A demand for fiscal responsibility

Rach's note: With Former US Senator Norm Coleman's permission, I can publish the article he wrote to Politico.


By NORM COLEMAN, Politico


America is awash in debt. We topped $13 trillion and rising last week.


Congress knows this. President Barack Obama knows this. The governors and legislatures of every state know this.


Few of these politicians seem to want to do anything about it. In fact, by most accounts, the president and his allies are willing to expand the size, the scope and the cost of government for current and future generations.

But the American people can do something about it — the Constitution gives them that right. Now is the time for Americans to mandate fiscal responsibility by a grass-roots movement for a balanced budget amendment.


It’s time the American people reclaimed their future, and their children’s future, and forced Congress and politicians to do what they can’t — or won’t — do: Balance the nation’s budget, and then balance it every single year afterward — as the vast majority of the states must do under their own constitutions.


Obama’s budget is a road map to decline, showing deficits of more than $700 billion every year for a decade. Under his plan, the national debt is due to more than triple, from $5.8 trillion in 2008 to more than $20 trillion in 2020 — with more than $1 trillion in interest payments. That’s $60,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States.


This doesn’t even take into account the spiraling increased liabilities of Social Security and Medicare as baby boomers come of age.


The United States is not Greece — yet. But we are on a path to a future of higher interest rates, a diminished dollar, stagnant wages and dashed dreams.


Much of the avalanche of U.S. debt will be controlled by China and other countries, whose main mission seems to be to undermine American values around the globe.


This is a troubling future for a great country, the strongest economy on the planet and a beacon of freedom for centuries.


Under Article 5 of the Constitution, there are two ways to propose amendments. First is a vote by two-thirds of each house of Congress. We know that is not likely. Second is a Constitutional Convention to propose amendments, an “Article V convention.”


It’s simple. Thirty-four states would need to petition Congress for a convention. Then, 38 states would need to ratify anything that came out of this Constitutional Convention.


Imagine this scenario that could help restore America’s economic well-being:

Governors of each state call a special session of their legislatures to petition Congress for a Constitutional Convention. This places every member of every state’s Legislature on the record as being for or against a Constitutional Convention to decide whether a balanced budget should be required for the U.S. government. Once the Constitutional Convention is held, if a balanced budget amendment is agreed on, the process would start again with each governor calling for a special session of the Legislature to vote yes — or no — on that amendment.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37718.html#ixzz0oy12q5dN