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‘I wish it were possible,” Thomas ‘I Jefferson wrote in 1798, “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.” I give you Thomas Jefferson: Father of the Balanced-Budget Amendment.

Jefferson was, indeed, guilty of premature anti-deficitism: between 1795 and 1811 the Federal Government reduced the national debt by almost half —from $83.8 million to $45.2 million. During the War of 1812 the government accumulated once again, in its time of crisis, a debt; and between 1815 and 1836 racked up 18 budget surpluses which reduced that debt from $127 million to $337,000. This, roughly speaking, was the historical pattern from the founding of the Republic until 1960, the Depression years and World War II not excluded: the Federal Government in times of emergency incurred deficits that in times of “normalcy” it liquidated. Only during the past two decades have budget deficits been accepted as the equivalent of “normalcy.” In Balanced Budgets, Fiscal Responsibility, and the Constitution (Cato Institute, 224 Second Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003; $6), Richard E. Wagner and Robert D. Tollison, Alvin Rabushka, and John T. Noonan Jr. discuss the need for a balanced-budget amendment and consider means of its devising and implementation.

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‘I wish it were possible,” Thomas ‘I Jefferson wrote in 1798, “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.” I give you Thomas Jefferson: Father of the Balanced-Budget Amendment.

Jefferson was, indeed, guilty of premature anti-deficitism: between 1795 and 1811 the Federal Government reduced the national debt by almost half —from $83.8 million to $45.2 million. During the War of 1812 the government accumulated once again, in its time of crisis, a debt; and between 1815 and 1836 racked up 18 budget surpluses which reduced that debt from $127 million to $337,000. This, roughly speaking, was the historical pattern from the founding of the Republic until 1960, the Depression years and World War II not excluded: the Federal Government in times of emergency incurred deficits that in times of “normalcy” it liquidated. Only during the past two decades have budget deficits been accepted as the equivalent of “normalcy.” In Balanced Budgets, Fiscal Responsibility, and the Constitution (Cato Institute, 224 Second Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003; $6), Richard E. Wagner and Robert D. Tollison, Alvin Rabushka, and John T. Noonan Jr. discuss the need for a balanced-budget amendment and consider means of its devising and implementation.