[johngalt42]

Great quote, EBH. Here's a follow up to that Madison quote.

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.

James Madison's Letter to James Robertson (1831-04-20)

[EBH]

Exactly, our founders never intended the “General Welfare” cluse to be used in the manner it is today, nor as compassionate conservatism.

... as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them.

[aruanan]

Just the wording of the general welfare clause in context demonstrates that the means by which the general welfare was to be promoted were the limited and enumerated powers of the Constitution.