Call for a Constitutional Convention

Article V of the United States Constitution allows for amendments to the Constitution and the ways in which amendments can be effected.  The first is the way with which most Americans are familiar: The House and the Senate, with two-thirds majorities, pass resolutions that are then sent to the states for ratification.  Lately, however, individual states have been calling for a Constitutional Convention for a variety of reasons, chief among them the need for an amendment that requires a balanced budget.

I'm not sure that a balanced budget amendment is a partisan goal.  At least verbally, both sides support the idea.  Each, however, plays accounting games that tend to turn the idea of a balanced budget into a mockery.  More on that anon.

The problem with the call for the Convention is that numerous states have called for and then rescinded the call for a Convention.  Others have called for, rescinded and then renewed their calls.  The benchmark for a Convention is that two-thirds of the states must call for the Convention, and a few weeks back it appeared that Michigan's call for a Convention made it the thirty-fourth state to do so, thereby meeting the mandate that two-thirds of the states make calls.  But there seems to be some uncertainty as to whether the number has been met.

What will happen is anyone's guess.  But the notion of a balanced budget is, I think, a good thing.  Why it's so difficult is beyond me, but of course, I'm neither a CPA nor a member of Congress.  Still, for me the whole idea was wonderfully distilled and lampooned in my favorite political movie, Dave.  Charles Grodin played Dave's best friend, and he's smuggled into the White House to help the president figure out how to cut out some of the pork so that he can fund one of the FLOTUS's pet projects.  The scene is priceless:

If it weren't for all the entitlements that really weren't necessary, like funding studies of why people buy pickles and how bees mate, we might be able to afford the truly important things, like the military, securing our borders and universal health care.  But where politicians lambaste the other side for their silly spending, they remain silent on the projects that bring pork back to their districts and almost certainly assure their reelection.  It's a vicious cycle that could be broken with an amendment to balance the budget.

I fear, however, funny bookkeeping that would allow Congress to skirt the amendment.  The SCOTUS would ultimately be called in to untangle the mess, and then Congress could pass laws that would allow it to vitiate the SCOTUS opinion, thereby beginning another vicious cycle.

It's truly senseless.

I could never be a politician.

(c) 2014 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles