Promoting Or Providing For The General Welfare?

I keep a copy of the United States Constitution close at hand.  It has proven to be one of the most enlightened and enduring documents ever written.  It has been the foundation underlying a government which has proven longer lasting than any other nation now on the earth.  Think about that for a minute.

The United Kingdom, France, Gemany, Italy, Japan, Russia, China, Brazil, Australia.  You could go on and on.  They have all seen major changes in their systems of governments over the last 200+ years.  Some have seen multiple changes. None have endured under a consistent and stable form of government as long as the United States has.  It is a testament to the enlightenment of our Founding Fathers.

Knowing that history and endurance I strongly believe that we are well-advised to not stray too far from the original structure and meaning of the Constitution.  The course of the last 50 years of our history is not terribly comforting on that score.

Consider the preamble...

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 the Constitution for the United States of America.


A list of these items generally is considered to be based on their relative priorities by the Founders.  First, establish a system of laws and justice, second, insure that people are safe from within, third, provide for a national defense so that citizens are safe from threats from outside the country and, fourth, promote the general welfare of citizens.  Note that the first three are more in the nature of directives-establish, insure and provide.  The fourth, only states that general welfare is to be promoted.

How do these major priorities match up with the U.S. Budget right now?

As I wrote in my post The United States of Redistribution, payments to individuals now makes up about 2/3 of federal spending.  Programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and the like.  That is taking from one person and giving it to another. That has become the principal role of the federal government.  Defense spending is about 20% of the total.  Spending on justice and law enforcement is a mere fraction of the remainder.

It would seem that spending 2/3 of the federal government budget in direct payments to individuals is  way beyond "promoting the general welfare".  Have we gotten a little off track here?

                                                                                      White House 2012 Budget