There are a lot of misconceptions, half truths and from the establishment outright lies about what an Article V Convention is, could do and would do.
Here is Article V again for reference.
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.
Q. What if it becomes a “runaway” convention?
A. The most popular misconceptioon about an Article V Convention is the “runaway” convention scenario.
First we should examine what IS a runaway convention. It means different things to different people. It assumes that a convention has met to consider and propose amendments on one or more pre-defined topics and then goes on to assume the convention “delegates” stray from the “assigned” topics and propose amendments on unexpected topics. Of course the bogeyman contained in the runaway convention argument assumes the delegates will propose things like eradicating the First Amendment or transferring all private property to Washington or Richmond or perhaps they would adopt the Cuban constitution. Or a variety of similar, if ridiculous, possibilities.
Delegates to a convention would be either appointed by the state legislature or elected. Each state would have ONE vote, no matter the number of delegates they sent to the convention. It would take a majority of the states to put an Amendment out to the states for ratification. Next 3/4ths of the states are required to ratify an amendment before it becomes part of the constitution. So first, even if a majority of states’ delegations were infested with radical progressives or socialists, it would take a majority of delegates from a state to control that state’s vote. That seems unlikely for all but a few states. Second, if they did manage to propose an amendment repealing the First Amendment, for example, it would have no effect until ratified by 38 states. This also seems highly unlikely. States have rejected or failed to ratify about 20% of the Amendments that have been proposed by congress. Most recently with the ERA Amendment, they have shown they are more than capable of rejecting silly or poorly conceived amendments.
The “runaway” convention scare tactic practiced by the establishment is really a baseless bogeyman put forth by folks who are terrified about what an Article V Convention can do to their power. Why do they propagate this idea? Because an Article V Convention does represent a real threat to establishment politicians of EITHER Party. This is a good thing.
A convention convened to rein in federal excess should have the latitude to consider a variety of ways to accomplish that goal.
We have a runaway government. An Article V Convention is how we put the leash back on.
As Thomas Jefferson said, we “must bind it down with the chains of the constitution.”
Q. Wasn’t the original Constitutional Convention a “runaway” convention?
A. No. The convention was called to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation by congress at the request of the states as a result of the Annapolis Convention. The Virginia Plan was used as a framework of the proposed changes. (In the Federalist Papers it was often referred to as The Plan.) The result was reported out to, and approved by, congress and later of course ratified by the states. Had the congress not approved or if fewer than 9 of 13 states elected to ratify The Plan proposed by the Federal Convention; the Articles of Confederation would still be in force today. There was nothing “runaway” about it. Every state ratified the constitution.