Welfare

Welfare has become one of the most loaded words in American politics. The word Welfare only occurs twice in the U. S. Constitution. It occurs first in 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 defence, 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." The second appearance of the word Welfare in the U. S. Constitution is in the introduction of Section 8: "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States"

Liberals understand these word to give Congress broad powers to help people in ways that benefit the whole nation. When liberals use the word Welfare, we generally use it to describe several social programs that provide goods and services to poor people. Liberals use the term entitlements to refer to programs that citizens have already paid for individually and are entitled to receive: Medicare, Unemployment, Social Security, Pensions, etc. Liberals use other terms like tax deductions, and subsidies to refer to other programs which are intended to promote the general welfare.

Conservatives understand these words to give Congress very limited power to help people in ways that benefit the whole nation. Ultra-Conservatives often believe the Constitution gives Congress no power to help people even if it benefits the whole nation. Most Conservatives, however believe