One nation

State-led Constitution changes are fraught with peril.

Today we associate the Fourth of July with fireworks, barbecues, parades and picnics. But on this national day of celebration, let’s never forget the Declaration of Independence was signed 241 years ago by a remarkable group of men, a gathering of great minds the likes of which our republic hasn’t hosted in centuries.

All of which should give us pause when today’s politicians talk about assembling a convention of contemporary partisans to mess with the Constitution of the United States.

At the urging of Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas recently became the 11th state in the nation to adopt a resolution calling for a convention of states to amend the Constitution. The governor declared this one of his “emergency” priorities for the last session of the Legislature, suggesting this proposal was less about changing the way our nation is governed and more about raising a politician’s national profile.

Anybody who witnessed the behavior of some state lawmakers in the last session of the Legislature needs to think twice about whether these are the kind of people we want monkeying around with the U.S. Constitution. We don’t have many Washingtons, Jeffersons or Hamiltons in Texas government these days, so it’s hard to imagine what kind of delegates we would choose to revise our nation’s most sacred governing document.

The Texas resolution specifically mentions term limits, limiting federal spending and limiting the power Washington exerts over the states. But the goals are much the same in resolutions passed by other states controlled by Republican legislatures. So people who otherwise see themselves as conservatives are embracing this radical notion.

That agenda is part of the reason this is a bad idea. If our country is going to hold a convention to consider fundamental changes to our Constitution, such a gathering should have widespread support from a broad swath of the citizenry. Instead, this is a movement spawned by a fringe group on one side of the nation’s political spectrum.

Given the hyper-partisanship and incendiary nature of civil discourse today, this seems like an especially bad time to revisit the governing document bequeathed to us by our nation’s founders. When people start talking about changing the Constitution, you never know where the discussion will lead.

On this Fourth of July, let’s remember how we’ve always governed our country. If the Constitution needs amending, it can be changed through Congress and the state legislatures. It’s a process that’s worked just fine 27 times.

When all else fails, all we need to do is read the instruction manual: The Constitution of the United States.