going even further...we need to hit the reset button on the entire Constitution and start over from a re-write of the Declaration of Independence. Just modernize the language of the DOI some along with a quick de-gender. Once you have that as a foundation then build a new Constitution from there. The original Constitution has failed and it is mostly due to how it was written. The only thing in the Constitution should have been a very strict list of enumerated powers and NO language saying things the Government 'could not' do. Think about it...do you really want to list all the things the Government can't do or would you rather just list the few things it can do and reserve everything else to the people?

    Questions to think about:
    • Has anyone besides the Founding Fathers signed the Constitution?
    • How much is a contract with dead people worth?
    • Can you be born in to a contract?

    Essentially the Constitution has been coasting along on complacency and NOT the 'consent of the governed'.