[Southack]

"Where does the federal government get the power to legislate in this area? The answer is: Nowhere. The Constitution lists 18 specific legislative powers of Congress, and not a one of them covers national health care."

Nonsense.

Pull out your handy pocket copy of the Constitution, and flip to Article 1 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;
...
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

In other words, the Federal Government can "provide for the... general welfare of the United States," which would seem to legitimize Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and other welfare state programs.

What people do who don't *like* the general welfare clause of the Constitution is simply to ignore it or to dismiss it as though it had never been ratified into the law of the land.

That's a fundmental mistake (made frequently by the Constitution Party and various Libertarians).

Every word in our Constitution counts, and every word in that document is our law.

[Yeti]

What people do who don't *like* the general welfare clause of the Constitution is simply to ignore it or to dismiss it as though it had never been ratified into the law of the land.

No, what people do who *like* it a little TOO much is to pretend the phrase "general welfare of the United States" actually says "specific welfare of each of the people" and pretend to believe that the Founding Fathers intended to create a Borg state.

The meaning of the clause has been perverted in the same way as the interstate commerce clause -- a fig leaf for the actions of those whose goals for us are generally diametrically opposed to the goals of those who authored the document they distort.

Sophistry in the service of an ulterior motive.

[Black Agnes]

Funny how we survived & read that very same constitution with those very same words for ~200 years without ANY welfare state. Hmmmmm. Socialism was invented *after* our constitution was written. Unless you think the founding fathers were time travelers.

[Sofa King]

"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;"

"General welfare" does not mean "whatever you feel like". First off, "general welfare of the United States" means the United States as a whole. Taking from half the population and giving it to the other half is not helping the nation as a whole. Second off, the enumerated power here is the ability to tax, not the power to care for the general welfare of the nation. In other words, the government uses it's enumerated powers to work for the general welfare of the nation- and pays for it with the taxes collected as allowed for by this clause.