Well-Regulated Militias, and More

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Wed Nov 3 11:06:23 PST 1999


Charles Brown wrote:


>No, ANY provision of the Constitution may be changed by the
>Amendment provision. The Senate could be changed to one Senator from
>every state, or 8 from every state. The Senate could be abolished.
>
>Originally, the Senators were elected by the state legislatures and
>not elected by the population.

Um, here's what Article V of the sacred text says:

"The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate."

That last clause sure sounds like it'd be impossible to abolish the Senate under the present Constitution.

By the way, the White House has a section called "major government documents" on its website. They are:

*The Declaration of Independence *The United States Constitution *North American Free Trade Agreement *General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade *OMB Budgets

Sorta shows the Clinton administration's priorities, eh?

Doug



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