The True Meaning of General Welfare

Considering that most constitutional experts in the year 2019 say that the Constitution is ever-changing in its meaning and that the words must be interrupted by today’s standards of beliefs, then why do we have every elected politician and appointed government official swearing to uphold a document that changes its meaning at the whims of judges and politicians? If the law is constantly changing and the law is different this year from years ago, then there is no set law that the government must obey. God forbid!

I emphatically assert that the federal government of the United States is governed by a bunch of lawless politicians. They do not want to obey the Constitution, so they and the corrupted legal minds of this country have decided that whatever they want the Constitution to be today, it will be. A majority of the congressional gang of 535 is on the path of power that will soon lead everyone in America down a back road and off a cliff of economic and social collapse. This is what they want! They know that when that happens, most of We the People will cry out for Congress to save America from the destruction. But, when what they have planned comes to pass, they will not save America, but will rule over it in absolute tyranny.

Therein these unconstitutional wayfaring straits, the words promote general welfare means whatever politician’s desire for political reasons.

The United States Constitution

First Paragraph: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

First Power In Article I 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 Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

Question: What does promote the general Welfare mean, as written in the Constitution’s first paragraph?

Question: Does the word welfare written in the first power give Congress the authority to control all domestic affairs of the country?

Founding Father General Welfare Quotes

James Madison: “With respect to the words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. If the words obtained so readily a place in the ‘Articles of Confederation,’ and received so little notice in their admission into the present Constitution, and retained for so long a time a silent place in both, the fairest explanation is, that the words, in the alternative of meaning nothing or meaning everything, had the former meaning taken for granted.”

James Madison: “If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their Own hands; they may appoint teachers in every state, county, and parish, and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision for the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress; for every object I have mentioned would admit of the application of money, and might be called, if Congress pleased, provisions for the general welfare....were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited government established by the people of America.”

Consider the words general Welfare in the Constitution and in the quotes just read and then take note of the only specified areas of general Welfare that Congress could promote and influence per the quotes of Wm. Rawle (He declined to be the nation’s first Attorney General) “The power to establish post offices and post roads, has a necessary connexion with the promotion of commerce and the general welfare of the Union.”

“A regular system of free and speedy communication is of vital importance to the mercantile interest, but on a wider scale we must also admit it to be of the first consequence to the general benefit. In time of peace, it tends to keep the people duly informed of their political interests; it assists the measures of government, and the private intercourse of individuals.”

Promote General Welfare

I ask, when you read the words promote the general Welfare, what does promote mean? Promote applies to what the government should do, that is, encourage the development in areas that benefits all free enterprising businesses, such as farming, fishing, logging, retail, and manufacturing industries, etcetera, etcetera, this is the best meaning of constitutional welfare that ties in with Wm. Rawls quotes shown in the previous paragraphs. General Welfare does not mean give, give, and give to the people. But today the federal government deliberately governs under the guise of care and deep concern for the people, and therefore they interpret welfare in the widest means possible so that politicians can implement care packages that are in the best interest of their careers. For obvious reasons, politicians and judges want to believe that the Constitution gives the federal government the power to give and keep giving to the people anything and everything they want. Elected people realize that if they the caring politicians give out benefits to the people, the people will love them and keep voting for them; hence they dare not let their voters know what general Welfare really means in the Constitution.

Founding Father Quotes: Constitution Limits Congress Powers

St George Tucker: (an attorney, professor of law & judge). “From this view of the powers delegated to the federal government, it will clearly appear that those exclusively granted to it have no relation to the domestic economy of the state. The right of property, with all it’s train of incidents, except in the case of authors, and inventors, seems to have been left exclusively to the state regulations; and the rights of persons appear to be no further subject to the control of the federal government, than may be necessary to support the dignity and faith of the nation in it’s federal or foreign engagements, and obligations;…”

Thomas Jefferson: “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated.”

James Madison: “The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.”

Samuel Adams: “The utopian schemes of leveling and redistribution of wealth are arbitrary, despotic, and in our government unconstitutional.”

Benjamin Franklin: “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

The Founding Father quotes just read apply to the first nine of the eighteen powers given to Congress, not any specific power, but to the overall powers.

Congress Powers

Per the words of our Founding Fathers, if the power given to Congress it is not specifically written in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution, it is not a power of Congress, but it is a state power (The entirety of Article I Section 8 is in an earlier blog). I implore everyone to implement ‘Freedom Thoughts’ upon the quotes in regard to the eighteen powers given to Congress. And as one rereads each quote, refer to the words of the Constitution and notice in the same quote what is the obvious meaning of the word welfare as used in the Constitution.

The Truth: Congress Has Very Limited Powers

The Founding Father quotes on the meaning of the words general Welfare speaks louder and clearer than I could ever write. If the issue isn’t specifically written in the Constitution, Congress must not take authority over that concern of society, though it may be considered a great need. Any problem in the country, be it domestic, economic, social, disaster relief, or of any beneficial relief to any individual, organization, or company is of no concern for Congress; the Constitution does not give the federal government the power to control or give help in those areas. Congress has very limited powers per the words of the Constitution, and the words written by the lawyers and Constitutionalists of that day agree. (Note: if it is not a federal government power and not denied as a state power, it is a state responsibility).

Question: Where is the power written that allows Congress to provide food stamps, welfare, housing and other benefits to the poor? Answer, there is no such power given to Congress.

Question: Does Congress have the power to collect social security and medicare with the power to pay and care for the medical needs of We the People? Answer, absolutely NO!

Question: Where is the power given that allows the federal government to create hundreds of thousands of laws that regulate every conceivable business in the country with every avenue of any company under the control of federal law? Answer, per Founding Father quotes, there is no such power.

A tyrannical government uses arbitrary, unauthorized, oppressive exercise of power over subjects.  Tyranny is a disease that is rampant in our government. But I ask, is tyranny the true source of our nation’s problems? What causes tyranny to exist? Why is this disease so prominent today in our country? As the words in these blogs and in the book are revealed, the reason for the overwhelming social problems and political problems, such as tyranny in our country will be uncovered. Remember, I believe that a person must understand that our government does not obey the Constitution before they see the need for the true solution to our country’s problems.

My declarative written statements that say the federal and state governments must obey the U. S. Constitution exactly as it is written are considered by most people to be the words of a radical.  But what I say and write is true; our government must obey the Constitution exactly as written, this is reasonable, logical thinking. Is it not true, that not obeying the laws in the Constitution is radical? If a government does not obey the laws it swears to uphold, are not they the radicals? Yes, they are the ones who have sinned greatly. Our Founding Fathers declared over and over that our government must follow the laws of the Constitution. The truth is, today’s federal government is run by a bunch of lawless radicals!

Take careful note of what the Founding Fathers believed when they created the law that the federal government must obey. We the People have succumbed to the over reaching power of our government. Our federal government is ordered to obey the People’s Constitution and if We the People do what we the employer should do, we would take control and fire those employees that do not follow the Law of the Land.

Summary Note: in my books, 95 Theses Project, Let’s Save our Constitution and Hell’s Fork Advances, subtitle, Americas Warning, there are over 200 Founding Father quotes in each book that reveal their true intents of limited government on almost every Constitution law and social issue.