"promote the general welfare"

[LSK]

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.preamble.html

[Winterblues]

1. provide for the common defense,

That should apply to all enemies of Ameiricans including sickness. We should be defended against preventable disease and sickness.

[LSK]

2. "insure domestic tranquility"

Wouldn't that mean having a healthy population?

[Cid_B]

5. It could mean kittens and rainbows as well...

Pretty weak ground....

Any demand/wish/whim anyone has can help insure tranquility.

[Laelth]

3. The Preamble to the Constitution is not binding law.

And, in fact, Congress is explicitly prohibited from legislating for the general welfare. That power (called "the police power") is strictly reserved to the States.

I agree with the sentiment expressed in the OP, but I also want everyone to understand the limits placed on the Federal Government by the Constitution.

:dem:

-Laelth

[LSK]

4. "Congress is explicitly prohibited from legislating for the general welfare"

Where is this established? If true, how do you explain things like the EPA, Surgeon General Warnings, Food Safety regulations, etc???

[Laelth]

6. We use the Commerce Clause to get around this prohibition.

The Commerce Clause of Article I is used to legislate in this way while still maintaining the prohibition against legislating for the general welfare. We have to argue that the law in question (or the regulated practice) affects "commerce between the states" in order for such a Federal law to be constitutional.

In the case of health care, I think a good argument can be made that health care affects "commerce between the states," but the Federal Government is not authorized, ultimately, to enact laws that "promote the general welfare." Police powers (promoting the general welfare) are reserved explicitly to the States.

The Federal Government is limited (unlike the State Governments). The Federal Government can only act in limited areas that are specifically spelled out in the Constitution. "The General Welfare" is not one of those areas.

:dem:

-Laelth


Edit:Laelth--sloppy proofreading.