James Lehner: Changing Constitution next for GOP

Regarding the April 6 news article “Conservatives plan convention”: It may be appropriate that the article appeared next to the obituaries since such a move would destroy our Constitution.

The goal is to add an amendment to the Constitution forcing a balanced budget. Unfortunately, once a con-con is convened, any and all areas of our Constitution are open for change or elimination. Will there be any attempts by special interest organizations to influence the conventioneers?

In 27 states, legislators have passed applications for a con-con. I’d wager that their constituents are unaware of this or believe that only the balanced budget will be considered.

Our federal Congress can apply for a constitutional amendment dealing only with the balanced budget. This avoids the opening of the Constitution to widespread changes. The 27 states are seven short of the two-thirds needed to force the con-con, and nine states are considering this move. Once 34 is achieved, Congress must convene a con-con. The states must ratify the changes, but only legislators can vote on this.

The people are not involved in either proposing the con-con or ratifying it. The same holds true for a more limited congressional amendment. Thus, the whole process is in the hands of the politicians and those to whom they are obliged.

This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 5:56 PM with the headline "James Lehner: Changing Constitution next for GOP."