“the so-called constitutionality of social security and medicare”
I’ve heard the “taxing power” argument before. But was ever SS etc. actually tested for constitutionality? And is that how the court answered? Because that’s a supremely weak answer. The payroll tax et. al. may be perfectly constitutional but that has nothing in particular to do with the social welfare programs. They don’t even spend the money raised in their name, but rather out of the general fund. So I don’t see how their spending is justified by the tax power.
Moreover, taxing is not spending. What you do with the money once it’s in Washington has to be empowered by the Constitution. You can’t for instance federal daycare service just because you instituted the Daycare Tax. Which is not to say the feds couldn’t nationalize daycare, because they can do nearly anything they want, and there’s no one to stand in their way unless they overreach as obviously as they apparently have with Obamacare.