So, if there were a constitutional convention in the US, how much could change?

I've heard rumors that a Constitutional convention in the US would throw the whole Constitution and all the amendments and the Bill of Rights open for change. I wonder what such a convention really would be like. What are the rules?

What could happen? How do we get one? Why do people want one?

What kinds of outcomes could there be? What kinds of outcomes do you predict? Asked by Zhop 44 months ago Similar Questions: constitutional convention change Recent Questions About: constitutional convention change Society.

Similar Questions: constitutional convention change Recent Questions About: constitutional convention change.

The last time we had a Constitutional Convention, they threw out the entire thing and wrote a new one from scratch. That convention had been called to propose amendments to the then-current constitution. To keep folks who didn’t attend from butting in, they swore everyone to secrecy; this is why there’s very little recorded on the Convention besides the official record.

In that case, it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to the US, because our first Constitution was far more dysfunctional than anyone had realized when they wrote it. It also helped that nearly all the convention’s members knew political theory and history well enough to qualify as professors in one or both subjects. They also regarded the nation’s structure as an experiment-in-progress, and took a viewpoint closer to that of a scientist than anyone I’m aware of in politics today.

There’s no reason to believe that, should a Constitutional Convention be formed, they wouldn’t feel just as free to throw the entire structure out and start again. Unlike last time, we don’t have a horribly dysfunctional system. Sure, there are some problems, but they’re minor, and most of them would disappear with competent administration.

Instead of the wisest political minds on Earth meeting in private, a new convention would doubtless be broadcast live on cable and satellite, with all the usual posturing and pandering and sound-bites. I predict that, whatever came from a convention, it would be worse for most of us than what we have now. It would probably be better for a chosen few, who have the resources to influence the actions of convention members.

And those few would do their best to convince the rest of us that what’s good for them is good for America. Murstein's Recommendations The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison (Modern Library Classics) Amazon List Price: $14.95 Used from: $3.78 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 1 reviews) .

Convention vs. amendment vs. ratification A "grand convention" is mandatory when 2/3’s of the 50 state legislative bodies (34 states) petition Congress under Article V of the Constitution for such a Constitutional Convention. I could see this happening, for example if the Federal government ground to a halt and causing the economy to collapse as the result of interparty political warfare between the Democratic and Republican parties. As a result, I could see an amendment limiting Senators and Congresspersons to ONE TERM of six years.

(This to reduce the influence of both parties central power figures and to reduce the power of lobbies connections to them). I could also see an amendment forcing the Federal government to turn land it had custody of that had oil reserves within it back to the jurisdiction of the State within whose border it lay. (So the state themselves could exploit the oil & gas quickly, much like Alaska, Texas, Oklahoma, La, and Calif.

Have done rather than wait for wait for the FEDs to get their thumbs out of their a**. ) I could also see an amendment limiting the powers of the executive branch to conducting war, foreign policy, collecting taxes reserving all other powers to the states. (This effectively closes the EPA, Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Education, Department of Health and all other Federal domestic agencies and Departments-if the amendment is adopted it would make all the laws that support these Departments unconstitutional and void, but the STATE LAWS WOULD THEN BECOME SUPREME).

The overall impact I would predict is the 50 states gaining more power and limiting the central governments power, viewing their perfomance in the last qtr of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st as a total failure to govern within the Congressional and Excutive Branches. I could also see the ERA amendment being sent forward again. (With the full understanding if passed and if there were ever to be a war time draft in would have to be a UNIVERSAL DRAFT and WOMEN WOULD SERVE IN COMBAT LINE UNITS.

Article V of the Constitiution requires a simple majority vote of the state convention representatives to have it passed on to the state houses of the 50 states. There the 50 states have 7 years for the required 3/4’s of those states to ratifiy the amendment. There would be IMO several proposed amendments put forward that would not have a simple majority to the 50 states: Anti-Flag Desecration Amendment, English as the Primary language of our country, Prayer in our Schools, The Jesse Jackson set of Amendments to the bill of rights.

There is of course another way for an amendment to reach the states for ratification. BOTH the Senate and House pass the amendment with at least a 2/3’s majority. Sources: wikipedia Gunner70's Recommendations A More Perfect Constitution: 23 Proposals to Revitalize Our Constitution and Make America a Fairer Country Amazon List Price: $25.95 Used from: $3/4 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 24 reviews) US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Bill of Rights, and Guide to US Government Amazon List Price: $112/31 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 29 reviews) Terrorism and the Limitation of Rights: The ECHR and the US Constitution (Human Right's Law in Perspective) Amazon List Price: $1112/30 Used from: $13/4 Religion and the Constitution (AEI forum) Used from: $212/31 Proposed Procedures for a Limited Constitution Convention (Legislative Analysis) Constitution Of The United Staes Of America (as amended through 12/31) Analytical index - Unratified Amendments Used from: $3/4 .

1 I recommend it happen in an un-air-conditioned room in Philadelphia in July, with everybody forced to wear wool coats and wigs. It worked out pretty well last time.

I recommend it happen in an un-air-conditioned room in Philadelphia in July, with everybody forced to wear wool coats and wigs. It worked out pretty well last time.

And it didn't take them forever to do it. Of course today, there would be TV cameras present and everyone would be posturing with soundbites for the newscasts. If they started tomorrow, they might finish in 5-6 years - and that would be if they really went at it!

Ten years seems more realistic.

3 its an interesting idea. I wouldnt trust a modern congress, though...too much corruption and special interests, or should I be blunt and just say bribes.

Its an interesting idea. I wouldnt trust a modern congress, though...too much corruption and special interests, or should I be blunt and just say bribes.

" "constitutional rights for voodoo ritual.

What does it mean to say that the right to privacy, for example falls within the penumbra of a specific constitutional.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.