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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (24619)	8/31/2012 12:42:57 PM
From: Peter Dierks	4 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

They most certainly did not mean welfare like YOU mean welfare.

To: Road Walker who wrote (24619)	8/31/2012 12:48:57 PM
From: i-node	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

>> You conveniently missed this part "promote the general Welfare". Hamilton and Madison couldn't even come to terms on this phrase as is well evidenced in the Federalist Papers. I suspect that argument won't be settled here ;)

To: Road Walker who wrote (24619)	8/31/2012 5:29:52 PM
From: TimF	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

The United States Constitution contains two references to "the General Welfare", one occurring in the Preamble and the other in the Taxing and Spending Clause. The U.S. Supreme Court has held the mention of the clause in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution "has never been regarded as the source of any substantive power conferred on the Government of the United States or on any of its Departments." [2] [3] Moreover, the Supreme Court held the understanding of the General Welfare Clause contained in the Taxing and Spending Clause adheres to the construction given it by Associate Justice Joseph Story in his 1833 Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. [4] [5] Justice Story concluded that the General Welfare Clause is not a grant of general legislative power, [6] [4] but a qualification on the taxing power [7] [8] [4] which includes within it a federal power to spend federal revenues on matters of general interest to the federal government. [9] [4] [10] The Court described Justice Story's view as the "Hamiltonian position", [4] as Alexander Hamilton had elaborated his view of the taxing and spending powers in his 1791 Report on Manufactures. Story, however, attributes the position's initial appearance to Thomas Jefferson, in his Opinion on the Bank of the United States. [11] As such, these clauses in the U.S. Constitution are an atypical use of a general welfare clause, and are not considered grants of a general legislative power to the federal government. [12] en.wikipedia.org The Preamble serves solely as an introduction, and does not assign powers to the federal government, [1] nor does it provide specific limitations on government action. Due to the Preamble's limited nature, no court has ever used it as a decisive factor in case adjudication, [2] except as regards frivolous litigation. [3] en.wikipedia.org When the Founding Fathers said that “WE THE PEOPLE” established the Constitution to “promote the general Welfare,” they did not mean the federal government would have the power to aid education, build roads, and subsidize business. Likewise, Article 1, Section 8 did not give Congress the right to use tax money for whatever social and economic programs Congress might think would be good for the “general welfare.” James Madison stated that the “general welfare” clause was not intended to give Congress an open hand “to exercise every power which may be alleged to be necessary for the common defense or general welfare.” If by the “general welfare,” the Founding Fathers had meant any and all social, economic, or educational programs Congress wanted to create, there would have been no reason to list specific powers of Congress such as establishing courts and maintaining the armed forces. Those powers would simply have been included in one all-encompassing phrase, to “promote the general welfare.” lawandliberty.org