Real Reform, Part 2: The Allosaurus in the Room

Source: mrwynd from Denver, USA/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0

“Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.”

― Frank Herbert

This post picks up from Real Reform, Part1: Introduction. It addresses the Allosaurus in the room: Congress. The Allosaurus was a highly successful carnivore who liked to hunt and dine on Stegosaurus, as shown in the picture of the two skeletons. At the risk of engaging in melodrama, today’s political class is like the Allosaurus chowing down on the Republic.

Expecting Congress to reform itself is like asking an Allosaurus to transform into a vegetarian and protect the Stegosaurus. But the situation is perhaps more like the vampires in Jim Butchers’ books feeding on slaves and protecting the slave from other predators. In a way, it is symbiotic, but still the vampire feeds on the slave. The political class is the vampires and the citizenry are the slaves the political class feeds upon.

In Butcher’s books, the hero, Harry Dresden, kills the king vampire and the entire edifice he created crumbles. Yeah, I know it is fiction, but sometimes fiction has some interesting insights. The head needs to go to heal the body. In Congress, the head is the entrenched leadership. That needs to go.

The Constitution gives us a way to do this—voting. The trouble is they addicted the slaves to what the head does and continually vote them in. There is another remedy, however, Constitutional amendments. The trouble is that we cannot let Congress handle it. They have proven singularly uninterested or unable to get it done.

But the Constitution gives us another remedy: a Convention of the States. If 37 states approve it, the states can call for a constitutional convention to amend the constitution.

Source: https://conventionofstates.com/states-that-have-passed-the-convention-of-states-article-v-application

Green states have passed the resolution. Blue states have current legislation. Yellow states have passed it one chamber of the legislative body, but not the other. The effort is over halfway (19) to the required 37. 7 states need to pass it in one other chamber. Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming, are considering legislation in 2023.

I suspect we need to forget the Congress route and focus on the states that have action in 2023 on the Conference of States. If it does not go through in 2023, we need to make a major issue at the state level elections and get candidates to commit to passing the legislation in 2024.

But getting 37 states to approve the convention is just the first, and perhaps the easiest step. We then need to set an effective agenda for real reform at the conference and get it passed. Here is a start on agenda items for real reform:

• Constitutional Amendment for term limits for all politicians. One term in the Senate and 3 terms in the House. Members of Congress cannot run for political office again and cannot work in the lobbyist industry.
• Amend Article 1, Section 2 and Section 3 to provide for security checks and clearance approval for clearance to run for election and education and cognitive assessments for all candidates. Amend Article 2 to provide for the same security, education, and cognitive requirements as the Congress.
• Amend Article 1, Section 6 to provide for severe punishment for political corruption. Implement an independent oversight body to investigate and trial procedures. Keep this out of the federal bureaucracy.
• Repeal or modify the 14^th Amendment to remove the anchor baby.
• Repeal or modify the 16^th Amendment to curtain Congressional spending and stop the transfer of wealth from state to state. Require a balanced budget and independent audits.
• Repeal or modify the 17^th Amendment to restore the senate to a federal body that represents the states.
• Repeal or modify the 23^rd Amendment to help restore federalism.
• Modify the 27^th Amendment to force a popular vote for any change in salary or other benefits. Tie congressional salaries GDP or some other accepted standard of national economic performance and wealth.
• Make congressional representatives subject to all laws they pass and to have the same healthcare and other programs they vote for citizens.

Just as the original Constitution Convention required a lot of debate and compromise, this second convention will require it again. However, rather than the secret convention in 1787, this convention must be transparent and avoid abominations that allowed slavery to exist. I understand that was a compromise to allow the document to be approved, but it cast a terrible shadow over the Constitution and undermined some of its moral authority. I understand virtue may be somewhat out of vogue in politics, but for this, we need true virtue.