Compact for America is a Better Investment
I recognize that we are in the middle of political giving season, but wouldn’t it make more sense to invest your dollar in a tax deductible gift supporting a policy initiative that is: (a) absolutely necessary to preserve the Republic and (b) far more plausible than the vast majority of folks competing to become the next President? I submit to you that the Compact for America initiative is simply the best public policy investment you could make. Yes, that is a bold statement.
Reading is Believing
Often forgotten in the state-based effort to originate federal constitutional amendments is the quality of the amendment that might be proposed. This is because all other Article V amendment approaches, except for the Compact for a Balanced Budget, advance only a convention agenda. No one knows what specific amendment, if any, will be proposed. The Compact, however, advances a powerful, poll-tested, expert-vetted federal Balanced Budget Amendment that you can actually read. I
What Did Scalia REALLY Say about A5?
The usual suspects who are opposed to organizing an Article V convention claim the Compact for a Balanced Budget cannot limit the convention it organizes, even with the agreement of 38+ states expressed in a solemn sovereign contract. They sometimes even claim Justice Antonin Scalia supports their position. In fact, Justice Scalia is very clearly on record as supporting an Article V convention limited to a specific issue or amendment. He only opposes a wide open Article V con
What Would Simon and Tsongas Do?
Perhaps you remember this guy: Former Democratic U.S. Senator Paul Simon (IL) Or this guy: Late Democratic U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas (MA) and Presidential Candidate Both of these gentlemen—hardly “arch conservatives”—supported a federal Balanced Budget Amendment. They recognized that democratic principles required a limit on the borrowing capacity of the federal government. In fact, here’s what Senator Tsongas said: A balanced budget amendment is “a cry for generational respo
Want to Make a Difference?
Some folks claim that a federal Balanced Budget Amendment would not make a difference. That may be true of some BBA proposals. But it is not true about the BBA at the heart of the Compact for a Balanced Budget. There’s a reason why Georgia, Alaska, Mississippi and North Dakota have already signed onto it. There’s a reason why more than twenty leading think tanks have joined the educational movement. There’s a reason why it has been endorsed by Lawrence Reed of the Foundation
What We Worry?
How huge and looming is that national debt crisis? The Brookings Institution recently declared it’s “worse than you think.” Take a look at this chart: Notice that interest is only 6% of the pie. That’s with interest rates that are half of historical levels. What happens if that 6% share becomes 12% because interest rates normalize? What happens if interest rates go back to 1970s levels, and the interest share expands to 24% of the pie or more? We submit to you any increase in
What Good is Another Parchment Barrier?
Those who oppose states using their power to originate amendments under Article V often start with the question, “Why amend the Constitution when nobody follows the Constitution as written?” This question is flawed in two respects. First, it overstates the degree to which the Constitution is not followed. The truth of the matter is that much of the substance of the Bill of Rights retains its force, especially the First and Second Amendments in recent years. In non-national se
How Safe is Safe Enough?
Is this safe enough? There are few, if any, more impactful moves anyone could make in politics that are as safe as the Compact for a Balanced Budget. This is because the Compact was designed to bubble-wrap seventeen safeguards around the amendment by convention process. As a result, the Compact is far safer than the status quo. Here’s why: All of Eagle Forum’s famous 20 questions about the Article V amendment process have been answered by reference to specific provisions in t
Let's Protect Our Kids
Every child born today owes nearly $60,000 as his share of our $18.4+ trillion national debt. But that’s not all—nearly $650,000 is the average child’s share of the federal government’s estimated $210 trillion in unfunded spending programs. Many of these programs may be good and necessary, but our kids have never had an opportunity to vote for or against their advocates; and the truth is that they mostly benefit other people. If obligations of such magnitude continue to be in
Less Debt Means Less Borrowing Cost
To illustrate the wisdom of supporting the Compact for a Balanced Budget, I wanted to share with you an email I received from one of our Educational Foundation’s Council of Scholars Members, Stephen Slivinski, who is a former Federal Reserve economist and is now Senior Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Economic Liberty at Arizona State University. If you want to look at his mug, look to the left. Anyway, Steve wrote me in response to a request for research on the
