Adding a Term Limits Amendment WITHOUT Congress's Approval

When we talk about adding an Amendment to the US Constitution placing Term limits on US Congress, the most common argument you hear is, "Congress will never pass an Amendment limiting themselves." And, they're right. The second most common response is "We need to get this put on a ballot so we can vote on it."

Let's clear up the second response first.  Adding an Amendment to the US Constitution cannot be placed on a ballot.  There are only two ways to add an Amendment and they are defined in Article 5 of the US Constitution.

What many don't realize is the SECOND Option in Article 5 is done by the State Legislatures and does NOT require Congress's approval.

Here's how both Adding Amendment Options in Article 5 work:

The 1st Option, which most folks already know is when Congress votes in both the House & Senate for a new Amendment and if it passes in both with a Super-Majority, it then goes out to the States and must be ratified by 38 States (The 38 State ratification is the "safety net" since there aren't 38 States leaning to the left or to the right, so only non-partisan Amendments stand a chance of getting ratified and added to the US Constitution.)

The 2nd Option, which is know by few, is when 34 State Legislatures pass an application for an Article 5 Convention for the same topic, an Article 5 Convention is called.

At the Convention, they debate the verbiage they want in the Amendment and then vote on it. If it passes the vote at the Convention, it gets returned to the States where it must be ratified by 38 States.

As I mentioned before, the 38 State ratification process is the SAME process used if Congress passes an Amendment and is the "safety net" for either option. I mention this again because there are a lot of powerful people that don't want Americans to use this process because it puts control back in the hands of the people and the States. They try to scare folks away from an Article 5 Convention by saying it puts the Constitution at risk, but as I've pointed out, with the ratification process, both Option 1 and Option 2 are EQUALLY SAFE!