Saturday we will stream live from the Indiana State Democratic Convention, from 11 am to 1 pm. We will have candidates for state-wide office, as well as delegates from all over Indiana, as guests.
   Another type of convention has been in the news the past few days. There has been a push to have a convention to address changes in the United States Constitution. A constitutional convention is a very bad idea.
   First, if large corporations dump money into specific Congressional campaigns to influence votes on specific bills, given what would be at stake in a constitutional convention, the incentive to dump an entire “slush fund” budget would be enormous. We could end up with a constitution that would protect/exempt corporate interests even more radically than the present system.
   Second, the corporations would not be “American” corporations. Given the decisions in Citizens United, Daimler AG v Bauman and other cases, I believe the United States Supreme Court would hold we cannot limit a corporation’s political involvement because some of its shareholders are not American. One can take “some” to whatever extent one wants. Corporations that could have been characterized as “American” did their best in the Nineteen and Twentieth Centuries to influence leadership changes and political control in other countries. “Self-determination” is a basic principle espoused by the Declaration of Independence. A constitutional convention would be run by large corporations whose national ties are secondary to the most international of loyalties: profits.
   Third, the media are loyal to interests of corporate wealth. The media are owned by those interests. Networks would sell a lot of ad time for a constitutional convention. In the end, the media—large-scale media—would convince people the new constitution is improved for the sake of all the people.
   We should nip the notion of a constitutional convention in the bud.
   In the meantime, catch “Civil Discourse Now” on Saturday, 11 am to 1 pm and—Friday afternoon we will have a big announcement.