

An amendment to require the federal government to balance its budget should be added to the U. S. Constitution. To do so is the best way to try to restore some degree of sanity to federal fiscal affairs.
Last week I wrote of the impracticality of trying to make major changes in government policies, as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been tasked by Donald Trump to try to do so. Our politicians want to neither raise taxes nor cut spending, for fear the voters will end their political careers.
Not discussed last week, but important nonetheless, are the myths by which our politicians comfort themselves as they rationalize their gross negligence and irresponsibility in fiscal matters. Democrats always tell us we must spend more money on welfare, student loan forgiveness, infrastructure, or climate change, but that all we have to do to cover the spending is tax “the rich” more. After all, they’re the ones with the money (that’s why we call them rich). Moreover, taxing them more (especially if they’re Republicans) is a great way to punish them for becoming rich in the first place. Republicans tell themselves a different (but no less stupid) myth: The more one cuts taxes, the more economic growth will occur, producing more revenue and eventually enough to balance the budget. No doubt the GOP, and especially Trump and his congressional allies, will push for extending the 2017 tax cuts, while also cutting taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security (I must admit that as a Social Security recipient myself, I think Social Security income should not be taxed until the recipient has recouped all the funds he paid in payroll taxes over the years plus interest; only after the recipient begins receiving more money from Social Security than he paid in should he have to pay taxes on the excess income).
But of course, while our political “leaders” keep buying our votes while lying to themselves and us, and while we keep swallowing their lies and keeping them in office, the deficits and debt keep growing, as do the interest payments the government must make to encourage its creditors to keep lending it more money. The government may not collapse any time soon, but the interest payments alone on the national debt are growing and continuing to divert more funds from necessary programs, whether they be Social Security, or health insurance, or national defense. A balanced budget amendment may be the best means to try to reverse these trends.
The U. S. Constitution does not require a balanced budget—indeed, neither “balanced” nor “budget” is in the Constitution. And it’s certain that the Congress will never pass an amendment to balance the budget since such an amendment would reduce the opportunities for senators and representatives to buy votes with more spending projects and tax cuts.
But a balanced budget amendment could be added to the Constitution if two-thirds of the states were to petition Congress for a constitutional convention to draft such an amendment to be submitted to the states for approval. Ratification of the amendment by three-fourths of the states would put it in the Constitution, regardless of what the Congress might otherwise want.
And while this amendment would limit the opportunities for Congress to spend more while evading the need to raise more money to spend it, it would also provide senators and representatives with potentially valuable legal and political cover as well. Faced with a constitutionally-mandated requirement to balance the budget with, say, some combination of tax increases or spending cuts, members of Congress, in voting for these unpopular measures, could nonetheless justify their votes by telling their constituents,
“We had to vote this way—the Constitution made us do it!”
The chances that a balanced budget amendment—even with provisions for emergency deficit spending in times of war, economic depression, or national emergency—will be added to the Constitution any time soon are remote. More years may have to pass, during which our politicians lie to themselves and us while we swallow their lies, before we develop a true sense of urgency and enough determination to either add a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution or support other effective measures to get our fiscal house in order. One can only hope that when a strong enough consensus favoring meaningful action develops, it will not be too late.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024). He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville
Economic Development Authority since 2018 and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015. He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
Very good, it is time for We the People to demand this and if our Politicians don’t agree, throw the bums out.