Another Constitutional Convention?

I have personally heard at least 100 people, pundits, and politicians claim that certain actions or policies are “unconstitutional” in the past few decade. And I have thought the same thing a number of times.

We live in a republic that is ruled by a constitution, by laws legislated by representatives (representing who may be another story), by executive orders (which may limit or expand individual rights), and by Supreme Court decisions regarding different interpretations of the laws (which in some cases appear to be more like legislating).

In this year of 2014, some, including myself, are disgusted with the lack of ethics in politics and the actual lack of governing that is done. I would suggest that our country has become more of an oligarchy in which corporate wishes backed by bribes disguised as political campaign contributions affect legislation more than the will of the “people” of the various states. (…also known as “corporatism” in which the government is run by specific interest groups.) We may be called the “United States” but it seems that may only be true in form and not in substance. The various states seem quite un-united in many ways.

Is the “U.S.” an oligarchy? In order to answer this we must look at the definition of “oligarchy” and also the evidence. What is an oligarchy? It is defined as “a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution.” I would suggest that the small group that influences or runs the U.S. government includes the influence of some of the 1% of the population who are financial and corporate leaders. This can be described by expanding Eisenhower’s phrase to include the “Military-Industrial-Financial Complex.”  The Defense Department is in reality a defense or military industry where public and borrowed funds are channeled to the corporations and companies who provide the hardware, arms, and ammunition for military action both for the US and for other countries as well. Would it not make sense for the government to reduce waste and nationalize the defense industry?

There are over 22 million results on Google when researching “corporate influence in politics” …
[ https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=corporate+influence+in+politics ]…
[ https://www.opensecrets.org/influence  ]
[ http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/12/lobbying-10-ways-corprations-influence-government ]
[  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/weekinreview/24kirkpatrick.html?_r=0 ]

One thing that we can say with certainty is that the world in 2014 has changed constantly over time and more specifically since 1787. Of course there has always been money and greed around in politics and in society in general. But this does not justify it as an acceptable way of governing.

What was set up as a great experiment continues. I’m not looking for a new country to live in. For the most part, we continue to have a level of personal freedom that is unmatched in the world. One of the aspects of the original constitution is Article V of the U.S. Constitution which is to help deal with a need for modification because 1)our form of governing was intended as an experiment; and 2) change is constant … Most are familiar with the requirement for two-thirds vote in both houses of congress in order to call a Constitutional Convention or pass an amendment (also needing ratification by ¾ of the states.

The 2^nd method defined in Article V states that a Constitutional Convention must be called if 2/3 [34] of the states ask or apply for it. As of this writing, when Michigan asked for a Constitutional Convention in 2014, the threshold seemed to be met. There are questions that remain which must probably be decided by the Supreme Court, but the point is we are close to calling a Constitutional Convention even if it deemed that 2 or 3 more states are needed.

[see: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/02/rare-option-forcing-congress-to-meet-change-constitution-gains-momentum ]...

The total needed is not time sensitive, meaning the number continues to grow toward 2/3 as states over the past decades have ask for a constitutional convention for specific and varying reasons to propose amendments. Once a constitutional convention is called, any and all changes may be proposed, including an updating and rewriting of the constitution.

How delegates would be assigned is another question and of course politics would be involved as always. Larger questions remain about how the process and procedures would be defined. Whether it would be a convention open to all proposals or limited in subject matter is quite vague in the article and would most likely be decided by the Supreme Court.

The truth is that there are many people who would like to see changes made and yet the numbers are split it seems as in all political debates. If those who represent corporate interests were in the majority as delegates, then we would risk the possibility of the laws becoming more favorable toward corporatism and oligarchy. I’m sure there are many in the general population who would like to see more equitable measures included that would keep corporations and lobbyists representing special interests from using money to influence legislation. Because the language in Article is rather vague, especially with regard to process and procedures, there is perhaps too much room for interpretation and the Supreme Court, as it usually does, would most likely vote according to the political appointees on the sitting bench.

One way for each of us to help is resurrect campaign finance reform and also reverse “Citizens United” which allows corporations to inject any amount of money from anywhere in the world into the U.S. political process through campaign contributions, essentially legalizing bribery and corruption.

We, at some level, must remain aware of where we are in this process of interactive living, including politics. It perhaps is wise to realize that change continues and the new forms are emerging from the process. While we do ourselves no service by being attached to outcomes from our service and actions, we can, at best, do what we sense we must do according to our deepest and highest values.

John Hutchinson… September 23, 2014… john@sunhutch.com