Liberals Love the ‘General Welfare’ Clause

Liberals Love the ‘General Welfare’ Clause


Liberals Love the ‘General Welfare’ Clause
posted on November 23, 2012 by Gary DeMar25 Comments


73
In a previous article, I pointed out that one commenter to an article I had written tried to argue that Jesus was an advocate for socialism. It’s an old story that lacks facts to back up the premise.
In the same comment, he made the absurd claim that the United States Constitution was designed to promote wealth distribution. It’s no wonder that more than 50 percent of voters supported the most socialistic president in United States history. Here’s what he wrote:
“The Constitution, which we all revere, explicitly states that Congress has the power to levy taxes to provide for the common welfare — to include roads, bridges etc. The common welfare includes ALL people. To argue that taxes are all inherently stealing from you is to deny the very Constitution that is the foundation of the United States. I don’t agree with everything Prof. Krugman says but in this case he is right. We have the largest wealth inequality since the 1920′s and that did in fact hasten the collapse of the markets and the advent of the Great Depression. We cannot hide our heads in the sand and pretend history is unimportant.”
Since the income tax amendment wasn’t ratified until 1913, it’s hard to make the case that our founders were pushing ways to abolish “wealth inequality” since there was no instrument to tax people unequally.
Here’s the introductory text of the “general welfare” provision in Art. I, sec. 8 of the Constitution:
“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;


It’s clear that the “general welfare” (not “common welfare”) clause is not about wealth redistribution. There are 18 powers granted to the Federal government in the full context of Article 1, section 8 with no mention of wealth redistribution, education, retirement security, or health care.
As James Madison made clear in Federalist 41, the phrase “general welfare” is immediately followed “and is not even separated by a longer pause than a semicolon.” He went on to state that “[n]othing is more natural nor common than first to use a general phrase, and then to explain and qualify it by a recital of particulars,” which the Constitution does.[1] Read the list for yourself.
“General welfare” in constitutional terms means welfare that benefits everybody more or less equally. This can be clearly seen in providing “for the common Defense.” Taxes collected to defend the nation benefit everybody generally.
Taxing some people so other people can have decent housing or a college education or healthcare is not general welfare; it’s particular welfare. Taking money from some people so it can be given to other people is not what the constitution means by general welfare.
Bridges and roads are paid for by people who use them. The more you drive, the more you pay. If you don’t own a car, you pay the tax indirectly in the goods that travel over the roads by trucks that purchase fuel and pay the tax, an expense that’s passed on to consumers, as is every other tax.
Notes:
The Federalist No. 41: General View of the Powers Conferred by the Constitution (January 19, 1788). [↩]


Read more: http://godfatherpolitics.com/8222/liberals-love-the-general-welfare-clause/#ixzz2D6G6KuTs

25 comments

Leave a message...
Attach
 Post as Ray Hotchkiss
Discussion
Community
My Disqus 4

graz • 10 hours ago
Effective Jan 1, 2013, aspirin will be taxed under the
Obama-Care program.

The explanation was that they are white and work. No
other reason was given!
16  •Reply•Share ›

Screeminmeeme  graz • 10 hours ago
graz.....LOL...Good one!
5  •Reply•Share ›

jimpeel • 6 hours ago −
“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
-- James Madison

"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated."
-- Thomas Jefferson 1798

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it."
-- Frederic Bastiat
7  •Reply•Share ›

guest  jimpeel • 4 hours ago
Why didn't Bastiat include bankers among the plunderers? Charging what the market will bear isn't plundering? Landlords, speculators who profit from the pain of others, aren't parasites or plunderers? Just because we allow something to be legal doesn't mean it's moral. Ah, but conservatism doesn't go very deep.
0  •Reply•Share ›

Screeminmeeme • 11 hours ago
Good point. I've heard this argument from the left a thousand times and your refutation of it is right on. It's not surprising though that the me-oriented, entitlement people would use that phrase in the Constitution to justify actions which target their particular (selfish) ''needs'' (desires).

It seems reasonable to me that if you want to understand how a document is to be interpreted, you should go its author(s).
5  •Reply•Share ›

guest  Screeminmeeme • 4 hours ago
The authors also held slaves, which has since been outlawed. Women couldn't vote and even children were considered as property. Most people would rather not go back to those older "interpretations."
0  •Reply•Share ›

forrealcommonsense • 7 hours ago
It's game over when you have a "democracy" not a Republic & more takers than givers. There is evil in charge & many just can't see it because they were not taught fundamental principles of economics or morality for that matter. Corrupt politicians have co-operated with those hell bent on destroying this country.

P.S. The liberals don't realize they are sinking the ship (Capitalism) that they are in and it has kept them afloat for so long...
4  •Reply•Share ›

guest  forrealcommonsense • 4 hours ago
Actually the majority of "capitalists" sold out and became communists when they moved their operations to Red China. Those traitor CEO's were "takers" when they failed to recognize or respect American interest in their enterprise. Russia put a billionaire in prison for selling off what their government deemed "national assets."
0  •Reply•Share ›

forrealcommonsense  guest • 4 hours ago
They were progressive liberals taking advantage of the capitalist system in a country founded on Christian principles.
1  •Reply•Share ›

Luci Tomlin  forrealcommonsense • 6 hours ago
But doing things according to our Constitution such as governing with decency, morals, honesty, compromise, was NOT the objective of this irratic, incompetent, bunch of Radical Factions! The ONLY AGENDA for which HE was created was to obligate and over-burden our Country, "invade" our "internal, VITAL organs", devour them in order to KNOW how to render us with no options to challenge them. They NEED our wealth, assets, property and especially our natural resources in order to accomplish the ULTIMATE goal! Of desolving, weakening, and restricting every right, benefit, and Constitutional Law to oust us from our own Country! Every person in the world KNOWS he did not get into our White House by the usual procedure that EVERY other President has been required to follow! He side-stepped every normal rule to qualify for President! Using ever devious means it took to "Buy" him in! Forged COLB, an ALIAS in Chicago, filched SS# he used until '09 when questions about it kept cropping up! Where did he get the "NEW ONE" he is using now? We will NEVER know! Every time someone asks a perfectly legitimate question, his "creaters" started the "you are all racist" mantra! So instead of insisting on HONEST answers, Conservatives back down! Consequently, we have a President who is a laminated surface version of a counter top! Underneath is pressed plywood that swells and peels when it becomes "wet"! Your beautiful countertop now ruins the entire kitchen because the "hidden" foundation underneath was cheap, can't withstand pressure and is expected to do more than it was created for! The "base" of the cabinets should NOT have been ignored! THAT is what holds up everything else and makes it durable! Underneath this good-looking, charismatic,articulate, Orator, who has a false and faulty foundation!
0  •Reply•Share ›

Raymond • 3 hours ago
The $50 Lesson

Recently, while I was working in the flower beds
in the front yard, my neighbors stopped to chat
as they returned home from walking their dog.

During our friendly conversation, I asked their
little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up.

She said she wanted to be President some day.

Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing
there, so I asked her, "If you were President what
would be the first thing you would do?"

She replied... "I'd give food and houses to all
the homeless people."

Her parents beamed with pride!

"Wow...what a worthy goal!" I said. "But you don't
have to wait until you're President to do that!" I told her.

"What do you mean?" she replied.

So I told her, "You can come over to my house and
mow the lawn, pull weeds, and trim my hedge, and
I'll pay you $50. Then you can go over to the grocery
store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you
can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new
house."

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she
looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why
doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the
work, and you can just pay him the $50?"

I said, "Welcome to the Republican Party."

Her parents aren't speaking to me.
3  •Reply•Share ›

Liberty Rock • 6 hours ago
Alll liberals Should be expelled out of America stripped from their US Citizenship along with their immediate family & be flown to Communiist China Or Cuba & eat Crap
3  •Reply•Share ›

Raymond • 3 hours ago
The United States of America passed away on November 6, 2012 with an almost silent whimper. She was 236 years old. The grand old lady died of neglect, stupidity, arrogance and pure abuse at the hands of both her leaders and its ignorant populace. She will be survived by the Socialist Democratic Republic of Obamerica or SDRO.

Also killed in this same massive, catastrophic, progressive wreck were personal freedoms, American values, exceptionalism, The Constitution, economic growth, conservatism, fiscal sanity, American unity, free markets, life's sanctity, marriage between man and woman, Republicanism, free will, self-reliance and many more are so mutilated as to be unrecognizable any longer.

Born: July 04, 1776
Died: November 06, 2012..
2  •Reply•Share ›

Liberty Rock • 6 hours ago
Alll linerals Should be expelled out of America stripped from their US Citizenship along with their immediate family & be flown to Communiist China Or Cuba & eat Crap
2  •Reply•Share ›

TM • 7 hours ago
Liberalism is a disease and all those who voted for obama have it, the only cure is for them to die and may they do it ASAP.
2  •Reply•Share ›

StephenFR • 6 hours ago
Hear is what I always tell the progressives that say that welfare is in the constitution. If the intent to redistribute wealth as the welfare system does was the idea of the founders of our country, then why was there none prior to 1935? Really pisses them off.
1  •Reply•Share ›

guest  StephenFR • 4 hours ago
Well something had to be done to fix the economy after banksters and investors nearly killed the goose (first "Great Depression.) We cannot afford to allow amoral greedsters to keep exploiting the system for their own self-aggrandizement. The repeal of Glass-Steagal is what brought on this current recession (People who don't learn from history, or in this case are too young to remember or learn from it.) Things change, often necessarily so.
0  •Reply•Share ›

Coda  guest • an hour ago
Did you also know that FDR's democratic policies extended the Great Depression. You wanna whine about how other people have more money than you becaise its "not fair". Thats called an excuse. Let me tell you something. If liberals worked as hars as they dis making excuses they'd be richer than the so called "evil conservatives" who are evil because they workes hard for there money and didn't give it to the lazy bum. You so quick to call for inequality and redistribution of wealth when you dont realize yourmaking America more inequal. Your calling for an inequal distribution of WORK. LET ME TELL YOU IT AIN' HARD TO NAKE MONEY IF YOU REALLY WANT IT. america was buikt by GO-GETTERS. MADE by Go-getters. In the last 40 years there were 6 years when the budget was balanced. 4 under president clinton. However what they dont tell you is that it was balanced because a republican congress and house of representatives were in charge. They proposed things that Demorcrat clinton relectantly signed and because of them w had a balanced budget.
0  •Reply•Share ›

KBreedlove50 • 7 hours ago
At least by favorable referencing Paul Krugman you know that this guy's an idiot (just like Dr. Paul).
0  1 •Reply•Share ›

jsmithcsa • 3 hours ago
Actually, I have no problem with general welfare, that being things used for all of us like highways and lighthouses. On the other hand, misusing the term to mean what I call "specific welfare" -- that is a check given to someone -- does not seem to me to be constitutional. Why else would the author of the Constitution have written, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." (James Madison, 1794)
0  •Reply•Share ›

Raymond • 3 hours ago
Math Teacher Arrested!

A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International
airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a
protractor, a compass, a slide-rule and a calculator. At a morning press
conference, Attorney General Eric Holder said he believes the man is a
member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who
has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.
'Al-Gebra is a problem for us', the Attorney General said. 'They derive
solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search
of absolute values.' They use secret code names like 'X' and 'Y' and refer
to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined that they belong to a
common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every
country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are 3 sides
to every triangle'.

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Obama said, 'If God had
wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, he would have given us
more fingers and toes.' White House aides told reporters they could not
recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the President. It is
believed that another Nobel Prize will follow.
0  •Reply•Share ›

guest • 4 hours ago
The problem with neo-christians' opinions like Demar is he doesn't consider defending the rich as favoritism or as a particular/specific exception to the "general" welfare clause, never mind that the Bible OT says specifically that the rich oppress the poor, or that Jesus specifically hung out with and helped poor people. Bringing God's kingdom down to earth should not be defined as cementing for posterity. the attitudes or dubious values of the wealthy to which all must adhere. Rich people don't fall under the "general" welfare clause. Conservatives are free to differ, that's what policy issues are about. The country has changed a lot in many ways. To whom much has been given, much is expected. Behaving like selfish pigs or insufferable play-babies isn't your purpose on planet earth.
0  •Reply•Share ›

chetohimler • 5 hours ago
General welfare was meant to have equal access to every individual regardless of race,color, state,"area" rural, city, suburb, religion etc. "Welfare is taken out of context in the since that it does not mean how an individual is doing "personally". Example: The governments, Fed, State and Local were/are to provide equal access to roads, bridges, water, utilities, sewage and an equal access to "infrustructure". Also in the case of a serious illness, such as a plague, it is the governments duty to protect all citizens by such measures as vaccinations or quarantine. Welfare is to mean that everyone has an equal opportunity and access to infrustructures that are built for everyone. Thus we are taxed on these survices. Citizens are able to use these infrustructure abilities to be free to provide for their own families "well-being" and success, on their own. This is where the democrats will use the term, " it all depends on what is...is". Liberals tend to turn words and meanings into what they foolishly pretend it means. And yes, we are all stupid not to argue, look them straight in the eye's and say...."That is not what the Constitution means". Welfare does not mean to provide for the lazy, don't even try, don't even learn english, don't even get your citizenship, let the government feed, house and clothe your ass...and then complain because you think its still not enough. If Liberals want to change the words around, to me welfare means I need a new car because the constitution says it has to look after my welfare.
0  •Reply•Share ›

Tim • 5 hours ago
It is important to realize that general welfare would apply to national disasters or aid to truly disabled individuals, but today, the welfare is carefully targeted for voter appeal and is unconstitutional.
0  •Reply•Share ›

guest  Tim • 4 hours ago
The jobs have largely flown the coop. "General Welfare" would now include a large and very vulnerable segment of the population. Maybe we should pass a law that prevents US manufacturers from moving manufacturing assets overseas, albeit a little late, the horse being out of the barn; but I think Red China has some similar set of policies in place.
0  •Reply•Share ›