Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina said the amendment "looks like it was written literally by the neocons".
The referendum amendment looks likely to spur on the Eurosceptics' campaign: some MPs will not be satisfied unless an in-out referendum is held before (or at) the next general election.
Yet the chances of passing a federal constitutional amendment look slim.Most Americans dislike the idea of changing the constitution.
Michelle Obama had everything (including, it must be said, a great dress, featuring what a friend of mine would call her Second Amendment look — the right to bare arms).
She replies that America's constitution makes it extremely hard to overturn an amendment – look, for example, at how long it took women to gain the vote.
For more on amendment efforts, look here and here.
Carper is trying hard to make his amendment not look like a gift to big banks.
Toward that end, I have appended below yet another draft of what a pro-democracy constitutional amendment could look like.
But the pledge does not go into detail about when life begins, or what a "human life" amendment would look like.
Other amendments are looking at matters relating to disability rights.
