The Dangerous Possibility of a New Constitutional Convention

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With this threat, Americans must be more mindful than ever when choosing local and state officials. If this convention were to be held, the United States would fall into turmoil due to harmful decisions made by out-of-touch legislators that do not truly reflect the beliefs or sentiments of the majority.

Avery Ferguson, Staff Writer/Editor
September 11, 2022

Within the past 30 years, there have been no new amendments added to the Constitution through Congress due to the extreme polarization of the American political landscape. Holding a new constitutional convention, led by conservative politicians, could be a way for the conservative majority to finally make the changes it has been aiming for within the past decade. With the recent slew of conservative led Supreme Court decisions, many conservative politicians are concerning themselves with long term plans, as they’ve now been proven to be worthwhile. Through deliberate elections and court appointments, they have checked many things off of their never ending wishlist. Now, they are even stronger in their long term efforts to call a constitutional convention with state legislators and knock out the rest of their (frankly, non Christ-like) Christmas list.
Now, why hasn’t a convention been held before? Because it is nearly impossible to meet the requirements. 34 states must agree to the call of a convention before it can even begin to take place. Then, once at the convention, at least 38 states’ legislators must agree on the proposed amendment(s) for it to pass. Once again, the extreme polarization of the nation makes this a very arduous task to accomplish. You might think, well, this is a good way for the voices of the people to be heard despite the political polarization within the country as we speak- but no. Due to extreme gerrymandering by high ranking conservatives, the local politicians within a state rarely represent a region’s true political stance. Take a look at Georgia. Within the past few months, Marjorie Taylor Greene is set to become the legislator over an area with a very large African American population. Greene, a clearly controversial political figure surrounded by allegations of racism, homophobia, and xenophobia, has still been able to achieve such political success due to extensive gerrymandering of her district which allowed conservative voters to have increased political influence in that area.

Having a new constitutional convention would grossly misrepresent the views of the American people and exclude many minority groups from consideration during the legislative process. The amendments currently proposed to come to the floor at this possible convention would, for the most part, not help the majority of Americans. They help those who run large right wing political organizations and multi-millionaire corporations, with the average American receiving pennies to their dollar in terms of legislative benefits. One possible amendment that should be considered is a balanced budget amendment stating that the federal government cannot spend more than it makes, but this is often not reasonable in many situations. If we don’t attempt to course-correct the current trend of the United States’ federal budget, we will definitely continue to see the government’s fiscal resources decline in the long run and become less capable of handling economic recessions. This proposed balanced budget amendment would also enforce entirely arbitrary limits on federal debt, as well as limit the number of terms that Congress members may serve.

All of these issues slated to be introduced at the potential convention are terrible within themselves, but once a new constitutional convention is held, any amendment can be proposed and voted on. There is not a “rule” that the states can only vote on pre-determined issues. It would be opening a metaphorical can of giant, morally-ambiguous worms within our country and foolishly hoping nothing will happen to the American people. This is the reason many liberally led states are hesitant to join the convention. Many state leaders have said they would love to vote on amendments, but don’t want to give the Republican party a chance to create harmful amendments that would jeopardize the future of this country.

The impending threat of a Constitutional Convention looms closer everyday. With this threat, Americans must be more mindful than ever when choosing local and state officials. If this convention were to be held, the United States would fall into turmoil due to harmful decisions made by out-of-touch legislators that do not truly reflect the beliefs or sentiments of the majority.