“What is “excess” except in relation to some fixed standard, such as the Constitution?”
When the Constitution is silent on some matter, one must reason from original intent, applying the reasonable man standard.
Problem is, you reason incorrectly.
The "original intent" was that the "general welfare" clause was NOT an unlimited grant of power to the federal government over anything and everything that could be considered to be related to the "general welfare."
And on that point, the Constitution is not silent, nor are the men who drafted it. Thomas Jefferson called it "sophistry," as I mentioned earlier, to say that it is.