I am really fed up with progressives pushing having a Constitutional Convention. I mean really.
I am going to be blunt:
How fucking ignorant are you and what rock have you been living under?
If you think calling a Constitutional Convention to repeal the 2nd Amendment, strengthen the 4th, codify a right to health care, whatever progressive vision you have… just know the right has been asking for a Constitutional Conventions for years.
Which side do you think would prevail? Do you think we would emerge from that with a more progressive country, or do you think progressive would end up being screwed and our task made even more difficult?
IF THERE IS EVER A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, OUR SIDE WOULD NOT WIN ANYTHING.
They elected an idiot President by losing by 3 million in the popular vote. Do you really think the media, and the lazy mainstream journalists would actually report what is happening? Who do you think out-organizes us — ALEC and the Koch Brothers? We can’t even agree that Hillary would be a better President than Trump.
SO please please please just stop agreeing with the right and asking for one.
What would THEY want at a Constitutional Convention?
Texas governor Greg Abbott wishes to “restore the rule of law foundation on which this country was built.” He seeks to amend the Constitution to allow states to override Supreme Court opinions that declare state laws unconstitutional
Jeb Bush has jumped on the bandwagon with a November 2016 Wall Street Journal op-ed supporting the effort. Bush and others cite the need to amend the Constitution so as to remove the application to the states of the federal Commerce Clause, not mentioning that it is the Commerce Clause that allowed federal courts to overrule on federal constitutional grounds state laws that prohibited minorities from renting hotel rooms and eating in restaurants under Jim Crow.
Truth-out has a list of six things they want
Limit the Power of the Purse
J.D. Mesnard, Speaker of the Arizona House, suggested that delegates could go far beyond merely requiring a balanced budget; they could propose an amendment to require a supermajority (two-thirds) vote in Congress to raise taxes, or to mandate that the states give consent to raise the national debt limit. Likewise, conservatives left a 2016 simulated convention having proposed a repeal of the 16th Amendment.
Limit Federal Office Terms (this is why calling for term limits is falling into a rightwing ploy)
Outlaw Flag Burning
Faith-based Amendments
they would push for constitutional rights to "school choice" and school prayer. Eliminating marriage equality has been a tenet in four of the five past GOP platforms, and it accounts for one-third of the "faith-driven" resolutions introduced by members of Congress...Additionally, if consistency is a good indicator, the "human life" amendment is conservatives' constitutional North Star. Without fail, proposals to restrict abortion severely or outlaw it entirely have been included in Republican Party platforms from the last two decades.
Increase Veto Powers
Restrict Citizenship and Non-Citizen Rights
Immigration is also a popular topic of conservatives seeking constitutional reform. Republicans have proposed 14 resolutions to repeal birthright citizenship -- a 14th Amendment guarantee that reversed the Dred Scott decision. They've introduced half as many resolutions to make English the official language of the US. Finally, some in Congress would like to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in Evenwel v. Abbot by amending the Constitution to mandate that states ignore non-citizens in redistricting.
If that sounds like a nightmare… recognize that many of these (commerce clause) are in the weeds details that are not going to get reported fairly or accurately. I promise you if you think it’s tough holding elected legislators and delegates accountable to not sell out, just wait.
So please please please fellow progressives. STOP CALLING FOR CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS. You won’t win. And it plays right into their hands.