Georgia withdraws con-con applications.(Insider Report)

The Georgia state legislature rescinded its extant applications for a constitutional convention on April 1, on the heels of similar action in Virginia less than a month earlier (see "Virginia Withdraws Con-Con Application" in our April 5 issue). The Georgia votes were unanimous--153-0 in the General Assembly and 42-0 in the Senate. The strength of the vote in Georgia marks the growing momentum among states to get rid of all previous con-con calls still on the books.

John Birch Society members throughout the nation have been active in bringing to the attention of their state legislators the dangers of holding a modern-day con-con. In Georgia, William Phillips of Atlanta researched his state's past con-con applications in depth. He discovered, and brought to the attention of the legislature, six dormant applications going back as far as half a century. All of them applied for a con-con that supposedly would be limited to single issues, including one that sought to preserve segregated schools. But even though these applications had seemingly sunk into well deserved oblivion, they were still viable.

That is the dangerous character of con-con applications. Unless withdrawn, they never die; instead, they lie dormant--until a critical mass of applications from two-thirds (34) of the states coalesces into a mandate to Congress to call a convention. At that point, the convention is ...