Issue 278 The General Welfare February 24, 2014

The General Welfare clause is from Article 1 section 8 of the United States Constitution. In this wording, people have taken it to mean providing welfare to the poor, the downtrodden and others who are deemed a charity case. But that is entirely different than what it was intended to mean. Let’s look at the modernist view versus the actual meaning.

Modernist view: As stated above, the modernists' takes the wording and takes it to mean that anyone who would need some sort of aid deserves to be helped by the Federal government. The reason they take it to mean this way is because the section states "to provide for the general welfare." Modern people take welfare to mean handouts and thus they use it to justify their argument that the Federal government should provide some sort of relief to the needy.

Actual meaning: Let's read the whole clause within Section 8:

"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."

Firstly this does not specify what welfare is. Welfare then did not have the exact same meaning it does today. Welfare today is a handout by a government to help the poor stay afloat (though sometimes it is abused). However, the welfare of the past was more akin to advocating good acts and deeds and things they felt were important. So things like the purchase of the Louisiana territory can be considered part of the general welfare for it expanded the United States and gave us a major shipping rout and ports on the Mississippi river. Marriage and charitable exceptions in the tax code are another example, as the American Republic saw these acts as a benefit to society. So, general welfare is less about giving tax dollars away, and more about purchasing and advocating for positive things in society. The word welfare is in reference to how people are fairing while general means everyone as a collective group. As such, the acts that occurred through this clause must be applicable to everyone’s welfare and benefit.

Conclusion: Never has this clause been meant to serve as a justification for the Federal government to overstep its authority and provide direct aid to American citizens. With all respect to the modernist thinkers, the only place where any welfare should be distributed is at the local level exclusively. The Federal government, and even the State governments can and have always provided blanket approaches to provide welfare aid, but as you can tell by the history of the welfare apparatus, it does not work. Our founders envisioned a nation based on laws and separations of powers. It is not only the Federal government that has its powers split internally, but also to divide up the responsibility of which level of government does what. Local handles the poor, execution of State and Federal laws when applicable and basic infrastructure. States were to take care of writing criminal law, enforce law in places between towns and cities and restrict or promote growth of population centers by determining their territorial limits. Finally, the Federal government handled all foreign trade and relations, common defense and other specific matters as listed in the United States Constitution. There is more to all three levels of government, but you get the general idea. Basically, welfare of the individual is out of the purview of the Federal government’s power. So that's it. Hope you enjoyed the explanation of what that clause really means and use it to get America back on the right track.