” Be it resolved… (1), The rights protected by the Constitution of The United States are the rights of natural persons only. (2), Any entity, including any organization or association of one or more persons… shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation… (3), The priveleges of any entity… organization… association.. shall not be… inherent or inalienable. (4), … government shall regulate, limit or prohibit contributions and expenditures….. (5), .. be publicly disclosed. (6),…judiciary shall not construe spending of money to influence campaigns to be free speech under the 1st Amendment…”
Excerpted from Minnesota HB 276 co-sponsored by Dem. St. Rep. Raymond Dehn.
On Jan 12-13th, 2014 the Indiana State Legislature hosted a tax payer funded shin-dig to welcome other Legislators from all 50 states to attend the first Assembly of States Convention. These nitwits thought it would be cool to shmooze amongst themselves and come up with plans on how and what to amend the US Constitution. The above quoted excerpt was one of those ideas tabled during these two days. Co- sponsored by by St. Rep. Raymond Dehn he opened his speech to the assembly by calling himself “.. the most leftist guy in the room..”
Dehn, other Legislators, private organizations and a whole host of self proclaimed egg-heads are trying to undo the Citizens United decision. Claiming that corporations are not people these guys along with their buddy from Wolf-PAC creator Cenk Uygur (Young Turks ) have gone ahead to form a corporation and political action committee of their own to lobby Senators, Congressmen and state delegations to amend the Constitution making it illegal for corporations and political action committees to influence elections. This way only the seated Senators and Congressmen can be influenced by corporations and political action committees.
Yes America, let that soak in for a second while I pour myself another drink.
Let me give you a quick run down of a small list of the corporations and political action committees and the geniuses piloting this ship of fools;
Convention USA is a non profit corporation founded by retired Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E Brennan and a few of his drinking buddies. The website is an interactive place where any joker can sign up as a delegate and propose amendments. No verification of credentials required.. The site’s specific goal is “…. to generate a groundswell of public support for an Article V Convention and force Congress to call the convention.”.
Good job Your Honor! Delude the American public while giving them all the rope they need to hang themselves with.
Then there is the University of Texas Law Professor Sanford Levinson. In addition to wondering why the state of Wyoming deserves the same equal representation in Washington DC as California does Levinson wrote in his book “Our Undemocratic Constitution” that the Constitution is very… ah.. well… Undemocratic. I am not sure where he is going with this idea but he’s got one thing right in that the Constitution is (his words) “inadequate for our Democracy”. Very true professor, because it was written for a Republic. That would be like using a repair manual for a Ford Explorer while trying to fix a Toyota and then calling the manual ‘inadequate’.
Lawrence Lessig, all star quarterback of the team that is funding and promoting an Article V wrote in 1993; “… the American people can no longer identify the Bill of Rights..” ( Well Larry, teaching it again in schools might be a good place to start.) “…Its meaning is no longer plain to all… perhaps it is time to amend the text… perhaps it is time to rewrite the Constitution.”…
Rewrite the Constitution? Rewrite it into what Larry?
Next in line is this coma patient. Professor Mary Penrose of the Texas-Wesleyan Law School… ( What is up with all these courtroom junkies?)
Speaking at a Harvard Constitutional Conference (now there is an oxymoron) Mary said to her wide eyed room full of sheep; “…. no constitutional right is sacred… it is time today to repeal the 2nd Amendment.. I am in favor of redrafting the Constitution.”
Article V is an important tool for amending the Constitution. However, like all tools they are only as good as the people who operate them. Hell, an AK47 is an excellent tool but you wouldn’t let a chimpanzee use it now would you? Cenk Uygur, Lawrence Lessig and every law professor from Connecticut to California can have all the $500 a plate lunches they want and talk all they want about calling for a Constitutional Convention. It won’t amount to a hill of beans for only Congress can call an Article V. All that the state Legislatures can do through a Convention of States is ‘apply’ to Congress to call an Article V.
Now this is where it gets dicey. Once Congress gets their grubby little paws on that application all bets are off. Delegates can be held to standards of conduct, the actual wording of the amendments can be polished to a mirror shine, all 50 states can agree on the language, verbiage and punctuation marks all they want. It won’t make any difference.
For in Article 1, section 8, clause 18 of the Constitution Congress has the power to “… make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution..”. And an execution it will be. For once Congress convenes an Aricle V Convention you will have the likes of Harry Ried, Chuck Shumer and Barbara Boxer writing the amendments and the likes of Shiela Jackson Lee, Nancy Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren voting on them.
An entire Senatorial and Congressional delegation of chimpanzees waving around AK47’s…
