The conservative battle for a Constitutional Convention.

Robert Reich
8.23.2016

The right-wing coup d’etat continues. Conservative advocacy groups bankrolled by the Koch brothers are quietly marshaling support for a constitutional convention to get a balanced budget – amendment, among other nefarious right-wing goals. The plan rests on Article 5 of the Constitution allowing states to draft their own constitutional amendments whenever two-thirds of their legislatures demand it.

With Republicans controlling so many state legislatures, 28 states have already adopted resolutions calling for a convention on a balanced-budget amendment, including 10 in the past three years, and two, Oklahoma and West Virginia, this spring. That’s just six states short of the 34 needed.

Not only would a balanced-budget amendment be bonkers – preventing government from being the purchaser of last resort when consumers and businesses aren’t spending enough to keep the economy going – but such a convention could easily spiral out of control. There’s no historic precedent: All other 27 amendments to the Constitution have come through the alternative (and safer) route requiring a vote of two-thirds of both houses of Congress to propose an amendment, followed by ratification by three-fourths of the states.

Once convened, a constitutional convention could stray far beyond its assigned purpose – for example, amending the constitution to bar same-sex marriage or abortion, limit government’s power to tax, eliminate the distinction between church and state, and limit eligibility for citizenship. The only certainty is that a constitutional convention convened by the right will not reverse “Citizens United.” If anything, it would further entrench America’s oligarchy, including the Koch brothers.

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