Jeffrey Sachs saves the world

So, the real key to the distinctiveness of America is the structure of our government…There are very few countries in the world, for example, that have a bicameral legislature. England has a House of Lords, for the time being, but the House of Lords has no substantial power; they can just make the [House of] Commons pass a bill a second time. France has a senate; it's honorific. Italy has a senate; it's honorific. Very few countries have two separate bodies in the legislature equally powerful. That's a lot of trouble, as you gentlemen doubtless know, to get the same language through two different bodies elected in a different fashion…

Unless Americans can appreciate that and learn to love the separation of powers, which means learning to love the gridlock which the Framers believed would be the main protector of minorities, [we lose] the main protection. If a bill is about to pass that really comes down hard on some minority [and] they think it's terribly unfair, it doesn't take much to throw a monkey wrench into this complex system. Americans should appreciate that; they should learn to love the gridlock. It's there so the legislation that does get out is good legislation.

I would amend that last sentence to read that legislation passed is more likely good legislation.

The Framers used history as their guide: they collected example of "a civilization did this, that happened" to design the Constitution. They went with the empirical observation, "Power Corrupts." Conclusion: keep power from concentrating onto any one group.

On what does Sachs rely for his prescriptions? Look again at the quotation which opened this review: "Economic theory supports the view that high tax rates spur work effort." That is a true statement: economic theory does indeed say that big government, operating on Enlightened principles and staffed with the sinless, will lead to Utopia.

But Sachs in his glow has forgotten the old, sad, now bloodstained joke: it works in theory, but not in practice.