2nd Constitutional Convention

I think we should have another constitutional convention. I've been interested in the idea since it started bubbling under from mostly tea party folks, and now I'm getting pretty attached to the idea. Here's an article from the Harvard Crimson about a conference that took place there to discuss the idea. The excerpts in bold below are from the article, with my comments in green.

Opponents of the initiative expressed concerns that a runaway convention would lead delegates to deviate from an assigned agenda, resulting in radical and unprecedented changes to the Constitution.

Ummmm, I think that's exactly the point. The changes we need are certainly unprecedented, and almost as certainly radical. Any agenda assigned by (congress?) would have no authority, and shouldn't. The reason a constitutional convention is needed is because, more than anything, congress is completely incapable of acting. Why would a constitutional convention feel bound to do what congress instructed them?

“The timing is not appropriate for this type of experimentation. America is like a ship in the middle of a storm,” said Alexandra Filindra, a political scientist from William Paterson University, echoing the opinion held by many that the status quo might be less risky than a new approach.

I am dumbstruck at how a thoughtful person (assuming a professional political scientist is) can think that the status quo might be less risky than a new approach. I doubt she thinks that a threatened government shutdown and default on the national debt every few months with a gridlocked congress whose approval rating is 14% is a workable path forward. Perhaps she believes enough pressure will build up  behind the log jam of government that a national consensus will develop? If that's the case, I still think a constitutional convention is a better forum for that consensus to express itself than within the current system. 

As for the idea that, "America is like a ship in the middle of a storm," that simile works. The implication that because of that storm we should not make a radical course correction does not follow. In fact, that storm makes it more important than ever that we consider all of our options - including turning around if that's what it takes to steer clear of the storm. The founding fathers were in a rickety wooden boat in a storm when they drafted the constitution. We may be in a storm, but now we've got the biggest and most powerful boat in the world. What makes it impossible for us to do what the founders did, for our time and situation as they did for theirs?

There is plenty of reason to think a new constitutional convention could come up with a much more workable solution to the myriad problems facing our government than any proposal coming from within the system. As Einstein said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.