The State of the Article V Convention Battle

Yesterday I suggested that progressives should reconsider the wisdom of increasing the weight and impact of decisions made in the current political environment. Although supported by only a small minority of progressives, efforts to call an Article V convention are the most dramatic efforts to raise the stakes. They also are the most irresponsible. Progressive proponents of an Article V convention initially insisted that a convention was essential to campaign finance reform. This did not make much sense for several reasons, including the relative unpopularity of their vision of such reform with the public and the difficulty of devising politically plausible reforms that corporations and the ultra-rich could not readily evade. Most significantly, a progressive outcome from an Article V convention is effectively precluded by the solid majority that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its allies would hold in such a convention. The Center for Media and Democracy surveyed…