You know, if Daily Kos is worried, I should be ecstatic:
That's why I'm writing today about a growing movement in far-right circles that sounds like a bunch of crackpots, but could actually pose a serious danger to our democracy. Spurred on by Mark Levin and others, there is a grass-roots conservative movement to convene an Article V convention of the States to amend the Constitution by enacting so-called "Liberty Amendments" that would eliminate the popular election of Senators, require a balanced federal budget, prohibit the federal government from any activity conducted by the states (including healthcare), effectively eliminate the commerce clause and the general welfare clause, enact term limits on judges and enable the States to overturn judicial decisions, impose nation-wide voter id laws, and enshrine several other far-right hobbyhorses as Constitutional imperatives. And this movement has support from people who should know better, like state representatives from Indiana and Georgia. While obviously on the fringe now, these sorts of things have a tendency to become mainstream conservative thought if unchecked.
But, alas, I agree with the writer that the call for an Article V convention is unlikely to become "mainstream conservative thought." There are worriers at that end of the political spectrum, too, who also fear a convention would get out of control. But anything that comes out of a convention would have to be ratified by three-fourth of the states. If we really think three-quarters of the states would approve of something dangerously radical, maybe it's time to give up on this whole experiment.
I must say, though, that it is a pleasure to consider myself one of of the far-right crackpots loathed by these lefty loonies.
