Politics is selling candidates or policy. Article V advocates are selling the policy of fiscal restraint, and have unwisely chosen as their brand “the balanced budget amendment.” The words are those of an accountant. They’re awkward. A better brand is needed to make this sale. Who, other than economist, get excited or inspired by the term “balanced budget amendment”?
“Line-item veto” just sounds punchier. Nobody knows what balanced budget amendment really would be, so it fails to strike a chord. Everybody knows what a veto is, and line-item is a money term, so it translates into stopping the spending of money. You don’t have to be budget bug to know exactly what it means.
We need a new organization, something like Americans for the Line Item Veto (ALIVE) or Citizens for the Line Item Veto (CLIVE). As a brand, the “Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force (BBATF)” won’t be missed.
We need a new name to go with our new mission — which is to balance the budget with the line-item veto. The President will be responsible for balancing the budget. We will have given him the power. The responsibility comes with it. Congress is so corrupt, and Congressmen so entrenched, that it has become unaccountable.
Presidents are accountable, as Trump will be in 2020. Let him take full ownership of the deficit, and see what he can do with it.
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