Opinion: Amendments Convention a trap

Roosevelt County has stepped into a trap. Convening a U.S. Amendments Convention would be a mistake.

The Bill of Rights already contains the most important Constitutional amendments and the federal government usually disobeys it. The feds interpret those amendments into nothingness any time one would stand in the way of government doing something it wants to do.

The fundamental human right to own and carry weapons? Government illegally decides what kind of weapons it will allow the people to keep and bear, which people it will allow to exercise their rights, where those rights will be allowed, what kind of government fees will be charged, and it regularly throws people in prison for exercising the right in a way government doesn’t like.

It’s also an amendment many people would repeal.

Any faction that doesn’t like any of the amendments in the Bill of Rights will claim it can simply pass another amendment to change it. Of course, alter any part of the Bill of Rights and the whole deal is off; the federal government can pack up and leave the country.

The only justification for amending the Constitution is to close loopholes that allow tyranny to sneak in; to place more rights off-limits to legislation and more limits on government. New amendments would need to restrain government, not the people.

I don’t trust politically motivated people to amend the Constitution responsibly, but to try to buy votes with tyrannical amendments their base wants.

What if they did stick to limiting government power? History suggests it won’t work any better now than it has over the past 2 1/2 centuries. Government will not be limited.

How about adding an amendment to strengthen the rest? I’m talking about an enforcement amendment, spelling out exactly what the penalty would be for any government employee who violates any part of the Constitution; hot tar and feathers or a rope being historically appropriate fates. This is the only sort of amendment I would support. It won’t work. As long as government gets to investigate itself, it will keep finding it did nothing wrong. Or someone would find a way to use it against the people.

The best use for the Constitution at this time in history is to illustrate how criminal the U.S. federal government has become. Inviting more amendments won’t turn out well for anyone other than those who won’t let a document restrain their power.

Farwell’s Kent McManigal champions liberty. Contact him at:

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