Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 17, 1995 TAG: 9504180064
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL FARRIS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Do the citizens of this nation have no real alternative but to wait for 1996 and hope that more Democrats and cross-dressing Republicans are replaced by conservatives who will support both a strong balanced-budget amendment and true term limits?
There is an alternative. Thirty-two state legislatures have passed resolutions calling for a constitutional convention for the limited purpose of proposing a balanced-budget amendment. It takes only two more states to reach the magic number of 34 necessary to convene a convention.
The Constitution provides two ways to propose amendments: either two-thirds of each house of Congress can propose an amendment, or two-thirds of the state legislatures can petition for a constitutional convention. Delegates for a convention would be picked in the states by a variety of methods - normally election by the voters.
The GOP takeover of both houses of Congress convincingly demonstrates that we will never get an amendment that places real curbs on the power of Congress from Congress no matter which party is in control. It is high time for us to employ the alternative method of a constitutional convention for amending the Constitution.
A provision that required any income-tax increase to be passed by a 60 percent majority was defeated in the far more conservative House of Representatives. There wasn't a snowball's chance that the Senate would place any limit on their own ability to raise taxes. In a constitutional convention controlled by people chosen at the state level, the likely amendment would require Congress to muster a two-thirds majority vote to raise any tax.
If Congress ever passes term limits, its members will likely allow 12 years of service in both the House and Senate. One version floating in Congress makes a former member of either house re-eligible after sitting out a measly two years.
If a constitutional convention is convened, the limits would undoubtedly be six years of the House and 12 for the Senate - with no right of re-entry.
The people and the states were given a method to limit the ability of the federal government to aggrandize its own power. We have no one to blame but ourselves if we don't use it promptly to rid our nation of a debt-ridden budget and the lifetime incumbents who gave it to us.
Some of my fellow conservatives are vehemently opposed to the concept of a constitutional convention. They fear that such a convention will be hijacked by the forces of liberalism and a runaway convention will abolish limited government and religious freedom and attempt other mischievous changes. These fear-based arguments ignore both constitutional procedures and political realities.
A constitutional convention can only propose amendments. Amendments become final only when approved by the legislatures in 38 states. Even if a proposal to eliminate the First Amendment, for example, could get a majority vote in a convention, it is ludicrous to suggest that such a proposal would ever be ratified by 38 state legislatures.
An additional line of defense is available in the courts. When Congress changed the rules concerning the time limit for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, I was lead counsel for a contingent of legislators from Washington state who sued to stop the actions of a runaway Congress. We joined with fellow legislators from Idaho and Arizona to successfully challenge the constitutionality of the congressional manipulation of the amending process. Although the Supreme Court later vacated the case because it became moot, the historical principles we developed in that case are still readily available.
Some conservatives also fear that if enough state legislatures call for a convention for one or both of these limited purposes, the convention may create proposed amendments on different subjects. If that happens, state legislators can swiftly employ our ERA litigation to shut down such a misuse of authority.
Every day that Congress is in session, a constitutional convention is open and doing business. But we will be holding our collective breath forever if we expect Congress, our permanent "convention," to limit deficit-spending power or impose term limits.
It is time to bypass the bipartisan power elite in Washington. Let's have a constitutional convention. Let's propose real term limits. Let's put in a real balanced-budget amendment that will force spending cuts, not easy tax increases.
Like a lot of issues in politics, it is ultimately a question of trust. Who do you trust to stop the congressional power grab? Congress? Or a convention of ordinary citizens chosen at the state level? If you answered Congress, I've got some Mexican stocks I'd like to sell you at a real fair price.
Michael Farris is a constitutional lawyer and was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1993.
by CNB