The Balanced Budget Amendment

The balanced budget amendment notion has never made sense other than as ironic anti-government revenge. Certainly no one can think that a government, with a fluctuating economy and uncertain international responsibilities, can manage its budget closely enough to be balanced regularly. It would be like a business without a line of credit. And, of course, it gives legislators the ultimate excuse to raise taxes to fulfill their balanced budget requirements as they deal with the new and unexpected cost that arose. But it does turn government on its head by creating a legislative straitjacket to produce a desired end, just like government does all the time.

But, irony aside, it is an admission of failure. You can not legislate competence or good will or good motives. Those qualities are found, not legislated, and are in men, not laws.