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 Constitutional Amendment Process
and Constitutional Convention Procedures

There are 27 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.  The seventeenth amendment rewrote the election of U.S. Senators. It removed the several states controlling its two Senators. Our national crisis is non-partisan; grave issues influence everyone. The  17th Amendment needs repealing as a giant first step.  By doing so, voters are able to stop an ever widening growth pattern of the federal government. Citizens of each state can reclaim their U.S. senators to act on behalf  their state priorities.

The Amendment Process:

State ratifying conventions are one of the two methods established by Article V of the United States Constitution for ratifying constitutional amendments.  Ratifying conventions have only been used for the ratification of the 21st Amendment.  All others have been proposed for ratification by the state legislatures. (wikipedia.org)

The two basic methods spelled out for proposing a new amendment in Article V of the Constitution are:

     I. The first method is for a bill to pass both houses of Congress,
        by a two-thirds majority in each.  Once the bill has passed both
        houses, it goes on to the states.
        This is the route taken by all current amendments.  Because of
        some long outstanding amendments, such as the 27th, Congress
        will normally put a time limit (typically seven years) for the bill to be
        approved as an amendment (for example, see the 21st and 22nd.
    II. The second method prescribed is for a specific limited Constitutional
        Convention to be called by  two-thirds of the legislatures of the several States,
        and for that Convention to propose one or more amendments.  Such a
        convention is about one item or change.  An amendment is then
        sent to the states to be approved by three-fourths of state legislatures
        or conventions.

      However, a third unwritten and untested method for amending is
        a direct vote by voters of each state.  The idea was suggested at
        the Philadelphia convention by a Federalist, Mr. James Wilson
        (1787).  Only one of the above means has been utilized: a
        constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the states.

The bigger our federal bureaucracy  grows, the greater the corruption.
Compelling Benefits for undoing five decades of federal power are:

1. Restore the original intent of U.S. Senators: an advisory board

2. Cut federal bureaucracy in the Senate and reduce committees, spilling into the Executive Branch.

3. Restore States guaranteed powers under Amendment Ten.
   More Money to the States: An important component that will prove beneficial to the several states is taxes!  Each State needs money; better to keep monies at home than to send to the federal government in far away D.C. Allow the voters with in each state to elect officials who can best allocate tax revenues for their individual state
        Money is the key factor in growth and it is the key motivator for the several states. Each State needs money, and they need it yesterday. The repeal of the 17^th, as a stand-alone Constitutional Amendment, gets them no money. But a combination where the states control tax money as well as their U.S. Senator necessitates the power and the programs returning to the states.  Each States would become a capitalistic entity, competing with one another for business and people’s purchasing power.  From a completive, capitalistic perspective, State would reduce their size and scope of their governments

4.  Give the voters a more direct and powerful voice in who their Senators shall be. ( At present, Senators disappear for six years, until next election cycle.)

5. Make Senators accountable to their State Legislators, who have the ability to recall them.

6. The people's disenchantment with their Senator would be aired locally! The distance for affirmative action is as close as the state capitol and its legislature. Senators would represent their state and the people's need within that state.

7. All politics is local!  Prior to ratifying the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, citizens saw more of their Senators. They voted for their choice, and state legislatures appointed the popular choice.. The best know example is the famous Lincoln and Douglas debates; Lincoln lost to Douglas, who was appointed to the Senate by the Illinois State legislature.

Call for a Constitutional Convention to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment through state legislatures.

Read the U.S. Constitution on:
http://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_item/constitution.htm

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The Framers of the Constitution established election of senators by state legislators, under which system the nation got the Great Triumvirate (Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and John Calhoun) and thrived. In 1913, progressives, believing that more, and more direct, democracy is always wonderful, got the 17th Amendment ratified. It's time for repeal.