Article 1 Section 8

A long time ago, a few dozen patriots got together to figure out a system of government that would ensure that their country and their government would operate within a framework that protects Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Pretty simple concept, right?  Well, it wasn't.  It was a brand new way of thinking about government and where and how it derived its power to govern.  For much of civilized human history the thought was that the government's power came from blood lines.  The ultimate power was inherited by the ruling class (royalty, for example) and they chose how much "freedom" the masses would have or not.

When those patriots met to figure out this new system, they had been thinking about all this for years.  They had just recently gone through a revolution and seperated themselves, by force, from that age-old power structure and were faced with what to do next.  After the Revolution they put together a confederation of individual states but that system had serious flaws and was threatening to dissolve the union they had fought so hard for.  The individual States were able to do too many things that were starting to cause major problems and there was really no central "police" force to keep things in line.  There was also a growing sense that the confederation was taking on some aspects of the old power structure they had fought against.  Little "kingdoms" were being slowly established and, once again, there was really no higher level of government that could check the power of the individual states.  A new system was needed.

Long story short: They had already determined the power of the government comes from the people.  Now they just needed to give a little of that power to a Federal Government who would have LIMITED power to oversee what the States were up to.  Article 1 Section 8 is the embodiment of that concept.  Those patriots clearly articulated a set of enumerated powers that the Federal Government could use to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States.  All other powers were reserved to the States, and the people. It was genius.  Just enough power to make sure the States didn't infringe on any other States' power or deny the people their rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  What could go wrong?

Well, what went wrong was that some of the patriots had differing views on what Article 1 Section 8 meant.  Men like Alexander Hamilton, who didn't provide any input at all into what finally made it into the language of the Constitution, thought that the "general welfare" clause gave the Federal Government the ability to determine, by itself, which programs it could create to accomplish this goal.  James Madison, on the other hand, who is considered the primary author of the Constitution, stated that the "general welfare" clause did not end with that sentence.  That the framers went further and enumerated the kinds of actions the Federal Government could take to provide for the general welfare or there wouldn't have been a need to write anything after the clause where the term appears. Madison (and Jefferson) won that argument and it was essentially the settled interpretation (with minor scuffles over the years) for about 150 years.  Then the Progressive movement came.  They wanted change and they couldn't wait for the slow process outlined in the Constitution (the amendment process) so they began to push the envelope.  The Great Depression came and the Progressives seized the opportunity and made some moves that would be challenged at the Supreme Court which they had stacked with Progressives (back then some "conservatives" were Progressives too) and suddenly, almost overnight, Hamilton's interpretation of the general welfare and commerce clauses were deemed to be the correct interpretation.  HUH??

Look it up, folks.  I'm a big proponent of people going out and doing their own research because that is the best way to learn.  The facts are out there.  Read the Constitution, check out the Federalist papers, read the history of our founding.  I promise you: If you research it you will one day realize that all the problems we're facing in the US stem from that liberal / progressive / statist interpretation of Article 1 Section 8.

When the vast majority of the American people learn the limits placed on the Federal Government, we will once again be on the path that our Founding Fathers laid out for us.  Until then, we will be lost in the statist wilderness and one day we may reach the point of no return. Don't let that day happen.  In the United States of America, the government recieves its power from We The People.  Knowledge is the key to that power. A people who know the limits of the government are the Statist's worst nightmare.  The original intent of Article 1 Section 8 is where we need to begin in order to take back what is rightfully ours.