David Cay Johnston: “3 weeks ago I rose on the floor of this Senate to announce I would not be running for reelection. Today I rise, with the…”

“3 weeks ago I rose on the floor of this Senate to announce I would not be running for reelection. Today I rise, with the luxury of not having to face another election to the U.S. Senate, to oppose this amendment in its present form. I do so, first of all, because I believe this amendment violates the social contract. The social contract was a concept formed in the 18th century by French philosophers, principally Jean Jacques Rousseau, who came up with this concept which in turn inspired Thomas Jefferson and the people who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It was founded on the thought that there should be government by consent of the governed. A social contract where the people, understanding the issues, gave to their elected officials the right to make decisions on their behalf. Why does this violate the social contract? Because we have here a pig in a poke in which the American public are asked, in effect, to trust us and we or the courts will later tell you what the program is. A balanced budget is not self-defining. A balanced budget can be balanced in many, many ways, some of which are good and some of which are not so good. Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Fed, was before the Budget Committee just last week. I asked him about various ways that the budget could be balanced. Some, he said, would be bad for the economy. Some would be good for the economy.”