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.