Originally Posted by Senator Hatrack
That America has become the "policeman of the world" is not directly mentioned in our Constitution. However, Article I, Section 8, clause 12 it states that our government has the authority "To provide and maintain a Navy..." One of the first tasks of our Navy was to protect our trade in the Mediterranean Sea. In essence it was "policing" that body of water. Abortions? No, because there aren't any medical procedures mentioned in our Constitution. Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction are necessary for our government to protect our country. Since the book that started Capitalism, The Wealth of Nations, was first published in 1776 we still had a mercantile economy. Capitalism became our economic system due to the fact that the resources for a Capitalist economy were in abundance. And no, healthcare does not fit under the general Welfare clause.
Originally Posted by logtroll
Wonderful! We strongly agree that there is a lot going on today that the Constitution did not address. I am curious, though, as to why the health of Americans is not a subject of the general welfare. Seems like purt'near a definitional situation.
It might be due to the quality of healthcare back then. But probably it was because our Constitution was written to limit what our government could do. That limitations on what a government could do was something that hadn't been done before.


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