By checks I don’t mean your (outdoor) dining bills or paper orders for the payment of money, I mean mechanisms for reducing the power of government, as in the phrase “checks and balances.” Some checks, like the presidential veto, are as notorious as a certain deceased rapper and SCOTUS justice. While always assailed by critics, such checks are unlikely to be lost to time. Other checks are almost as obscure as Big Pun* and Thomas Johnson** but arguably just as important as the veto in some … [Read more...]