How to amend the Constitution

By...bipping. (To the tune of the old "By Mennen" jingle.)

Just joking!

With a corporate personhood amendment looming on the horizon, how do we pass this amendment? Well, amending the U.S. Constitution can only happen in a few ways.

Amendments can either be proposed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, or by the legislatures of two-thirds of the states in the form of a convention. Then, either the legislatures of three-fourths of the states must ratify the amendment, or a convention in three-fourths of the states must ratify it.

This is possible - because the Constitution has been amended 27 times before. The most recent amendment passed in 1992 - after being first submitted way back in 1789. The Twenty-Seventh Amendment bars Congress from granting itself pay raises during the middle of a term - an amendment Congress has routinely violated.

Congress and courts disobeying existing amendments raises questions of whether they'll even pay any heed to new amendments. Even so, amendments have been an effective tool in the arsenal of constitutional law.

The trick here is to either find a member of Congress valiant enough to introduce a corporate personhood amendment - or have your state lawmakers propose the amendment. I can't expect Kentucky to lead the effort, because after all, this is the state that gives eminent domain powers to corporations (of all the stupid things).

Just finding someone to introduce the amendment may be the toughest part. If a lawmaker introduces it, that lends the amendment some serious oomph. But after that, it still has to go through all the steps of being approved, ratified, and enacted.

The last amendment to pass before 1992 was the 1971 amendment that lowered the voting age to 18. On the very day Congress approved it, 5 states went ahead and ratified it - all in one day. Less than 4 months after Congress approved the amendment, it was law.

It became law only a year after several states screamed and cried about how they had a Divine Right of Millionaires to prevent 18-year-olds from voting. The speed at which the amendment passed shows how quickly things can change if people act.

Put your mouth where your face is by making sure your elected representatives support the amendment to outlaw corporate personhood.