A MAGA Convention of States

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For all the insider hand-wringing over the electability of MAGA candidates, the greater impediment to a GOP landslide may be that the party’s Establishment would prefer to avoid an electoral mandate for donor-alienating MAGA policies.  Every actor in the D.C. political drama — from Biden’s handlers to the Establishment to the press — understands that a red tsunami elevates the MAGA/America First movement and its leader, President Trump. 

Without presuming such a victory and thereby failing to earn it, MAGA Republicans should begin planning for how we would translate a landslide victory into enduring policy reforms, should the voters grant us the opportunity.  This includes engaging MAGA voters in “partners discussions” through conservative media.

Seize the Moment with a MAGA Convention of the States

The GOP currently controls both legislative houses in 31 states, if we include unicameral Nebraska.  In the best-case 2022 scenario, Republicans would expand their hold to 38 states — no easy feat.  Why 38?  With 34 state legislatures, Republicans could call a convention of the states (CoS) under Article V to propose amendments to the Constitution.  Thirty-eight GOP legislatures would then be needed to ratify amendments (with fewer than 38 GOP legislatures, amendments would need bipartisan support).  The CoS idea is succinctly described by its advocates here and by its panicked opponents here.

As an example of how Republicans could capitalize on a 2022 red tsunami, I propose the following:

Proposed Amendment 1: End Mass Immigration

This is the obvious amendment.  CoS efforts have thus far emphasized Tea Party–era fiscal concerns.  While these issues are vitally important (see Proposed Amendment 2), the GOP is a now a MAGA party, and a MAGA CoS really must address immigration.  We should amend the Constitution to:

1. End birthright citizenship and limit “natural born” citizenship to the children of citizens and legal immigrants.
2. Require the federal government to remove all unlawfully present foreigners and require full state and local government compliance with these efforts.  
3. Set an annual immigration cap (say, of 200,000) for legal immigrants, illegal aliens, refugees, and asylees.
4. If admissions exceed this cap, the allotment for the subsequent year (and additional years, as needed) is reduced accordingly.  

Establishing an immigration “budget” will force Congress to prioritize.  Does Congress want more engineers or more day laborers?

Proposed Amendment 2: Mandate Originalism

This is the easy amendment.  Professor Randy Barnett proposed the following 13 years ago:

The words and phrases of this Constitution shall be interpreted according to their meaning at the time of their enactment, which meaning shall remain the same until changed pursuant to Article V; nor shall such meaning be altered by reference to the law of nations or the laws of other nations.

To this, we should add clauses

1. Limiting the number of Supreme Court justices to nine and
2. Closing the “treaty loophole” (Barnett’s fourth proposed amendment).  

An originalist mandate will not stop every lawless judge from distorting the plain meaning of text for political ends; however, delegitimizing the idea of a “living Constitution” will help to limit such abuses.

Proposed Amendment 3: Enact a Modified Balanced Budget/”Penny Plan”

This is the difficult amendment.  A balanced budget amendment eliminates or severely restricts deficit spending; however, deficits can be necessary during wars and recessions.  Several balanced budget proposals include waivers for such occasions.

The war problem is especially concerning.  It is a tragic fact that the country is less united and less patriotic today than in years past.  Expect this situation to worsen when today’s CRT-indoctrinated children become tomorrow’s voters.  Imagine a scenario where the United States, led by Republican president and a Democrat Congress, is embroiled in a foreign conflict and, perhaps, a recession as well.  Under the constraints imposed by a balanced budget, what would stop a party comprising the likes of Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Tlaib, and Pressley from demanding maximum policy concessions in exchange for maintaining funding for the war?  Patriotism, you say?  Love of the white supremacist, male, cis-hetero patriarchy?  Unlikely. 

I proposed a limited balanced budget amendment along the following lines:

1. When previous-year federal government expenditures exceeded revenues, the current-year budget is deemed to be “out of balance.”
2. In such cases, spending is reduced 1% across the board from previous-year levels, excepting:
   1. Spending on “minimal state” government functions as historically understood, and
   2. Interest payments on the national debt.
3. Reductions are waived during months in which the economy is in recession.
4. Congress, by simple majority in both houses, and the president may pass an alternative deficit reduction package of the same cost in lieu of the mandated cuts.

Proposed Amendment 4: Nullify Election Fraud

This is the fun amendment.  In cases where a fraudulent election can be proven in federal court,

1. The illegitimately elected official is removed from office along with any official he appointed or cast a deciding vote to confirm.
2. Every policy change for which the fraudulently elected official (or anyone appointed by him) was similarly decisive is likewise revoked.

In the case of a stolen Senate election, any law passed on the strength of the illegitimate Senator’s vote (e.g., 50-49) would be repealed, and any official confirmed by the illegitimate senator’s one vote would resign.

In the (hypothetical, of course) case of a stolen presidential election, every piece of legislation and every executive order signed by the illegitimate president would be revoked.  Every appointed official (including Supreme Court appointees) would resign, and every policy change (e.g., 5-4 court rulings) enacted through the decisive contribution of said appointee(s) would be revoked.   

These are just a few potential amendments for a MAGA CoS.  Others could address

• Deconstructing the administrative state,
• Returning the Interstate Commerce Clause to its historic (i.e., textual) understanding,
• Empowering states to repeal federal laws,
• Repealing the direct election of senators,
• Restricting the Federal Reserve to a price stability mandate, and
• Banning dual citizenship.

If Republicans are lucky enough to win big, they should aim to deliver big. 

Christopher Schorr, Ph.D. is the coauthor of Black Eye for America: How Critical Race Theory Is Burning Down the House.  You can find him at christopherschorr.com and on Gettr @cschorr.

Image via Pixy.

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