While Congress is the route by which all amendments have been historically proposed, there is another way: calls by the legislatures of 2/3rds (34 today) of the states to hold the “convention for proposing amendments” mentioned in Article V, frequently referred to as an Article V Convention. This is both the first method to appear in drafts of the Constitution and a means for the states to exercise their rights and address Constitutional issues in which Congress is part of the problem, intended to guard against tyranny by the federal government. It also presents state legislators, who are more in tune with the needs of their constituents and not dependent on wealthy donors and special interests for survival, with the opportunity to represent the People when Congress becomes unresponsive to them.
Congress has previously tried and failed to enact exact rules for how an Article V Convention would be run, authority over which the body is generally recognized as having under the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution. The general idea though is that all 50 states would select delegates to send, the delegates would brainstorm and come up with amendment language they can largely agree on in consideration of the high ratification threshold (3/4ths of the states, 38 today), and their proposal would be passed on to Congress, which would then send it out to the states for ratification.
We of Delaware Get Money Out don’t believe we have the best solution to the issue of money in politics; we don’t even necessarily agree on what that would look like. Rather, we see the need to bring together the diverse perspectives of elected citizens and state/local official to have a worthwhile conversation, to deliberate over potential solutions without the input of entrenched legislators or special interests. The Convention is where that conversation will take place, not Congress.
