The Constitution can be amended when 2/3 of the states request that Congress call a constitutional convention. The convention proposes amendments, which then have to be ratified by 3/4 of the states.
I found a website called fixittogether.org, which is trying to help people lobby their state legislators to request a convention to propose a balanced budget amendment, a term limits amendment, an amendment to fix the judiciary, and an amendment to prohibit unfunded mandates. These all sound like good ideas to me. Could this really work?
At the Constitutional Convention of 1789, the founders created two ways to amend the Constitution. The first one is when Congress proposes an amendment, which must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states. The second method is when two-thirds of the states request it, Congress must call a constitutional convention to propose amendments. This second method has never been used. It was included in the Constitution because the framers feared that some day Congress would become corrupt and refuse to act, even in the face of strong public opinion.
It looks like FixitTogether.org states that over 70% of Americans support their proposed amendments. People have been trying to get Congress to pass things like a balanced budget and term limits amendment for decades. It sounds like FixitTogether.org’s strategy may be the only way to get those things done.
December 12th, 2009 at 8:56 am
no, i am not agree
References :
December 12th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Yes, amendments CAN work that way. I don’t want to adopt all of your suggestions, though.
References :
December 12th, 2009 at 10:12 am
At the Constitutional Convention of 1789, the founders created two ways to amend the Constitution. The first one is when Congress proposes an amendment, which must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states. The second method is when two-thirds of the states request it, Congress must call a constitutional convention to propose amendments. This second method has never been used. It was included in the Constitution because the framers feared that some day Congress would become corrupt and refuse to act, even in the face of strong public opinion.
It looks like FixitTogether.org states that over 70% of Americans support their proposed amendments. People have been trying to get Congress to pass things like a balanced budget and term limits amendment for decades. It sounds like FixitTogether.org’s strategy may be the only way to get those things done.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_to_propose_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution
http://fixittogether.org