| FOR FURTHER READING Read the Amendment What it Takes to Secure an Amendment |
Every year, some two hundred amendments to the U.S. Constitution are introduced, but only 33 have been passed by both the House and the Senate in Congress, and of these, only 27 have been ratified by three-quarters of the states (including the ten in the original Bill of Rights).
An amendment to the Constitution begins when a bill is introduced in Congress. The bill is then assigned to a committee, which considers the proposed text, altering it as needed. Because of the vast amount of bills that Congress receives each year, many are not even considered by committees, and many more are voted down before they make it back to the House or Senate. If the committee approves the bill, it is then debated and must be approved by a two-thirds vote of both the House and the Senate. Only thirty-three proposed amendments have cleared this threshold.
Once passed by Congress, the amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the states. If it gains the approval of 38 states, it joins the elite group of 27 constitutional amendments which have been added to the Constitution.
AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK?
Amending the Constitution is an enormous task — it requires time, resources, vision, dedication, and hard-working people who will make it happen. But it is not an impossible task.
ParentalRights.org is a growing coalition of individuals who are bringing together their time, resources, vision, and dedication — individuals who believe that the vital role of parents in the lives of their children should be protected and cherished. If government officials want to interfere in the family, they must prove that they have a compelling reason to do so, not because they think they can do a better job than the child’s parents. The vast majority of parents know their children better and love them more than a government official ever could. The government should be supporting parents as they raise their children — not the other way around.
