Steve Peterson wrote:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect
Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, 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."

"joey" wrote in message
news
http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/foia03/os/powersaw.pdf

Why do my taxes pay for this stuff. I musta missed it in the
Constitution.
I
recently heard of a government study about why people laugh
Joey

Promote the general Welfare covers a lot of ground

Not according to the founding fathers. Here's what a couple of them
had to say:

"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare,
but only those specifically enumerated." Thomas Jefferson, 1798.

"With respect to the two words 'general welfare,' I have always
regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them.
To take
them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the
Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not
contemplated by its creators." James Madison.

Unfortunately, the founding fathers aren't still around to do the running,
and if they were, I don't think they could be elected by today's voters, at
least if they wouldn't appeal to greed. This "general welfare" idea doesn't
sell very well today. How many people are priced out of health care? How
many drive SUVs to the grocery? How many have a 4 WD that has never been
off the highway?