Larry Craig: “last evening, as we began this important debate in relation to a balanced budget amendment to our Constitution, there…”

“last evening, as we began this important debate in relation to a balanced budget amendment to our Constitution, there was some suggestion that economic policy ought not be a part of our Constitution; that it was bad to place in the context of the Constitution economic principles or economic courses and directions that, in the argument of the opposition, did not fit or were not proper in the constitutional setting. For a few moments this morning, let me discuss that issue because I think it is very important that we understand that economic policy has always been a part of our Constitution and that, depending on your point of view and how you read the Constitution, our Founding Fathers were very, very specific in suggesting that economics was an important part of the consideration and, most importantly, rights and freedoms necessarily clarified in the Constitution. Governance inescapably involves addressing the question of economics. Moreover, our Constitution is replete with economic policy. For example, it refers to private property rights. Of course, in the days of our Founding Fathers, private property was the essence of economics. It was the foundation of wealth. It remains so today. It was spoken to in the Constitution.…”