#206 "Let's Amend the Constitution"

Speaking of money and politics, the Supreme Court's over-ruling, the Dodd amendment, Common Cause, and cabbages and kings (q.v. last post)--the title above is actually a FaceBook group-page set up by a hot-headed lawyer in South Carolina, of all places. He also happens to be a son of mine. Consider him "team-member" for the day.

His is a grass-roots effort to let the People clean up the hen house. After all, Why leave it to a fox like Sen. Christopher Dodd--who ultra-ironically has his own sullied past vis a vis moneyed interests in the Capitol lobby (AIG-gate)--or any other member of a corrupted Congress that has thus far failed to police itself? The People can do it, constitutionally as all hell, through successful petition of two-thirds of their state legislatures. To quote my son (and How often does this happen on Planet Earth?)--

My concept was to form as broad a group as possible, not to pander to any particular ideology, and maybe, with the power of numbers, leverage some change in the way Washington D.C. does business. I think that Independents, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Greens can all agree that money wields too great an influence on our Congress and I tried to make this group about changing that.

It's really, though, the THREAT that counts. Like me, he believes that an actual Constitutional Convention would be a precarious thing in perilous times. In addition to opening the floor to all species of radical agenda here at home, there's the external danger to worry about. As he reminds us in a private email:

I agree, a Constitutional convention at this time in our history could have unpleasant effects, especially if Al Qaeda strikes in the midst of such a convention ... but if I get enough folks that are voters , it is possible that the pressure and publicity of such a group [and others, I would add] could get some changes done in Washington.

If any BlogManFans out there would like to have more information, to comment, to sign-up, etc., click on the site here. But let me directly quote one clause of the proposed amendment to give you the flavor of the thing:

No lobbyist, corporation, non-profit entity, association, or person acting on behalf of such may provide to a member of congress, or other Federal employee any gift exceeding the cost of a cup of coffee in a single day.

Now, if the cost of the Starbucks Grande keeps escalating, or the cup of coffee has its provenance in the digestive tract of an Indonesian palm-civet--that protocol might itself have to be amended.
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