Now that the NSA spying revelations have shown that the Constitution has been absolutely shredded even more than previously thought, perhaps the conservative (and some libertarians) idea that we need a constitutional convention so we can get a balanced budget amendment sent to the states will die a silent death. I have always argued two things about this, and feel even stronger than ever about them now. 1. Since the federal government doesn’t follow the Constitution, and hasn’t for years, why does anyone think that it will suddenly follow a balanced budget amendment? 2. What is so great about a $4 trillion budget (95% of which is spent on unconstitutional things) that is balanced? The solution, of course, is for Congress to cut, cut, cut, not balance, balance, balance.

The Best of Laurence M. Vance