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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.
- Forbes article from 2014 (mirror)
- John Birch Society (has a map)
- utahpolicy.com
- Deseret News
- Yellowhammer News
- The Universe—Brigham Young University
- San Francisco Chronicle
- KSTU-TV
- The Columbian
- Washington Post blog about historical attempts at constitutional conventions
- The Spokesman-Review
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by aristarchus on Friday December 11 2015, @06:32AM
They met in Salt Lake City, did they? Do you not remember the Mormon wars? And I am not referring to the Missouri troubles that had the governor call out the national guard. No, when the frigging Latter Day Assholes declared war upon the United States of America? No? You do not recall? How convenient. Mormans are traitors to their nation, traitors to women, traitors to humanity and small furry creatures from Alpha Centari, or Kolob. If you want any kind of political movement to be taken seriously, like banning gay marriage in California via Mozilla, I suggest you get as far as possible from the Latter Day Saints, because the soul of the Arch-Angel Moroni: just think about this, the other religions got Gabriel, Michael, and Raphel (not to mention Donatello and Michealangelo, though they might be artists or Mutant Ninja Turtles), and the Mormons got Moroni. As the South Part episode said, " Dum dum dum dum!" Or maybe it was a White Salamader. Does anyone know the range of Psilocybin in Upstate New York where the stoner Joseph Smith got his "revelations"? Far out, dude! Excellent! Flaming sword! Young girls--- oops, did not mean to summon MikeeUSA, the modern incarnation of Joe Smith. Does anyone believe in reincarnation? Because if you do, I have some nice beach front property in Arizona that I can sell you for a future life. Brigham Young University, as if that was really a thing. MonoMormonocity, that's the word.
Before you respond, or mod, do some research. http://www.exmormon.org/ [exmormon.org] http://articles.latimes.com/1987-04-05/magazine/tm-3_1_mark-hofmann [latimes.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_War [wikipedia.org]
Some of my best friends are Mormons. Does not rule out that they are batshit right-wing Theo-fascist crazy. Sorry, Bob, it had to be said.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Friday December 11 2015, @08:28AM
Some of my best friends are Mormons.
It's worth remembering the unseemly origin [newrepublic.com] of this horrid phrase:
The phrase’s earliest recorded political use was back in 1908. John Worth Kern, who was on the ticket for William Jennings Bryan’s third failed bid for the presidency, trotted it out at the end of a campaign speech in Westminster, excoriating William Taft as a lackey of business cartels. Toward the end of his stemwinder, he shifted into a plea for political comity: “Some of my best friends are Republicans,” Kern said, “and although we have had our political fights, we have never fallen out and quarreled.”
Rethuglican apologism and compromise of principle. Good thing we've gone past all that.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday December 11 2015, @09:28AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday December 11 2015, @09:38AM
I assure you "some of my best friends are black" predates that frothy mixture by decades.
Find an example from before 1908 then.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @10:10AM
Earliest recorded political use, maybe.
There's many other much earlier examples of similar phrases in a similar vein, though. For example, here's one from a biography of an Irish Catholic priest published in the first half of the 19th century:
Pretty much exactly the same sentiment as your 1908 quote - which is itself different from the more recent "I'm not X-ist; some of my best friends are X" stereotype.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday December 12 2015, @05:23PM
(Score: 4, Interesting) by FatPhil on Friday December 11 2015, @10:30AM
Now I revist that page in lynx, I see there is actually some content, and it looks like a well-researched piece. I wouldn't be surprised if there were earlier instances, but finding them might be hard. The article was yankocentric, of course, there could well be English (or other European) examples much earlier. It also restricts itself to "political use", which means that orignal use by the journalistic wits before that time (of which the US was replete) may have been overlooked. And it completely misses all possible uses of it in fiction. It's certainly an interesting puzzle.
Without having any evidence for it, I would be surprised if none of the ancient Greek playwrights ever penned any rhetoric along those lines in any of their comedies. It just seems like a classic comedic line.
However, first use with a straight face non-ironically as if it was a sensible argument? It's quite possible 1908's it. Thanks for digging that out, and sorry about my confusion!
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @11:01AM
Modded up for a) being polite and b) not being a defensive knee-jerk savaging[1] of the poster who disagreed with you.
I know it's of very minor consequence and amounts to bugger all in the real world, but thank you for being civil to someone you originally disagreed with.
[1] Now I've read that back, it looks like I'm describing a knee to the groin. Not entirely inappropriate given how this sort of back-and-forth usually goes.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday December 12 2015, @06:08AM
And this is why I post to SoylentNews! The most off-beat (but, unfortunately, on topic) post can result in the meeting of minds and the setting straight of the historical record, and reconciliation amongst all but the truly deranged. Well done, AC and FatPhil! Well done.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @08:58AM
4 of 11 links in TFS:
utahpolicy.com - Do I really have to explain this one?
Deseret News - Salt Lake City, Utah
The Universe—Brigham Young University - Do I really have to explain this one?
KSTU-TV - Salt Lake City, Utah
More than 1/3 of the sources have a geographic commonality.
Though I'm not intimately familiar with those outlets, it seems a safe bet that their politics are in line with the LDS church.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @06:12PM
As your politics are in line with the farthest reaches of the Democratic party...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @08:34PM
You haven't been paying attention at all.
My politics border on anarchy: Anti-Capitalist (Communist--as Marx described it: Democracy everywhere) which means that civil liberties are a given.
I have little regard for Right^Wrong Wingers (Capitalist Authoritarians) which includes most Democrats. [politicalcompass.org]
(My candidate for that year, Cynthia McKinney, [reopen911.info] is not shown on that chart but would be near Nader--for whom I had voted when he was a Green.)
Dennis Kucinich is a Democrat for whom I have respect (though he has let himself be manipulated by that party into doing things of which I disapprove.)
Among the current crop of Reds and Blues, I like a few of the positions of Rand Paul [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [ballotpedia.org]--though his other positions (the majority of his politics) really turn me off.
I find Bernie Sanders to be slightly less heinous than the rest of the 2-party bunch (though he doesn't measure up to even FDR or LBJ) and I would be disappointed if Hillary beats Bernie in the primaries--but he's still a Capitalist and a warmonger so he still doesn't get my actual approval.
Among the candidates running, I tend to vote Green.
I would like to see a third party get a high enough percentage of the votes at the presidential level to get the federal matching funds available.
Jill Stein, a physician, (who got my vote in 2012 and is running again) is still closer to what I want in a president than any Red or Blue.
Though Eugene Debs got 6 percent of the votes when he ran for president as an (actual) Socialist in 1912, and Milwaukee has had several Socialist mayors, Cold War propaganda still pervades USAian politics and I don't see Socialist egalitarianism coming out on top any time soon over Fox so-called News' politics of Oligarchy and racism and religious nonsense.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @03:54AM
No. It doesn't mean anything of the sort. You can be totally anti-capitalist but it has no bearing on whether or not you are in favour of freedom of speech, religion, or due process of law. In fact, there's a strong argument to be made that if you oppose the accumulation of fruits of personal enterprise (the very foundation of capitalism) that this itself opposes a number of civil liberties because people cannot work towards their greater goals - anything they can't achieve without an accumulation of resources is beyond their personal ken, forever. So much for civil liberties...
I'm not sure why it matters that Jill Stein is a physician. So is Ben Carson. In fact, he's a specialist. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you don't exactly want to give ol' Ben all the facebook likes.
As for socialist egalitarianism, I don't care to speak for anyone else, but you can keep it. Specifically, you can keep it far, far away from me. Every time someone talks about egalitarianism, it seems to come down to taking from those who achieved, and giving to those who didn't. In our schools, the bright kids are bored, then troublesome, then medicated. Egalitarianism for the win! Egalitarian medicine? Nobody can have more than everybody can get ... so now they want to tax the hell out of the so-called cadillac plans because they imbalance the whole situation, despite the fact that the unions who generally got those negotiated for them, and got an agreement on them - but obviously they're evil! Of course, the congresscritters are gradually realising that even if Obama is their bestest buddy (looking at you, rustbelt democrats) that pissing off the unions might just maybe be bad for the union members and bad for their votes (right, rustbelt democrats?). Or maybe you're a bigger fan of egalitarian housing? Everybody gets the same square footage? Or a formula based on family size or something, perhaps?
I have yet to see a coherent series of egalitarian policies I could remotely stand behind. If you know of such a set of proposals, please bring them for inspection. Detailed and specific policy proposals, not empty aspirational phrases.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @04:52AM
Your ignorance of what Socialism is extreme.
That's understandable. You're like 99.999 percent of folks in that regard.
Offering your ignorant example of what it is and isn't is very common for your lot.
the very foundation of capitalism
You're not very bright when it comes to Capitalism either.
The foundation of that is the exploitation of non-owner workers.
.
Besides being an MD, Jill Stein is also a mom with 2 grown, successful sons.
Does that automatically make her presidential material?
No, but it does add to the picture of who she is.
She's a nurturing healer--not an exploiter like e.g. Trump or Romney.
...and when she debated Mitt in the Massachusetts gubernatorial race, the Boston Globe called her "the only adult in the room".
egalitarianism [...] taking from those who achieved
Without public roads and clean water systems and safe food and verified medicines, etc, etc, etc, your successful guy never would have gotten there.
Go to (Libertarian) Somalia or (Libertarian) Honduras and see how much you can achieve.
If you achieved, you did it in a system that supported your achievement.
You owe the system back in line to your success.
They used to call this "noblesse oblige".
...and where exactly are you going to find customers if nobody but you has any money?
The downward spiral of Neoliberalism is only getting worse due to nitwits who "think" like you do.
Again, your successful guy didn't make big bucks without exploiting The Working Class.
...and if your successful guy hadn't skimmed off all the cream at the start and there had been a more equitable distribution of the profits **from the start**, you wouldn't be yammering about taking back wealth.
.
I have previously mentioned Mondragon and the thousands and thousands of worker cooperatives in northern Italy.
They are very happy with the egalitarian systems they have.
Mondragon started with 6 worker-owners and now has over 100,000 worker-owners.
Socialism is a bottom-up thing, so it needs to continue to be scaled up.
...and, no, Stalinist State Capitalism is NOT Socialism.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @08:34PM
OK. I'll bite.
Detailed, specific, unambiguous description of the precise form of socialism. Now, please. In standard English (Commonwealth or American) preferred, but other languages accepted.
Until you can actually provide a coherent description of what the hell you're talking about other than saying that everyone else always gets everything wrong, you don't have a position, you have a bumpersticker.
You don't even explain why capitalism is not based on the accumulation of value, i.e. capital. It's right there in the name, it's in pretty much every analytical approach to it, even Marx accepted that. So while you're explaining things, throw that one in.
This way at least we can tell what you're advocating.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday December 12 2015, @06:33AM
Yesssss. Speak your special words . . . .. Death-eaters! Death Angels! Angles of Saxon death to the Lamanites! And migrants from Missouri in Meadow Mountains! This is not a partisan issue, it is a terrorist issue. Radicalized people right there in the kingdom of Zion, thinking they are the heirs of Zion. And no, Laurence Fishbourne is not allowed. Whether you are ISIS, Anti-abortion Dude, or Mormon, it makes no difference because all absolute claims to the right religion are an abomination. Took the Jews some 2000+ years to get the message that being the chosen people does not mean you get special priviledges and get to smite other people. Of course, there are some who still haven't, mostly because their brother got wacked doing exactly that kind of stuff, and the message is really not getting through. If I was God, and I am not, and there is no god, but if I were, I would be really, really frustrated about now. How many times have I told the Westboro Baptisers that I hate Flags! The idiots cannot spell. You would have thought, as an omnicompetent being, I would have created more intelligent followers (Hint for all you budding rationalist skeptical agnositic types!). So while to some this may sound like gibberish, I beg you, pay attention to the less rational people around you. They may be thinking of having a Constitutional Convention, just because, or of voting for Donald Trump, just to get back at the people who could read in high school.
Take-away, for you business types with short attention spans who have already stopped reading this post because SJW and whatnot: The Farthest reaches of the Democratic party is what most people call "sane". Others would call it center-right, or Moderate Republican, like Hilary Clinton. So look to your Right. If you see no one there, you are the Nazi party. If you see someone with a marmot on his head, you are in danger of being seduced by the Nazi party. So don't be a dummy, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi party! "Springtime, for Hitler, and Germany!" Ah, the producers, of reality TV. Don't you love it when reality imitates art, for a change? You're Fired!
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Friday December 11 2015, @09:02AM
Maybe Kolob 'cause last time I played Alpha Centauri (couple of weeks ago), there was no Mormons faction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford