My problem with such an event is that I cannot see contemporary politicians ever getting together in a room and limiting their own power.  Perhaps this can happen, but I have seen nothing coming out of any of our governments of late that would make me believe it would happen.  I see another convention as a means to transfer more power to Lansing.

My preference would be to make the changes we need to make at the ballot box.  

I admit to being emotional about this issue and  I would need to be persuaded that a convention would benefit the citizenry here in Michigan.

The plan calls for reducing the scope of government, balancing the budget (using a 2-year, rather than 1-year budget cycle), and attracting more business via eliminating the personal property tax and by reducing the Michigan Business Tax.

A con con is a very dangerous idea how ever well intentioned it may be.  Far too many things can go wrong.   Gillman is correct with every one of his points and the Roughmans distrust is well placed.  

Yes, this is a major pain when we put in useful things like Headlee & the MCRI.

But it is also advantageous when someone has the hare-brained scheme to institute a "progressive" income tax or RMGN.

But calling a Con-Con will be literally opening up a can of worms with everything up in the air. Or worse yet, politicians who will try to entice you with something (to meet you "halfway" of course), in order to get something that they want.

I've seen enough backroom dealing with Obamacare to know that this is not a way to lead. If your idea is sound and rationale, then it should be able to sell itself without any deals.

1. What structure will improve government? Term limits? Can be fixed by amendment. That doesn't change the fact that the problem is that Granholm, Dillon, and Bishop don't agree. Once they are gone, you'll probably have many instances of divided government. Our old constitution says that the laws are passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. The new one will have the same thing. The MBT isn't in the constitution. Our laws, government elites, media types, etc will still be around no matter what.

2. Who will run for delegate? Who will pony up the money? The seats line up with legislative districts. The bank accounts will be dry. Stryker will have his money. So will Hollywood. So will Soros. So will the unions. It's going to probably cost at least $40,000 per seat to win. Dennis, how will you be able to be a delegate right after spending a ton of money on your state rep campaign? If you win,you're barred. If you lose in August, you're probably in debt.

3. For limited government conservatives and not hacks with famous names or insiders to get a good constitution, we will have to get lucky and run the table twice in primary and general elections 100 out of 148 times. Those odds are bad, even in a 1994 year. In 02, the GOP had 63 seats with redistricting, and something like a 23-15 state senate majority. 86 seats, and it wasn't a conservative majority.

4. Even if I win the primary in my district (40% odds if I do everything right and don't have extra luck with will be 30% of any race) if I run, There's little I can do for 146 districts. I can vote in the 147th district.

We can fix the problems in the Constitution through amendments, but opening it up to an entire re-write would be a disaster.