And now from the Department of Common Sense comes a proposed constitutional amendment to cap federal spending at 20 percent of the annual gross domestic product. Actually, the idea originated with Thomas Jefferson, but it doesn’t take a renaissance man like our third president to figure out that government spends too much and won’t stop until it is forced to do so. The amendment proposal was introduced earlier this week by Reps. Mike Pence of Indiana, Jeb Hensarling of Texas and John Campbell of California, all Republicans.

The 20 percent of GDP figure chosen by the trio, by the way, is equal to the average annual federal spending since World War II. Surely the federal government, by spending $1 of every $5 circulating in our economy, should be able to satisfy all legitimate public needs of a liberal commercial republic of 300 million-plus citizens in the 21st century. If not, something besides legitimate need is at work.