Say this for the two Idaho Republican lawmakers who want to launch an Article V constitutional convention: They must have a strong forte for irony.
If Reps. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, and Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, and chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, have their way, Idaho would formally petition Congress to convene a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution.
Under Article V of the Constitution, that takes two-thirds of the states. The Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force claims 28 states; it needs six more.
Hagedorn told the Lewiston Tribune's William L. Spence he wants a convention to draft a proposed amendment holding the federal government to a balanced budget.
Loertscher is more ambitious: he wants to cap spending, impose term limits and restrict federal authority.
Elsewhere in the movement, there's talk of eliminating the federal income tax, shackling the ability of future presidents and members of Congress to raise taxes or borrow more money, draft new regulations or remain in office too long.
But here's the question: Aren't these the people who just won the national election? Of the 28 states calling for a convention, 23 voted for Republican Donald Trump - and delivered 257 of his 306 Electoral College votes.
Don't they have faith in Trump's ability to deliver on his campaign promise to "Make America Great Again"?
Why aren't they more confident about congressional Republicans - including Idaho's Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch - reining in federal spending and cutting through red tape?
Of the 52 GOP senators, 39 of them were elected from states that have called for redrafting the national charter.
Besides, you can never be entirely sure that any constitutional convention will remain in check. The last one, held in 1787, didn't exactly follow its instructions. Rather than tweak the Articles of Confederation, it came up with an entirely new and centralized national government.
That system gave Republicans the home field advantage in last fall's election.
Without the Electoral College, Hillary Clinton's 3 million vote edge would have had her taking the oath of office Friday.
The Constitution gives California's 39 million people the same two seats in the Senate as the 600,000 residents of Wyoming.
That's why Democratic Senate candidates could win 53 percent of the 84.5 million votes cast in the various contests around the country and still wind up in the minority.
True, Republican House candidates won 51.4 percent of the 109.5 million votes cast nationwide. But gerrymandered districts expanded their majority.
So if anybody has a right to demand a constitutional rewrite, wouldn't it be the aggrieved urban voters in the blue states?
Imagine if the city slickers got their hands on a constitutional convention.
The Electoral College?
Gone.
The Senate?
Likewise.
For good measure, Nancy Pelosi would have a lock on the House speaker's gavel.
That pesky Second Amendment?
Forget it.
In its place would be an equal rights amendment for women, gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people.
And expect to see the masses toiling in the cities making it all but impossible for their cousins in the hinterlands to even disturb the mountains, lakes, forests and rangelands they may get around to visiting one day when they retire.
Makes you wonder why any Idaho Republican lawmaker would even take such a gamble, doesn't it? - M.T.
