Dear All:

According to Madison in Federalist #41, the statement of the power to tax and spend serves as the general statement with the manners in which that general power is to be exercised explicitly enumerated thereafter.

For example, if the portion of the clause "to provide for the common defense" was indeed a standalone power, why would the founders then explicitly list a power "To raise and support armies"? It would be redundant. Does providing for the "common defense" exclude the raising and supporting of armies? Absolutely not. Therefore the only reasonable construction is that the power to raise and support armies is the explicit enumeration of the manner in which the general power to provide for the common defense is to be carried into effect.

We can then deal with the "promote the General Welfare" portion of the clause in a similar manner. An example of the manner in which the General Welfare is to be promoted can be demonstrated by the power "To establish post offices and post roads". Again, any alternative construction renders the enumerated power redundant.

Lastly, the founders were very precise in their wording. They used the words "person" or "citizen" when speaking of individuals and the phrase "United States" or the word "union" when referring to the federation of states. The general power to tax and spend in Article I, Section 8 clearly states that the powers are directed at the "United States" not "persons" or "citizens" therefore the power applies only to objects which will promote the solidarity and prosperity of the union of states, not its citizens.

It is beyond comprehension that any court could so disastrously misinterpret an entire section of the Constitution. As Madison predicted in Federalist #41, just such a construction has led to a Congress limited only by its own imagination rendering the Constituion itself completely irrelevant.