America might see a new constitutional convention in a few years

Economist magazine says that a Constitutional Convention is likely. World respected international political magazine - the Economist - releases a new article that says: An article V Con Con is likely.

Liberals actually do support this. [Economist Full Story].

A Harvard professor says it is the only way to deal with money in politics. Some American states did earlier pull out of supporting the Con Con but, at this point, most states seem to be joining and happily supporting the cause.

“There are now 27 states in which the legislatures have passed resolutions calling for a convention that would propose a balanced-budget amendment. The two-thirds-of-the-states threshold for calling a convention is 34. And, as it happens, there are seven states which have not yet called for a convention to propose a balanced-budget amendment, but in which Republicans control both houses of the legislature.”

“The earliest all seven could plausibly make the call is 2019, because Montana’s legislature is not in session again until then. Bill Fruth, a co-founder of the BBATF, says that by that point he hopes to have the other six in the bag. If he does, then a convention would be on the cards.”

“Although the most successful Article V campaigners have been conservatives, some on the left like the idea, too. They think the status quo is defective, that constitutional fixes need to be applied and that a convention ostensibly called for the purposes of a balanced-budget amendment might, once in session, be convinced to widen its ambit and consider other amendments too.”

“Arguments like this have worked in some more liberal states. Delaware, which passed an application for a balanced-budget amendment in 1976, rescinded it last year; New Mexico, Maryland and Nevada followed suit in 2017. But that tactic seems to have run out of room; none of the remaining 27 states looks likely to rescind.”

“An Article V convention has a prominent advocate in Lawrence Lessig, an idealistic law professor at Harvard, who argues that it is the only way to achieve campaign-finance reform.”