Zombie amendments

The state Assembly’s recent move calling for a constitutional convention has prompted me to write about an idea I have been mulling for some time: an amendment to ban zombie amendments (and zombie conventions) (“Assembly urges balanced federal budget,” June 15).

I agree that a new convention is fraught with perils for a Constitution that has served us for more than 200 years. A Journal Sentinel article notes that the assembly’s action brings another state to those that have already called for such a convention but some of these states acted decades ago.

This raises the possibility of a convention that a majority, even a large majority, no longer want but which a few might force by being the latest disgruntled group to act. So, I propose a constitutional amendment to require that the requisite number of states must approve any amendment or call for a convention within a reasonable period of time, say five years. Otherwise, the process would have to start again. Such an antizombie amendment would not prevent change, but would insure that a substantial majority actually want that change at any given time.

I have heard criticism of our Constitution as too hard to change. Perhaps that should be debated openly, while keeping in mind we have managed to make 27 amendments to date.

Randall L. Daut Wauwatosa