Assistant Regional Director Steve Patten and commissioner go behind the scenes at COSF Simulation

Mark Fisher, who served as a Maryland commissioner at the COSF 2023 Simulated Article V Convention, recently spoke with Convention of States Associate Regional Director Steve Patten about Article V of the Constitution and how it can be used to remedy political dysfunction. Fisher has served in the Maryland House of Delegates since 2011 and is the host of the "Mark And The Millennials" show. 

Patten pointed out that the Framers of the Constitution added Article V as a means to amend the nation’s governing document, which they knew to be imperfect. Article V, he explained, is divided into two clauses, the first of which allows amendments to originate with Congress. Thus far, all amendments to the Constitution have come through this method. The second option, however, which allows amendments to originate with the American people, through their state legislators, has never been utilized.

In either scenario, whether an amendment is proposed by Congress or a convention, two-thirds (38) of the states must then ratify it. The major difference between the two approaches is that the federal government, having taken too much power, is unlikely to ever give it back; the Article V convention process completely bypasses Congress, thereby allowing the states to impose amendments a power-hungry Washington would never consent to.

“When they were deciding how they would create amendments to the Constitution in the future, “George Mason, at that point, stood up and said, ‘wait a minute—what if the federal government that we’re creating becomes a tyranny,'" Patten explained. "Who are we going to have to push back on that tyranny and propose amendments to restrain that tyranny?’ And it was unanimously concluded that it should be the states. That is why the federal government is completely kept out of the second way to amend the Constitution.”

To learn more about the process, watch the full interview below, in which Fisher and Patten share behind-the-scenes insights about the Simulation.


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