FreeMarketUnderBlog

The Constitution says that the government will “promote the general welfare”. I suggest that this phrase be replaced with “shall not obstruct the advancement of the general welfare of and by the people”. 

Surely the founding fathers did not intend to use the word “welfare” as we know it today. It would seem that the Founding Fathers were making a generalization that the government should be for the people and not against them. The notion that the government is responsible for every life stage of an individual’s well being is a completely modern (and disturbing) one. Current discussions regarding health insurance for needy children to Medicare and the new prescription drug program are all the evidence that is necessary to confirm that this “cradle to grave” welfare philosophy is, unfortunately, alive and well. 

Changing this phrase might go a long way toward the changing the perverse notion that the government is there to bestow to the citizenry life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to the much more sound notion that the government’s role is simply to get out of the way and allow individuals to do so.