I've only read the abstract. I feel no need to read the entire 37 page paper. This topic might be interesting to a philosopher, but I don't think it has any practical significance.
We had a flurry of amendments to the US constitution back in the 1960s. Since then, in 1971 we gave 18 year olds the right to vote. There was only one other amendment since then, in 1992, and it was "housekeeping". It delayed salary changes for legislators until after the next election.
I'm old enough to remember the contentious proposed Equal Rights Amendment. [1] It kicked around for years in the 1970s but was never ratified.
Since then, nothing. And, given the political climate in the USA (the "red state" vs "blue state" dichotomy) it's unlikely that any new amendment would pass anytime soon, unless it was necessary to solve a very very critical problem. It's hard to believe that an amendment to change Article V would ever pass both houses of Congress then get ratified by 38 states.
You're right. That would be "interesting". Perhaps even "May you live in interesting times".[1]
It's definitely a wildcard.
The last time it was "threatened" is over 100 years ago. According to Wiki, Congress then passed [2] the 17th amendment:
for fear that such a convention—if permitted
to assemble—might stray to include issues above
and beyond just the direct election of U.S. Senators
It's sad that each and every state has to maintain at least the pretense of a balanced budget, and yet the Federal government is utterly incapable of doing so. I wonder how different things might be if the 17th amendment never was ratified, if each state's Senators were still directly appointed by each state legislature? Would the states be able to more effectively check the growth of Federal power?
We had a flurry of amendments to the US constitution back in the 1960s. Since then, in 1971 we gave 18 year olds the right to vote. There was only one other amendment since then, in 1992, and it was "housekeeping". It delayed salary changes for legislators until after the next election.
I'm old enough to remember the contentious proposed Equal Rights Amendment. [1] It kicked around for years in the 1970s but was never ratified.
Since then, nothing. And, given the political climate in the USA (the "red state" vs "blue state" dichotomy) it's unlikely that any new amendment would pass anytime soon, unless it was necessary to solve a very very critical problem. It's hard to believe that an amendment to change Article V would ever pass both houses of Congress then get ratified by 38 states.
Not. Gonna. Happen.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Rights_Amendment