"If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions." --James Madison
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
I like that quote from Madison about the "general welfare" clause.
ReplyDeleteHamilton, of course, argued the opposite;
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_8_1s21.html
Both their views were represented at the Supreme Court. Hamilton won.
Too bad.
Hamilton was a student of Rousseau, who believed in the General Will which was the theory that the political elite understood what was best for the people and therefore should rule over the people. Hamilton's theories were very unpopular. He even declared during the Constitutional Convention that the president should be an American King. Hamilton would make a good liberal in today's world. No wonder you hold him is such high esteem. Hamilton is actually a large part of the reason that the creeping incrementalism of progressivism got started. His curse remains with us to this day.
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