Some readers may be aware of our previous substack guest written by Christian Gomez for the John Birch Society, titled "Article V Convention Threatens Liberty". Suffice to say, the response that essay generated reminded me of this famous quote:

Nay, fly to Altars; there they'll talk you dead;
For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.

Alexander Pope "An essay on criticism", 1709

Lesson learned. My intention was to provide a forum for discussion of this topic, and by god a discussion certainly did ensue. I will spare you the details, but it certainly played a role in Jill and I lately starting to feel a bit like a pair of kicked dogs.

One positive thing which came out of this was that I was contacted by leadership from the Convention of States organization, we discussed their point of view, and I suggested that they write an essay which I would post on this substack to provide a counterpoint.

As preface to their essay posted below, their legal council asked that I note the following:

1: The Convention of States under Article V has no power to rewrite the constitution, or even to amend the constitution. It only may propose amendments, just as Congress can. 38 states must ratify each proposed amendment.

2: The Convention of States cannot propose amendments to any issue it wants. Previous attempts at calling Article V conventions have resulted in SCOTUS precedents stating that all amendments are limited to the subjects of a convention's petition. The petition signed by 19 states to date limits amendments to those that "impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, or limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress". Proposed amendments outside those subjects could be struck down by SCOTUS and not eligible for ratification by the states.