A North Carolina lawmaker is introducing a bill calling for a convention of the states to consider a constitutional amendment that would require a national balanced budget.
State Rep. Chris Millis (R-Pender) proposed the bill that would enter North Carolina in the Compact for America (CFA).
‘This Ball Is Rolling’
Kevin Gutzman, a history professor at Western Connecticut State University and a member of Compact for America’s Educational Foundation Board, says the movement to change the way Washington, DC does business is picking up momentum.
“This ball is rolling,” Gutzman said. “Four states have adopted the CFA legislation. The first three states have now organized the CFA Commission, as per the compact’s provision. Five other states have passed the bill through one house of their legislatures. Several other states are on track to act soon.”
Gutzman says ingrained habits are significant obstacles to achieving real reform.
“There are two great factors in human history: boredom and inertia,” Gutzman said. “As James Buchanan, who won the Nobel Prize in economics for showing, inertia explains virtually everything about politics virtually all the time.”
Getting Back on Track
Millis says the national government has strayed far from the nation’s founding ideas and principles.
“From my research of the matter, it is not that Washington[, DC] completely ignores the Constitution, but that we are rather living under a Constitution as interpreted by Washington, rather than the Constitution as the Founders intended,” Millis said. “Using the Article V process to reinstitute the Founders’ intent of a limited federal government will go a long way in addressing the problems of our times, as most of the issues at odds with the citizens as decreed from Washington come as a result of twisted interpretations of the Constitution—such as the Commerce Clause and the general welfare clause, among others.”
Millis says real reform is needed to preserve the country for future generations.
“While there are some elected officials that will stand against the lure of dollars that are indebted upon the backs of future generations, a balanced budget amendment can allow this stance to be the rule rather than the exception,” Millis said. “This is how both stopping federal overreach and a return of individual liberty back to the people can work together.”
Says Goal Is Achievable
Balancing the national budget by amending the Constitution is a realistic solution to a real problem, Millis says.
“I have no doubt that the problems are real, and the solution our Founders gave us by way of Article V is achievable,” Millis said. “No matter what may come of all of my involvement in these efforts and the future of America, I will be able to confidently look my children in the eye and tell them that I did all I could to preserve and advance individual liberty.”
Mark Ramsey ([email protected]) writes from Houston, Texas.
