Contra Con-con
I strongly oppose the proposed “Convention of States”, “Con-Con, or any wholesale revison of our federal Constitution, for a number of reasons.
First, our Constitution already contains numerous important restrictions on the power and reach of government, and guarantees of our rights. They are being ignored. If existing restrictions and guarantees are ignored by TPTB, why would anyone think new ones will be observed? I say, let us first enforce the restrictions and guarantees already in place, by the lawful means prescribed, before attempting to add new ones.
Second, how does our time compare in terms of morality and clear thinking, with 1787? In terms of respect for the individual versus emphasis on the collective? Is this a good time to mess with what was decided then?
Third, the only other time we had a con-con, it ignored its explicit charge, “to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation”, and wrote an entirely new Constitution. There is no legal way to restrict the scope of a new con-con.
Toward what end is the vast majority of the money and influence being directed in today’s world? Is it toward justice, morality, and individual liberty, or is it toward rage and entitlement, perversity, and mass compulsion? All of the same pressure will be exerted on any new convention.
Some say that nothing bad can come out of a new con-con, because its recommendation would have to be passed by 3/4 of the States. But are we pleased by the recent history of election integrity in our States? Is it conservatives that have been building their capacity to organize communities and get out the vote..real or fictitious? Can we trust the media to report how any votes actually went? Can we trust EITHER side NOT to say, “We got cheated, so we are going to enforce our version!”?
Please folks, before we change it, let us try enforcing the amazing Constitution we already have, by the means it specifies!
One response to “Contra Con-Con”
Exactly right. That has always been my fear, when hearing people propose a convention of the states… there is no limiting principle, so that the whole constitution could/would be tossed and re-written. I visualize that the democrats/communists would write something that could have been written by Karl Marx, with the Bill of Rights severely watered down or, deleted altogether, while the Republican politicians, cowards that most of them are, would, as usual cave after some minor concession from the left, and then, patting each under on their backs, try to tell us what a great deal they got. Do I sound cynical? How could I not be… when our “own” Sen. Capito was one of the Republicans that voted for and helped the democrats pass the Omnibus spend-a-thon bill, which emasculated the incoming Republican House majority. Well, its all about money and power, and WE THE PEOPLE be damned. I fear we are approaching (if not at) the point where, as Thomas Jefferson said: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”