TRICKS OF THE TRADE.

• Author: Fischer, Raymond L.
• Position: POLITICAL LANDSCAPE - David Schoenbrod's "DC Confidential: Inside the Five Tricks of Washington"

A LEADER of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Trustee Professor of Law at New York Law School, and contributor to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, David Schoenbrod has authored several books about government and the need to protect the environment. His academic credentials include an economics degree from Oxford University and a law degree from Yale University. His latest effort, DC Confidential: Inside the Five Tricks of Washington, defines needed reform and advocates for putting government in its place.

Aware of contention among colonists, the drafters of the Constitution considered open debate essential to preserving democracy. They gave Congress the power to levy taxes, appropriate money, and pass laws--and mandated publishing the "Yeas and Nays" of individual congressmen. The "drama" of open debates increased voters' knowledge and the need for literacy. Empowered by the "consent of the governed," Congress resolved disagreements transparently; legislators balanced conflicting ideas; and voters generally accepted the results as fair: "Win some, lose some." Open debate required legislators to be responsible, and to accept both credit and consequences for their actions.

By the late 1960s, however, voters came to expect the government to "work wonders." After all, it had salvaged the Great Depression, won World War II, constructed the interstate highway system, enacted civil rights legislation, and put a man on the moon. Now, voters wanted more, and legislators wanted to please them. Legislators and the White House began to utilize a system for enacting laws and programs for which they can "take credit for good news," while evading responsibility for "producing bad results."

Herein began government dysfunction in earnest, according to Schoenbrod, who asserts that the turmoil of the 2016 election cycle--termed by former Democratic National Committee Chair and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean "like middle school on steroids"--could be the last of its kind if people realize the "power to get rid of Washington chicanery is not within Washington; it is in each of us."

The first step in reforming the chronic dysfunction of the Federal government requires voters to hold their elected congressmen accountable for the laws they enact. While most people acknowledge Washington is dysfunctional because politicians "curry favor with special interests and activists on the left or right," it also is important to recognize the five key "tricks" politicians use to conceal "what the government actually does to [voters]."

* The money trick. When Congress passes laws that create between spending and revenue a...