Larry Sabato author of "A More Perfect Constitution" and Eric Lane and Michael Oreskes authors of "The Genius of America"
Authors: Eric Lane; Michael Oreskes; Larry Sabato
http://www.booktv.org/
I knew Larry Sabato was a wolf in sheep's clothing long ago. There are some parts of the Constitution that work fine, other parts that need revision, Sabato says leading a discussion in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center rebroadcast on Book TV. The discussion centers on constitutional revision.
Why didn't the group invite experts like the John Birch Society? Why didn't they invite Phyllis Schlafly?
There has always been a movement to hold a "second" convention to "amend" the Constitution, in fact immediately after the first and only convention back in 1787... the danger in holding a convention to "revise" the Constitution of the United States is that an entirely NEW constitution can be proposed to replace the existing constitution. What could happen for instance, the second amendment could be eliminated, removed, and abolished. Our form of government which is supposed to be a republic, not a democracy, can be abolished with for instance proposals for the mob, the citizenry, enabled to amend the Constitution or there could be a proposal to adopt a measure such as the state of California and implement national voting initiatives and referendums.
The Founding Framers warned of a democracy. That's exactly what many nowadays want, including Sabato.
"A Republic, if You Can Keep It"
By: John F. McManus
November 6, 2000
http://thenewamerican.com/node/1540
Putting this upfront. There goes the host... I hope a constitutional convention happens if for no other reason, journalistic reason, it would be a heck of a story to cover...
Yep, people, listen up, that is the reason they want a convention, so the news media can cover them... the self-anointed important blowhards...
One of the authors Eric says... 220 years... the longest running demcracy in the history of the world.
He got that wrong as the United States is not a democracy. The United States is a Constitutional (compound) republic.
Larry Sabato: we're improving on the Founders work
there's no thing as a runaway... it's called by the states, 34 states need to call it... some would say there are already the required amount of states needed to call a convention who have submitted proposals for amending the Constitution... once it meets the delegates would be elected one per district one vote per delegate... would they be able to replace the constitution no because it would have to be ratified by the states, only 13 states needed to stop, more than enough division the blue and the red states.
Micael Oreskes says there was a runaway convention the first one... there was a ratification process, he says, and even if you have a runaway convention as the first one... there is a ratification process...
OK while I am steaming writing this let me get back to the beginning.
opening question: issue of executive power and what has happened in the last several years in the wake of 9/11 and the Bush Administration and expansion of executive power.
Has Bush been able to expand because con is vague enough or can't withstand politicians bent on expanding power and what should be done... does the constitution require some revisions to allow us to correct the imbalances of the last several years.
Larry Sabato A More Perfect Constitution 23 Proposals...
many pieces in Constitution that are archaic and need changing... look to the Founding Fathers... Sabato proposes a constitutional convention the first ten years of when...
Michael Oreskes, co-author, The Genius of America
Eric Lane, co-author, The Genius of America
It only took a few minutes, but they have weaved around the initial questions posed to them.
Larry Sabato goes on again about revising the Constitution as a necessity every so often...
Oh my goodness, Sabato proposes as one of his revisions of our Constitution a six-year elected term for the president, than a retention election with a yeah or nay, if the people say nay, the president is out, if they say yeah, he's in for another two years...
Guess that abolishes the Electoral College in one fell swoop. Not only that, how would we then go about electing a replacement president and would the term be only for the next two years?
What a sick proposal. Again Larry Sabato wolf in academic sheep's clothing.
The discussion about a runaway convention not being a possibility because the states would be able to stop such during the ratification process - only 13 states are needed - well - people - listen up - Sabato is in error.
Because the first convention altered the Articles of Confederation ratification process. The second convention can do likewise. It is called precedent. But Oreskes didn't go further and mention that.
Beware.
My position on an Article V Constitutional Convention:
The first convention held in 1786 was called in order to revise the Articles of Confederation, not replace the document with a new Constitution. A contemporary Second convention would be called upon application of 34 states for the purpose of proposing an amendment, or amendments. There is no controlling authority, not Congress, not the President, not the United Nations Charter, and not even the Supreme Law of the land, the U.S. Constitution itself which would rein in modern-day delegates.
Delegates were not restrained or hampered in any way during the original convention to their original mission, and there is no reason to expect modern-day delegates would be limited in any way by any one, even the U.S. Constitution's Article V!
Delegates from fifty state legislatures, chosen not by we, the people, but by state representatives, many not to be trusted on matters of state import, let alone Constitutional import, not we, the people, would be sent to a convention.
During the first convention, the delegates altered even the method of states' ratification from unanimous to three-fourths. Nine, not thirteen states, were enough to replace the Articles of Confederation with an entirely new form of government. Luckily for us, the U.S. Constitution adopted by our Founding Framers sought to protect individual rights. Contemporary delegates could alter the requirements for their own purposes.
My partial bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR ARTICLE V CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION CALL
A MACHINE THAT WOULD GO OF ITSELF, Michael Kammen, 1986.
A NEW CONSTITUTION FOR A NEW AMERICA, William MacDonald, 1921.
A NEW CONSTITUTION NOW, Henry Haxlitt, 1942, reprint, 1974.
ACTION FOR AMERICANS: THE LIBERTY AMENDMENT, Lloyd Herbstreith and Gordon King, 1963.
ALTERNATIVE CONSTITUTIONS FOR THE UNITED STATES: DOCUMENTARY HISTORY, Stephen Boyd, 1992.
AMENDING AMERICA, Richard Bernstein, 1993.
AMERICA AT THE POLLS: 1994, Everett Ladd, 1995.
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SPECIAL: AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION BY THE CONVENTION METHOD UNDER ARTICLE V, Constitutional Convention Study Committee, 1974.
THE AMERICAN CITIZENS' HANDBOOK, Joyce Elmer Morgan, 1941, 1968.
THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION, 3rd edition, C. Herman Pritchett, 1977.
AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Carl B. Swisher.
AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, Lewis Lipsitz, 1986.
THE AMERICAN ENTERPRISE, May-June 1990, "We the Peoples: A Checklist for New Constitution Writers," Robert A. Goldwin.
THE AMERICAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, John Fergusan and Dean McHenry, 1956.
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, James Censer, Lawrence O'Toole, John Bessette, and Glen Thurow.
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, Peter Woll, 1962.
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT IDEALS AND REALITY, Abraham Holtzman and Sylvia Holtzman, 1980.
AMERICA'S SECRET ARISTROCACY, Stephen Birmingham, 1987.
AMERICAN THEORIES OF FEDERALISM, Walter Hartwell Bennett, 1964.
AN AMERICAN RENAISSANCE: A STRATEGY FOR THE 1980'S, Jack Kemp, 1979.
AN AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW READER, Robert McKay, 1958.
APPROVAL VOTING, Stephen J. Brams and Peter Fishburn, 1983.
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, Merrill Jensen, 1940.
AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE, NEW AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM, Anthony King.
AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM, C. Herman Pritchett, 1963.
BEHIND THE SCENES: THE POLITICS OF A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION (for a 51st state), Philip G. Schrag, 1985.
THE BILL OF RIGHTS HOW WE GOT IT AND WHAT IT MEANS, Meltzer, 1990.
BIRTH OF A NATION THE FIRST FEDERAL CONGRESS 1789-91, Charlene Bangs Bickford and Kenneth R. Bowling, 1989.
BOOK OF THE STATES, Volume 28, 1990-91. Volume 29, 1992-93, Council of State Governments.
BRAVE NEW WORLD: THE ESSENTIAL ROAD MAP TO THE 21ST CENTURY, William Knoke.
C-Span, November 12, 1996. "We're a Constitutional Republic," John Shadagg, R-AZ, 105th Congress.
C-Span, National Press Club, March 2, 1996. "... a new global interdependency," Mike McCurry, White House Press Secretary.
CASE FOR FEDERAL UNION, W.B. Curry, 1939.
CITIZENS' GUIDE TO LEGAL RIGHTS, J. Shane Creamer, 1971.
THE COMING BREAKPOINT, Barry Goldwater, 1976.
THE CONSTITUTION OF 1787, Anastaplo.
THE CONSTITUTION AND WORLD ORGANIZATION, Edward S. Corwin, 1944.
THE CONSTITUTION AND WHAT IT MEANS TODAY, Edward S. Corwin, 1965.
CONSTITUTION IN CRISIS, Joan B. Collins and Kenneth C. Hill, 1994.
THE CONSTITUTION AND THE DELEGATION OF CONGRESSIONAL POWER, Sotirios A. Barber, 1975.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDING PROCESS IN AMERICAN POLITCAL THOUGHT, John R. Vile, 1992.
CONSTITUTIONAL BRINKMANSHIP: AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION BY NATIONAL CONVENTION, Russell L. Caplan, 1988.
CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE IN AMERICA, John R. Vile, 1992.
CONSTITUTIONAL CHAFF: REJECTED SUGGESTIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1787 WITH EXPLANATORY ARGUMENT, Jane Butzner, 1941.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION: A MANUAL OF ITS PLANNING, ORGANIZATION, AND OPERATION, John Wheeler, 1961.
A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION: HOW WELL IT WOULD WORK?, John Charles Dalp, moderator, American Enterprise Institute Forum for Public Policy Research, May 23, 1979.
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION: THREAT OR CHALLENGE?, Wilbur Edel, 1981.
CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: A REAPPRAISAL, Charles W. Dunn, 1987.
CONSTITUTIONAL FEDERALISM, David Engdahl, 1987.
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES, Woodrow Wilson, 1908.
CONSTITUTIONAL INEQUALITY: PROCEDURES FOR ERA AMENDMENT, Gilbert Steiner, 1985.
CONSTITUTIONAL JOURNAL: A CORRESPONDENT'S REPORT FROM THE CONVENTION OF 1787, Jeffrey St. John, Jameson Books, Inc. 1987.
THE CONSTITUTION RECONSIDERED, Conyers Read, 1938.
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM AND EFFECTIVE GOVERNMENT, James L. Sunquist, 1985.
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN AMERICA, Charles M. Hardin, 1989.
CONSTITUTIONALISM AND THE CHANGING WORLD, C.H. McIlwain, 1939.
CONTRACT WITH AMERICA: THE BOLD PLAN. 1994.
THE CONVENTION AND THE CONSTITUTION, David G. Smith, 1965.
A CONVENTION OF DELEGATES, Dennis J. Houptly, 1987.
COURT OF REASON (Robert Hutchins and The Fund for the Republic), Frank K. Kelly, 1981.
COURT OVER THE CONSTITUTION: A STUDY OF JUDICIAL REVIEW AS AN INSTRUMENT OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT, Edward. S. Corwin, 1938.
CREATIVE FEDERALISM, William A. Jump, 196.
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND THE CONSTITUTION: LEADING SUPREME COURT CASES, 1994 edition, Jarold H. Israel, and others, 1994. Chapter 2, "The Nature and Scope of the 14th Amendment Due Process and The Applicability of the Bill of Rights to the States."
DEADLOCK TO DEMOCRACY, James M. Burns, 1963.
NEW AMERICAN, MARCH 18, 1996, P. 11.
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