No, I'm saying he attached essentially no specific meaning to the "general welfare" clause, either one of them.
Rather, they are a general sort of statement, designed to illustrate the conceptual necessity of even having a federal government.
Taken in and of itself, the clause has been twisted to mean that social security, medicare, welfare, public schools, foreign aid to Africa... are all Constitutional.
My question is simple. Where do we draw the line between disaster relief for hurricane victims in Louisiana and sending cash to Africa so war lords can continue to enslave the people?
Since neither are specifically in the Constitution, the entire argument becomes morally relativistic, something I thought conservatives argued against when leftists advance such policies...
As I see it, we are talking about which policies should we enact. Should we send money to foreign governments, should we have Social Security, should we have food stamps, etc., etc.
Since these are issues that folks have differences of opinion on, they clearly illustrate the advantage of our governing system over others. You aren't forced to go along with an opinion you disagree with. Instead you are given a vote. You get to send representatives to debate these issues around proposed legislation. Their votes will reject some and enact others into law if it gets signed by that final arbiter of your interests, the President.
You have had your say on all the issues such as SocSec, food stamps, etc. If you like them, then your side won. If you don't like them, then your side lost.
Just because you lose, though, isn't reason to give up. You are still able to continue trying to influence the situation so that these things can be reversed.
The danger in our system is when that process is short-circuited by judges who force some policy issues down our throats.....like abortion, rampant eminent domain, gay marriage, etc.
They IGNORE what the legislature does or never give them a chance to even consider the issue.
Each time they do so, they assist in the destruction of democracy.