If "general welfare" means that the feds can legislate anything, then why bother enumerating the powers in Article 1, Section 8? I defer to Mr. Madison's explanation...I wish more would but I fear that most of todays voting citizens are blissfully ignorant of the limitations intended on the federal government.
You are correct. Additionally, why would the Framers have locked themselves in that oven in Philly for 3 mos if they were gonna produce a cons that said, essentially, "Oh, the G can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, so long as they do it for the undefined, vague, hazy, mean anything general welfare." They could have done that in five mins.