Gov. Greg Abbott's 'emergency measure' to urge the Legislature to go on record supporting a 'Convention of States' to come up with new Amendments to the U.S. Constitution has been approved by a State Senate committee, but not without significant opposition from conservative Republicans, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Abbott's proposal would call representatives of two thirds of the states into session under Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution to propose new Amendments. He has suggested conservative favorites like term limits and a Constitutionally mandated balanced federal budget.
But grass roots leader Barbara Harless says the idea of opening up the Constitution to big changes is not where conservatives want to be."Just within the past month or two, five states have repealed their calls for Article 5 Conventions," she said.
Several Tea Party leaders were concerned that the result could be chaos, with 'special interests' taking over the convention and writing Amendments favorable to their for-profit industries.
"What if a real Article 5 Convention proposed Amendments with unintended consequences, that actually increased federal powers and did not restrict them," Harless asked.
Several Senators said the 'ruling class' in Washington will never go along with any restrictions in their power, influence, and money-making abilities, and that's why the Founders placed Article 5 in the Constitution.
But David Coker, an activist from Belton, bristled at the idea that the Constitution is the problem."We must distinguish between defects in the Constitution on one hand, and the federal government's refusal to obey the Constitution on the other hand," he said.
The Convention of States is a tall order regardless of who is in power in Washington. Not only would two thirds of the states have to agree to the Convention, but any Amendments it proposes would have to be aprpoved by three quarters of the states. This at a time when states like Texas and California threaten to 'secede' at the drop of a hat when their candidate loses the Presidency.
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