This was published in Liberty, Liberally; check out the printed version in the latest edition of The People's Paper, available all over the Mat-Su Valley!
Defend Our Constitution!… From Our Constitution?
I’ve been giving some serious consideration to the question of the Constitutional Convention, since all these ‘Defend Our Constitution’ ads started bombarding me. I’ve done some research into the subject, including the perspectives of the proponents of a Constitutional Convention as well, and I have some thoughts.
First and foremost, the Alaska Constitution literally includes the requirement that we consider a Constitutional Convention on the ballot every ten years. So, if the Alaska Constitution is so great, as the Defend Our Constitution ads repetitiously remind us, then what about this part? The part that says we, the people of Alaska, should consider having a Constitutional Convention every ten years? Are they claiming to defend the Alaska Constitution from the Alaska Constitution?
We must assume that the Constitution of Alaska provides this as an opportunity to correct against something. What could it be? Why might we need, according to the Alaska Constitution, a convention to affect that document? After all, we have the legislature to do that. Our elected representatives are supposed to re-present the will of the people, right? So why did the framers of the Alaska Constitution, at their own Constitutional Convention, include this caveat that we weigh the merits of another Constitutional Convention every decade?
The only rational reason why this ballot question is required by the Alaska Constitution is because the framers knew that legislatures - and state governments - can get off course. The great Alaskans who wrote our Constitution knew that the legislative amendment process might not suffice in the ongoing experiment of a more perfect union. They knew that the people might get fed up with the legislature one day, and they gave us a way to bypass them if needed. They wrote it into the Constitution, so that we can defend against those who would subvert the spirit of the law.
If the legislature isn’t getting the job done, then we, the people of Alaska, can step in and get it done. That’s the constitutional function of the Constitutional Convention. We can elect delegates from among our districts and those delegates will be empowered to forward changes that will be voted on by a congress of delegates.
However, this presents a problem. The people who are in the legislature, the same bipartisan group of people who are most worried that a Constitutional Convention might undo what they’ve done to get us here, might be elected as a delegate! That is a perfect example of something in the Alaska Constitution that needs to be fixed. The only Alaskans who shouldn’t be eligible to be elected as delegates are those who have been previously elected to the legislature, and those who work for them. If we, the people, choose to have a Constitutional Convention, it is an obvious repudiation of our previous representation. So, if we decide to do this, that’s my first suggestion for change.
I agree that the Alaska Constitution is a great document, as Constitutions go. I especially like the part that gives power back to the people every ten years in case these politicians get us into some situation that doesn’t serve us. That might be my favorite part, considering how those same people have banded together to stop that from happening.
It’s not my job to tell you how to vote. It’s your job to figure out how you should vote. That’s the whole point of voting - representative government. But remember, it is outside money that is funding all the Defend Our Constitution ads and remember that they are claiming to defend the Constitution from a part of the Constitution. Their name, Defend Our Constitution, is itself a misleading misnomer.
The Constitutional Convention is defended best by the Constitution itself. If you feel that we, the people, need a reset with our representative government, then you should vote Yes for a Constitutional Convention, as the Constitution allows. If you think the state of Alaska is doing great, then you should vote No. I don’t know many people who think that Alaska is doing great, and I know a lot of people of various partisan persuasions.
I’m voting yes, if for no other reason, because we almost all agree that the Legislature should be on the road system, near the population center of Alaska. We shouldn’t have to board a plane and possibly submit to a body search by a federal agency just to interact with our own state legislature, and that should be enshrined in our Constitution.
But who cares how I’m voting? That’s my conscience, not yours. Whether you vote Yes or No, just remember, it’s your constitutional right, and a constitutional requirement, that you vote your conscience on this one. Forget all the people trying to convince you how to vote. Ask yourself, do you think the legislature is eventually going to get better, or are they only going to make things perpetually worse? What’s the trajectory?
The Alaska Constitution defends you from counterproductive, partisan politics, by giving you the opportunity to make changes as needed every ten years. A Constitutional Convention is our last line of defense against those who have led us here by letting us down. They wouldn’t need a half million in ads if they hadn’t done such a horrible job in the last ten years.
Call by Referendum
Article XIII of the Alaska Constitution – Amendment and Revision
§ 1. Amendments – Amendments to this constitution may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of each house of the legislature. The lieutenant governor shall prepare a ballot title and proposition summarizing each proposed amendment, and shall place them on the ballot for the next general election. If a majority of the votes cast on the proposition favor the amendment, it shall be adopted. Unless otherwise provided in the amendment, it becomes effective thirty days after the certification of the election returns by the lieutenant governor. [Amended 1970, 1974]
§ 2. Convention– The legislature may call constitutional conventions at anytime.
§ 3. Call by Referendum– If during any ten-year period a constitutional convention has not been held, the lieutenant governor shall place on the ballot for the next general election the question: “Shall there be a Constitutional Convention?” If a majority of the votes cast on the question are in the negative, the question need not be placed on the ballot until the end of the next ten-year period. If a majority of the votes cast on the question are in the affirmative, delegates to the convention shall be chosen at the next regular statewide election, unless the legislature provides for the election of the delegates at a special election. The lieutenant governor shall issue the call for the convention. Unless other provisions have been made by law, the call shall conform as nearly as possible to the act calling the Alaska Constitutional Convention of 1955, including, but not limited to, number of members, districts, election and certification of delegates, and submission and ratification of revisions and ordinances. The appropriation provisions of the call shall be self-executing and shall constitute a first claim on the state treasury. [Amended 1970]
§ 4. Powers– Constitutional conventions shall have plenary power to amend or revise the constitution, subject only to ratification by the people. No call for a constitutional convention shall limit these powers of the convention.
Constitutional Convention: Liberal or Conservative?
The opponents of the Constitutional Convention have certainly pointed out some valid concerns. The truth is, there is some risk to a Constitutional Convention. It’s the same risk that comes with Liberty in general. Anytime a people, or an individual, are free to do as they please, the possibility of unforeseen consequence increases. If people are free, they are free to make mistakes.
Self-governance is not without risk, and requires trust in the People of Alaska.
Liberty of the individual is what our nation, and our State, is made of. Liberty is what truly constitutes a free society - or as they used to call it, a Liberal society. We misuse the word Liberal much more than apply it correctly in the common vernacular, and that’s why I am concerned about a Constitutional Convention. If a convention were to achieve anything good, it would need to come from the People, and certainly not the legislators who have led us to this precipice where we must seriously consider such drastic measures. However, the people commonly confuse the language, and Constitutions, once written, are very hard to change. Just look at how much effort and money is being spent just to stop this one from happening!
Are the People prepared for such an endeavor? The letter of the law is most commonly defined by the proper usage of language. It says what it says, not what you think it means. Jurists have deliberated over single sentences for hundreds of years, and we still can’t come to a conclusion on some parts of our nation’s founding documents. With the Alaska Constitution, we could easily create unintended outcomes if the People of Alaska don’t write it right.
It’s The Liberal Choice
When people in our nation refer to themselves as ‘liberal’, I believe that most of them still think of that in the original definition: open minded, open to change, treating people as equally autonomous, respecting other folk’s way of life, believing in free speech and press, et cetera, et cetera. I believe that, especially the older demographic that votes, still use the word in that sense. The use of ‘liberal’ as a synonym for political leftists is a complete misnomer, in that they’ve abandoned literally every part or perspective of liberalism as it is classically defined.
“Conservatism” refers to those who want to maintain tradition and existing structure. This is not a philosophy of its own, either. “Conservative” is not necessarily the opposite of Liberal. A conservative likes to keep things as they are, while a Liberal is open to changing tradition. I think it’s important that my readers consider this, too. If you vote Yes on the Constitutional Convention, that’s the Liberal position, by definition. If you vote No, well, congratulations on being Conservative.
No One Cared In 2012
Another thing that occurs to me, as I read and write about this issue, is that there is a coalition of Republicans and Democrats who have openly stated that they oppose the Constitutional Convention. However, the people of Alaska are fed up, or the 1630 Fund wouldn’t drop half a million in ‘dark’ money to try to steer the public perception against it. No one cared in 2012 when the question of a Constitutional Convention came up. They knew then that the People of Alaska wouldn’t support it, and they know now that they might. So it does feel like the opponents of a Constitutional Convention are the establishment, the key players who drove us to the brink on so many issues, and the establishment doesn’t like a Constitutional Convention because it’s the people taking back the power as a response to the legislature’s abuse of the same. Of course, the establishment would oppose that.
Final Thought
The people of Alaska are very unhappy with the legislature. But are the people prepared for a constitutional convention? If the Yes votes win, and we have a constitutional convention, we’ll all have our work cut out for us. Everything will be on the table, and there will be many people - including those who vote No - who will be seeking to make changes to the Alaska constitution. The moneyed interests will be very interested, and will be investing lots of money in affecting public perception while they seek to establish power and control for their purposes. If we have a constitutional convention, it’s imperative that we elect people who aren’t already part of the problem, but those are precisely the people who have name recognition, who have already built a brand around their name, and who have existing networks of activated supporters to campaign on their behalf.
This was published in Liberty, Liberally; check out the printed version in the latest edition of The People's Paper, available all over the Mat-Su Valley!