Rhode Island General Assembly debates a federal Constitutional Convention: Fix Congress First

[AnimalFarmDance]

AND THE ACLU IS MISUSING WHAt the founders wwere talking about, pretty amazing from a bunch of lawyers

[AnimalFarmDance]

and then as to the aclu guy, FREE SPEECH TO the founders of our nation ddoes not equal money

FREE SPEECH DOES NOT EQUAL MONEY, the 1st amendment talks about our rights at citizens to speak freely AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT or anny business hwomever, NOT TO SPEND MONEY IN ELECTIONS. its not even anyhere close to the same concept. the BILL OF RIGHTS PROTECTS AMERICANS< NOT AMERICANS TO SPEND MONEY OR CORPORATIONS TO SPEND MONEY in ELECTIONS (A DEMORATIC PROCESS< NOT A SUPERMARKET . god LOL

[AnimalFarmDance]

Any consititutuional convention could onlyy ADD amendments, not take away amendments

[AnimalFarmDance]

they couldn't JUST REMOVE THE BILL OF RIGHTS, they would have to AMEND , they can't remove amendments it doesn't work like that. the issue at hand is that CONGRESS blocks PROGRESS cuz they are ALL PAID OFF TO BLOCK PROGRESS. don't we all agree? how can CONGRESS BE effective if they have to get relelected by PRIVATE MONEY? Get it?

[joe80dman]

NO, NO, NO! Do you peole realize what this could do? They could omit the 1st, and 2nd Amendments. The only reason why they'd want to amend the Constitution is to remove those parts that guarantee personal freedoms, and limits on government. They've already gone on record complaining about the Constitution "gives too much freedom to the People", so why do you think they're pulling this stunt? They want to turn us into a Totalitarian State, and I won't tolerate it.

[isawanangel2]

omg..we need term limits, how about 1!

[10231898]

Yes! Amend the constitution. Without amendments we, the people, would be left out. Seems the constitution was not written for the people, but are rules for government agencies. Yes! FIX CONGRESS FIRST. Yes! CREATE A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. Thank you for your efforts.

[joe80dman]

@10231898 : No, we need to REFRESH the Constitution, and ORDER the COURTS to abide by their oaths of office. The Courts are our biggest problem to date. They've unlawfully REINTERPRETED the laws of grammar to subvert the Law.

[zephae]

As gary mentioned, having pressure from the states for a Constitutional Convention could force Congress to act on the issue. Indeed, there are many risks involved and I doubt that you'd be able to limit the convention, but the more state legislatures that vote for this measure, the more attention it will receive. This may look like using a sledgehammer to steady a Jenga tower, but anything short of this kind of threat is not going to motivate Congress to action.

[marieatthelake]

If such a thing happens, the American public will lose everything.

[garymiguel]

@marieatthelake Why exactly? First of all, states have called for constitutional conventions in the past. Just not enough for the convention to actually be called, but the fact that the states called for it pressured the Congress into acting.

Secondly, if one does occur, the results of the convention would have to be ratified by 2/3rds of the states.

So what exactly are you worried about?

[ReliableInsider]

Proving once again that the ACLU . . .

is not always right.

[ReliableInsider]

Obviously, the most democratic way to save our democracy is for the voters to spend the next fifty years reading the newspaper carefully every day and electing outstanding governors who get themselves elected President and appoint outstanding Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court who interpret the U.S. Constitution rationally.

But Americans are hesitant to read newspapers because reading newspapers makes them tired.

If we lose our democracy, we'll be much worse than tired.

[garymiguel]

@ReliableInsider The point is not the rationality or irrationality of the constitution. It's an old document, and it needs to be changed to deal with today's reality that Congress is driven by money and not by the public interest.

[ReliableInsider]

@garymiguel

At this point, I'm not sure we could trust a constitutional convention to be infallible any more than we trust Congress. What if they amend the Constitution to eliminate elections altogether and just have Congressional seats distributed by auction to the highest bidder?

That would be so much worse than the current system. . . . wait a minute, that IS the current system.

[ReliableInsider]

I'm afraid of what America might do if it actually held a constitutional convention, since so many of the decisions the powers that be have made in the past twelve years have been insane.

But Lawrence Lessig expresses himself extremely well and I support his ultimate goals completely.

[Snowflake70]

welwell if he actually believed in democray insted of the libreatarion-free-market then he might be worth listing to but what he's saying seems to close to the conservative rehtoric of the tea-party movement.

The only thing that can stop the capitalists in Congress and the White house is an all-class revoultion that demands an end to the imperail wars and a better healthcare system.

[Snowflake70]

Minority voices....Trust says it all. Lead by example! It starts at home. Talk walk - walk the talk. Be responsible, accountable and honest.

It's not rocket science. However it will get us further than any rocket ever will.