from Article I section 8 of the US Constitution:
"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and General Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States"
I don't see any explicit limit placed on what CAN or CANNOT be considered providing for the general welfare of the United States. However, I've seen several people here lately argue that there is only ONE acceptable definition of 'general welfare' (conveniently their own) and it excludes anything that even slightly constitutes a redistribution of wealth.
I understand philosophical and ideological opposition to wealth redistribution. But I don't understand constitutional opposition.
How do you interpret the General Welfare clause?
I interpret this in accord with the 9th and the 10th amedments which were required prior to the ratification of the entire document.
The common defence does not allow the Feds to protect every individual any more than the General Welfare allows the Feds to be the endower of charity to the individuals living in the states. If this were the case, we would not have local police forces or county or state law enforcement offices. They would all be federal.
The very term, "General Welfare" literally confines it away from specific welfare. General does not and never has meant specific.
It wise in any interpretation of words written centuries ago to determine what those words meant when written. Please note that if the founders had meant to imply what you seem to assert, they would have used the word "charity" rather than welfare. Here is a decent analysis of that:
World Wide Words: Welfare
Originally welfare meant the state or condition of how well one was doing, of one’s happiness, good fortune or prosperity. Shakespeare has Queen Margaret say in Henry VI: “Take heed, my lord; the welfare of us all / Hangs on the cutting short that fraudful man”. And John Locke, in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690): “Thus the being and welfare of a man’s children or friends, producing constant delight in him, he is said constantly to love them”.
This remained so until the beginning of this century, when changes in the relationship between individuals and the state caused an extended sense to appear of an organised effort to maintain the members of a community in a state of well-being, both physical and economic.
One reason for this new usage was that older terms, particularly charity, had too many unacceptable overtones relating to recipients’ loss of self-respect and dignity in accepting help. So welfare was useful in expressing similar ideas but without this historical baggage of associations.
Amendment 9 - Construction of Constitution. Ratified 12/15/1791.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791. Note
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
