by David Leslie, Corvallis
A remarkable thing happened in Hamilton on Saturday, the 21st, at City Hall.
One hundred forty Montanans gathered to hear Mae Nan Ellingson talk about the 1972 Montana Constitution. She was the youngest of the 100 elected delegates.
She explained things that most of us did not know: its history, how it came to be; how the convention was organized and conducted; the extraordinary care they took to ensure it was a constitution for all Montanans, not just a few; the fact that they believed the constitution should evolve with the times, and built clear mechanisms to enact that. The delegates came to some hard questions, three that they thought the voters should decide, not them.So they put them on the ballot! Wow. There was more, but you get the drift.
Everybody left knowing more than when we started. Everybody left with a respect for the development itself. And everybody left with a new appreciation of what its authors had intended. All good as our current legislature is considering amendments.
More remarkable to me than the insights we gained was the spirit that infused the room. It was positive, respectful, neighborly and inclusive. It was friendly; everybody was welcome. For me it was a glimpse into how Montana was in some past, and a peek at what we might become again.
We should do more events like that.
Helen Sabin says
The talk by Mae Ellington was terrific, funny, interesting and enlightening. I would love to hear more. Thanks to Linda Schmidt for organizing it.
The only thing I objected to was former legislator Diane Sands not knowing how a Convention of States is run and organized. She stated to a room full of attendees that Congress could take over the convention of states, throw out the delegates and write amendments themselves. That is not true. In fact it’s hilarious if you look at the statement itself. Why would they do that when they have been the ones to write and ratify the 27 amendments that have been added to the Constitution so far. They would have NO NEED to come into a COS, and take over. Further they do NOT have the authority in the Constitution to do that at a COS. So other than that nonsense that Diane got from Theresa Manzella, it was a great event. The DEM ladies did a nice job of providing lunch and the atmosphere in the room was great.
Here Diane – Tell Theresa manzella whom you said you got the information from, to read this and learn please: https://constitutionus.com › constitution › amendments › ratifying-constitutional-amendments
Ratifying Constitutional Amendments – Constitution of the United States
There are two ways to ratify a constitutional amendment. The first way entails an amendment being approved by both houses of Congress. Then, the amendment is sent out to the states for approval. The second way is that an amendment gets approved by state legislatures. …