# Most disputed amendment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 25, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disputed-amendment/256824 "2004-07-25T17:19:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disputed-amendment/256824/41 "2004-07-27T15:52:35Z")
> [@Steve MB](#): > > Especially since such a constitutional amendment would have to be **unanimously ratified** : I know, I know . . . we’ve had threads on this. One solution that has been proposed is enact an amendment that would give the House (and only the House) the authority to enact legislation by itself, strip the Senate of most of its powers, and reduce it to a purely advisory body, like the British House of Lords. My thinking is, it would be proper to enact an amendment, by the usual 3/4 majority, to delete that bolded passage in Article V; and then to pass another amendment, by 3/4 majority, to abolish the Senate. But, yes, I don’t expect either amendment could get the 3/4. Yet. But someday, maybe. The important thing is to keep the issue alive, keep harping on it, and eventually, minds might change. After all, the idea of women’s suffrage once looked like a nonstarter, since it would have to be enacted by all-male statesmen accountable to an all-male electorate – but the suffragettes just wouldn’t shut up, and eventually, they got their way. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disputed-amendment/256824/42 "2004-07-27T15:57:26Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Probably a lot more than you think. If you’ve got some poll data to support your statement it would be interesting to see. No, I don’t – it just seems intuitively obvious, because America has always been a highly nomadic society, and more so now than ever. How many Americans, nowadays, will die in the same state where they were born? Thomas Jefferson spoke of Virginia as “my country.” How many Americans (even Texans!) would think of their state that way today? Maybe some Alaskans and some Hawaiians, and that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disputed-amendment/256824/43 "2004-07-27T20:34:32Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > Well, there are 22 million Texans… While there may indeed be 22 million residents of Texas, I assure you that there are not 22 million Texans. Our citizenship requirements are quite strict. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disputed-amendment/256824/44 "2004-07-27T20:47:35Z")
> [@minty green](#): > > While there may indeed be 22 million residents of Texas, I assure you that there are not 22 million Texans. Our citizenship requirements are quite strict. A friend of mine is an Army recruiter and he is allowed to claim Texas as his home state for tax reasons. He has never lived a day of his life there. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disputed-amendment/256824/45 "2004-07-27T21:54:07Z")
Just because we don’t make someone pay taxes don’t mean he’s a Texan. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disputed-amendment/256824/46 "2004-07-27T22:41:41Z")
> [@minty green](#): > > While there may indeed be 22 million residents of Texas, I assure you that there are not 22 million Texans. Our citizenship requirements are quite strict. I am reminded of a passage I once read (in _The Nine Nations of North America,_ by Joel Garreau) about a legendary Texas gunslinger who claimed to have a dozen notches on his gun, “not counting Mexicans.” ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disputed-amendment/256824/47 "2004-07-28T00:01:14Z")
> [@Steve MB](#): > > Especially since such a constitutional amendment would have to be **unanimously ratified** : If each State has zero Senators, then they each have equal sufferage. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disputed-amendment/256824/48 "2004-07-28T00:20:42Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > If each State has zero Senators, then they each have equal sufferage. 😃 !!! Good point! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disputed-amendment/256824.md?page=2)