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Just a question for the room....
1 posted on 03/20/2010 11:05:24 AM PDT by Rurudyne
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To: Rurudyne

I suspect it’s because to our founders, “general welfare” was synonymous with “maximum liberty” and “minimal government intrusion.” When read in that regard, the clauses are not only consistent, but mutually reinforcing.


2 posted on 03/20/2010 11:08:23 AM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Rurudyne
The "General Welfare" statement in the Constitution refers back to Federalist #41 & the Articles of Confederation which states: "All charges of war and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defense or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury,''

In other words, it was a statement of the general welfare of the country, directly tied to the raising money for defense.

4 posted on 03/20/2010 11:11:17 AM PDT by mnehring
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To: Rurudyne

I thought the “promote the general welfare” was only in the Preamble to the Constitution...not in the bill of rights.


5 posted on 03/20/2010 11:13:17 AM PDT by FrankR (Those of us who love AMERICA far outnumber those who love obama - your choice.)
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To: Rurudyne

It was never intended to be interpreted to mean what the libs/socialists/marxists/commies on courts want it to mean. It’s a travesty of justice and any judge who interprets it by ignoring the 10th Amendment should be impeached


11 posted on 03/20/2010 11:18:44 AM PDT by A_Former_Democrat
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To: Rurudyne

The term ‘general welfare’ is clearly defined and enumerated in Article I, Section 8. It is not an ambiguous term.

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

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.


12 posted on 03/20/2010 11:19:40 AM PDT by avacado
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To: Rurudyne

Congress can exercise the powers it is delegated in support of the General Wefare, that being a goal, not a means or a poer. But it can not exercise any powers not delegated, nor can it exercise even those powers in such a way as to violate the restrictions of the first 9 amendments.


13 posted on 03/20/2010 11:21:33 AM PDT by El Gato ("The second amendment is the reset button of the US constitution"-Doug McKay)
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To: Rurudyne

because, um, (and the teleprompter goes out so I have to think on my own), um, um, “General Welfare” means that, generally everybody should be on welfare!


15 posted on 03/20/2010 11:32:01 AM PDT by kittycatonline.com
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To: Rurudyne

The ammendments should trump the body of the Constitution, they are the final say since they ammend it.


17 posted on 03/20/2010 11:34:58 AM PDT by Eagle Eye (The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.)
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To: Rurudyne

Webster’s dictionary 1828

WELFARE:

applied to stales: Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government;

applied to persons: Exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life ; prosperity; happiness;

The government has deemed itself a person and therefore believes it has the right to use the term as it is applied to persons becaue the term as it is applied to states & governments is too limited.

Decided in 1899 that corporations are to be called “PERSONS” and thus the United States, Inc in which the IRS is the enforcer became a “PERSON”.


18 posted on 03/20/2010 11:36:08 AM PDT by patlin (1st SCOTUS of USA: "Human life, from its commencement to its close, is protected by the common law.")
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To: Rurudyne
"With respect to the two 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."

Constitutional architect James Madison

"Another not unimportant consideration is, that the powers of the general government will be, and indeed must be, principally employed upon external objects, such as war, peace, negotiations with foreign powers, and foreign commerce. In its internal operations it can touch but few objects, except to introduce regulations beneficial to the commerce, intercourse, and other relations, between the states, and to lay taxes for the common good. The powers of the states, on the other hand, extend to all objects, which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, and liberties, and property of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the state."

Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

19 posted on 03/20/2010 11:47:26 AM PDT by Bigun ("It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." Voltaire)
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To: Rurudyne

Here’s what Thomas Jefferson had to say about it:

“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That “ all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.” [XIIth amendment.] To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition....

“To lay taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States, that is to say, “to lay taxes for the purpose of providing for the general welfare.” For the laying of taxes is the power, and the general welfare the purpose for which the power is to be exercised. They are not to lay taxes ad libitum for any purpose they please; but only to pay the debts or provide for the welfare of the Union. In like manner, they are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase, not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please, which might be for the good of the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless.

It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and, as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please.

It is an established rule of construction where a phrase will bear either of two meanings, to give it that which will allow some meaning to the other parts of the instrument, and not that which would render all the others useless. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It was intended to lace them up straitly within the enumerated powers, and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect. ”


23 posted on 03/20/2010 12:26:39 PM PDT by dajeeps
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To: Rurudyne

“General welfare” doesn’t mean 2/3 of the nation gets to sit on it’s arse and be fed by the remainder!


24 posted on 03/20/2010 12:36:30 PM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (THE SECOND AMENDMENT, A MATTER OF FACT,NOT A MATTER OF OPINION)
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To: Rurudyne

The 10th Amendment has been used as a door mat by the Congress. Our Founding Fathers knew that the states and local governments needed protection from an over zealous power in Washington DC. To them it seemed clear each level of government had specific responsibilities to its constituency that should NOT be performed/executed by another level/gov’t sovereign. Thus creating two sovereigns: one federal and one state.

However the federal Government using the Commerce Clause has extended its reach into virtually every aspect of American life, usurping state power. It started with a lawsuit involving the National Labor Relations Board back in the 30’s-40’s time frame (FDR’s New Deal).

Subsequently it has been used and abused by our Washington DC politicians for numerous reasons one being the proliferation of unfunded mandates. It has made the states subservient and secondary to the federal government. State sovereignty is pretty much dead and the 10th Amendment a step-child if that of the Constitution.

Isn’t this basically why the colonies rebelled against the King and England way back when. Can the states revive their rightful sovereignty as delineated by the 10th Amendment ... that remains to be seen.


25 posted on 03/20/2010 12:39:56 PM PDT by K-oneTexas (I'm not a judge and there ain't enough of me to be a jury. (Zell Miller, A National Party No More))
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