Here’s a proposed amendment to the Constitution I can get behind!
(Thanks to Carleen for sending this one to me.

There are two methods available under Article 5 of the United States Constitution to amend it. One method is for two-thirds of states legislatures to call for a constitutional convention at which new amendments may be proposed, subject to ratification by three-fourths of the states. The constitutional convention method allows for the Constitution to be amended by the actions of states alone and cuts Congress out of the equation. No congressional vote or approval is required. This has always sounded like a great idea to me, but it’s never been done.

The other method requires that the proposed amendment be approved by both houses of Congress by a two-thirds majority, and then ratified by three-fourths of the states. This is the route that has been taken by all 27 amendments so far.

There are dozens and dozens of proposed amendments out there. Many of them are actually proposed in Congress every year. (But they never get any further than that.) All you have to do is search for “28th Amendment” and you can read the different ideas all night long. Some of them are pretty funny, too!

It’s interesting to me that the most recent amendment, number 27, goes directly at the heart of the discontent felt by a huge majority of Americans. We just don’t like Congress! According to Gallup, only about a quarter of us approve of Congress as a whole.* Number 27 seeks to hit them in the pocketbook:

“No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.”

In other words, if they vote themselves a raise, they have to face the voters before they get the money. Good idea!!**

The health bills passed by the two houses – still up for grabs at this moment – both have one feature in common: They don’t apply to the members of Congress. You see … they have their own health plans. And they’re purple velvet lined health plans. If you happen to have a pre-existing condition and you can’t get health insurance, just get yourself elected to Congress. That’ll solve the problem!

Here’s an idea:

Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.

I mean, what’s fair for the goose is fair for the gander, right? Call it the “Equal Wrongs” amendment.

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* What’s the matter with that last quarter??? Are they not paying attention? And, why oh why can’t voters apply this rule to their own congressional representation? “Vote the bums out!” is something that people say a lot but they heartbreakingly seldom actually do it.

** It only took 202 years, too. This amendment was originally proposed in 1789 and is the second one proposed. Another interesting fact is that it was finally ratified only after a grass roots movement, started by University of Texas student Gregory Watson in 1982, succeeded in getting enough state legislatures to pass it.