Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, should know better than to call for a new federal constitutional convention. He has a master's degree in history and is doing his Ph.D. in the same field.
But on Monday Haridopolos, running in the 2012 Republican primary to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, ignored the lessons of history when he announced that he is sponsoring a measure in the Legislature calling for a federal constitutional convention to place an amendment requiring the federal government to balance the budget.
These are critical times for our country, said Haridopolois. The federal government is $14 trillion in debt and leaders in Congress needed the threat of a government shutdown before making a modest reduction in the countrys deficit.
My call for a constitutional convention comes out of concern that our leaders in Washington wont do what Florida and other states already do balance the budget, added Haridopolos. "This resolution is an attempt to force them to do whats right to save Americas future.
The lack of a requirement to balance the federal budget means Congress needs additional willpower to end deficit spending, and its clear that some will never attempt to do so unless mandated to do so, continued Haridopolos. Facing another vote on whether to raise the nations debt ceiling, Congress should follow the Florida Senates lead in passing a constitutional amendment to control spending now.
Under Article V of the Constitution, a new constitutional convention can be called if two-thirds of the states approve of it and 21 other states have called for one to pass a balanced budget amendment. Haridopolos team noted that his measure would revoke its support if the convention meets for any other purpose.
Theres the rub. History shows that constitutional reform, even when called for a specific purpose, can often lead to drastic and fundamental changes. Since 1787, while there have been calls for new constitutional conventions, specifically during the secession crisis that took place 150 years ago, not a single one has been convened. Theres a reason for that.
At the Annapolis Convention in 1786, leaders called for a Grand Convention to meet the next year which would amend the Articles of Confederation. Somehow. during the long, hot summer of 1787, the Grand Convention proposed a new Constitution and system of government altogether. When leaders of Southern states, which had just voted to leave the Union, met in Montgomery in early 1861 to discuss what to do next, spurred by Alexander Stephens of Georgia, they went beyond their initial authority, created the Confederate Constitution and then declared themselves to be a Provisional Congress. And when Louis XVI called the Estates-General in 1789 to pass tax reform, he unwittingly opened the Pandoras box of the French Revolution which would eventually cost him his throne and his life.
While he was best known for his earlier works, the great Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, an icon for conservatives due to his opposition to the Soviet Union, considered the four volumes of The Red Wheel to be his finest literary achievement. They certainly offer a grim warning to modern readers. In November 1916, which is one of the two volumes of the work translated into English, Solzhenitsyn takes readers to the last days of tsarist Russia where it seems every worker, professor, soldier, writer, librarian and politician called for reform. While the likes of Alexander Kerensky and the much more moderate Alexander Guchkov planned a provisional government more in line with the Western democracies, there were other political leaders also launching schemes -- as Solzhenitsyn shows Vladimir Lenin in Switzerland planning to take advantage of the chaos in Russia.
Solzhenitsyns portrayal of Kerensky and Guchkov could be applied throughout history since calls for constitutional and political reform often accelerate and lead to drastic results far from what its original backers hoped. Its the painful lesson Kerensky and Guchkov learned less than a century ago. Its the lesson that Jacques Pierre Brissot, Pierre Vergniaud, Tom Paine and the other Girondist leaders learned as they unsuccessfully fought with Robespierre and the more radical Mountain faction to lead Paris during the French Revolution.
While Haridopolos should be commended for his insistence on fighting for a balanced federal budget, calling for a new federal constitutional convention is not the way to go.
"Let experience be our guide, wrote John Dickinson, one of the most influential of the founders who was at the 1787 convention (if you know him only from the musical 1776, you will find he was actually much more committed to the American cause). Reason may mislead us."
And experience -- the weight of history -- shows that calling a new constitutional convention is akin to playing with fire.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
