Ron Paul and the rise of the Fed-bashers

Is the Fed’s independence (de facto, not de jure) “undemocratic”? Somewhat. So what?

America is committed to democracy — and to circumscribing democracy’s scope in order to minimize the damage it can do by improvident responsiveness to untempered gusts of public passion. Thus the government is replete with restraining mechanisms — three branches of government, rival chambers of the legislative branch, vetoes, supermajority requirements, judicial review, etc. And there are extraconstitutional circumscriptions of democracy, such as allowing the Fed an independence that exists at the sufferance of Congress.

If Time magazine has a lick of sense, Bernanke will be its Person of the Year because his leading role in stabilizing the financial system enabled the president to pursue other objectives. He did not do it perfectly, but he prevented paralysis…

Like the Fed, dentists are always important and urgently desired when pain is intense. But they are rarely objects of their patients’ affections.