An Open Letter to Compact for America Supporters from Board Member Nick Dranias
Dear Compact for America supporter:
As you know, the political class in Washington is mortgaging our future. Special interest groups are being promised everything they demand. Bureaucrats are building vast empires of surveillance and control. This is happening because shifting the cost of grandiose promises and plans to future generations is a politically costless way of enhancing one's electoral prospects. As a result, the federal government has been bloated far beyond its constitutional dimensions.
Not surprisingly, at least one Founder saw this coming.
Over 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson observed in a letter to a friend:
I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our constitution; I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its constitution. I mean an additional article taking from the federal government the power of borrowing.
Today, I respectfully submit to you, it is abundantly clear that TJ was right.
Unlimited federal borrowing capacity is the root political cause of unlimited, unconstitutional government. This is because there is no naturally persistent political check to stop elected officials from using unlimited borrowing capacity to essentially build empires, buy votes and solidify political support-unless we change the rules of the political game by amending the constitution.
The real and increasingly pressing question is how do we fulfill Jefferson's dream before the system crashes?
You already know the answer. We must advance the Compact for America initiative. Together, we can encourage the states to agree formally to advance and ratify a powerful federal Balanced Budget Amendment in as few as twelve months, with a target date of July 4, 2017, and a drop-dead date of April 12, 2021.
Already two states--Alaska and Georgia--have joined the Compact for America initiative by passing the Compact for a Balanced Budget. They are in the process of organizing an interstate commission to champion and coordinate the effort in the remaining 36 states to get the job done. With the possibility of Congress becoming more receptive to the effort after November, the Compact Commission can be expected to become a unified voice for the states to demand that Congress join our effort to fix the national debt.
I personally believe in this effort so much that I am devoting my three week sabbatical from my position as General Counsel and Constitutional Policy Director at the Goldwater Institute to serving as a Visiting Scholar for Compact for America, Inc. and Compact for America Educational Foundation, Inc.
I am donating my time in doing so.
You can help too.
Thank you for fighting the good fight.
Nick Dranias
Visiting Scholar
Member, Board of Directors
Compact for America, Inc.
