[Svartalfiar]

It always come back to that ambiguous "General Welfare" clause in the Constitution Preamble that the dem/socs use to buy "gimmedat" votes. If only the Founding Fathers could have seen how that clause would be corrupted.

How could they? The Preamble doesn't grant any powers, nor restrict any rights. It is literally an explanation of the purposes of the following document, and maybe the philosophy behind it.

What:
To promote the general Welfare

How:
- To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
- 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 define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
- Etc, etc, etc.

[Ohioan]

The "General Welfare" is the opposite of the particular welfare of a special interest group. To understand the once well understood context, look at the prohibition on the misuse of taxation in Article I, Section 9.

To put it simply, the Federal Government was not given the function of social engineering to level or take away the achievements of one group or individual for the benefit of another.

Constitutional Overview