North Texas Daily

Sidney Johnson | Staff Writer

@Sidjohn87

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is leading the charge for the first constitutional convention in almost 230 years.

He is attempting to amend the U.S. Constitution, claiming that the federal government has become too powerful and should be restrained. Critics from both parties have come out since Abbott introduced his plan.

The nine-part proposal has plenty of noteworthy provisions, such as prohibiting federal intervention in states affairs and overriding Supreme Court decisions, just to name a few. Some may believe Gov. Abbott is going too far but, under Article V of our Constitution, it is his right to do so. It would be understandable to give him the benefit of the doubt, if he didn’t sound so paranoid.

“The Supreme Court is a co-conspirator in abandoning the Constitution.”

It is unclear where this sentiment comes from, but with gems like this, it can only be assumed from the likes of Alex Jones and the scholars at Infowars or other “news sources” operating out of local storage units.

There are two ways to amend our Constitution: by either a two-thirds vote in both chambers of congress, or by two-thirds of state legislators agreeing to the amendment. In either case, the proposed amendment can only become effective if it is then ratified by three-fourths of states, which rounds up to 38. Our Governor has decided to walk the road less traveled by taking the latter.

An approved amendment through the route chosen has yet to be done in the U.S.’s near 240-year history, and when proposing giving state’s power to overturn federal law – flipping the constitution on its head – you probably won’t get what you’re asking.

But wait. There’s rhyme to this reason.

The GOP currently controls 68 out of 98 partisan state legislative chambers, the highest amount in history. Since Abbott only needs a two-thirds vote for the constitutional convention, it’s easy to see why he would strike while the iron is hot. This isn’t to say that every Republican legislator will join Abbott’s cause, but it does mean that they are more likely to be swayed if this gains traction and placing pressure on those that may otherwise disagree.

In reality, Abbott and the GOP have gone so far right that it has become difficult to understand how anything is agreed upon at any level of government.

There is a paranoid suspicion held within the party, and it will be interesting to see where it goes from here. If they tank, you have a few reasons stated above as to why, but if they succeed and continue down this path of unfounded distrust, what does that reveal about the core of our nation? Would it be a surprise, or evidence of something many Americans have known for a very long time?