Amending

Those who know and/or follow me or my wife on Facebook, Twitter etc., know that we were opposed to the recent Amendment 1 or the so-called "Right-to-Farm" amendment to the Missouri Constitution.

It was extremely close. In fact so close that a recount was conducted. But as usually happens, the outcome did not change. The Amendment passed by a narrow 2,500 votes or so. This in a state of perhaps 4 million voters.

OK, we lost. Life doesn't always turn out like we want nor is it fair.

I hope in the future, our legislature (Bob Dixon, Eric Burlison?) can change the way these things are presented, proposed and passed. They need to set a higher bar. We amended our State Constitution with just under 25% of registered voters actually voting.

By comparison, our U.S. Constitution (Article 5) has a much tougher road to be amended. First it takes a 2/3rds majority in Congress OR 2/3rds of ALL State legislatures to call for a Constitutional Convention just to get an Amendment underway.

Then if it makes it through one of the above, 38 our of our 50 States must ratify the Amendment. I can't seem to find if this State ratification stage takes only a simple majority or more but regardless, this is a much more rigorous process than simply getting something on a ballot and voting for it.

Maybe next time.







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