The "general welfare" clause

Among the numerous excuses for expanding government, the "general welfare" clause is the most over- and mis-used of all. It was used as an excuse for Social Security, for Medicare, Medicaid, and nearly every other social program created by the general government.

Interestingly, there IS no such clause. Dictionary.com defines "clause" as: "a syntactic construction containing a subject and predicate and forming part of a sentence or constituting a whole simple sentence."

Clause 1 of Art. I, Sec. 8, of the constitution reads:

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.

Each "power" of the Congress (and each clause) is indicated by a line break in the text. The actual "clause" can be termed the "tax collection clause." The general government collects revenue in order "to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States...."

How does the government provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States? Through its other powers: regulating commerce; raising and supporting armies; providing and maintaining a navy; providing for calling forth the militia; and organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia.

The founders created a constitution meant to limit the powers of the "general" government. They provided a framework for the government to exercise those powers necessary for the protection of the United States as a whole. All other 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" (Amendment X). (More on that in a later post.)

Any power exercised by the Congress not delegated to it is a usurpation. The so-called "general welfare clause" is used to disguise that usurpation as legitimate policy.