ARTICLE 1 SECTION 8

The Congress shall have the Power to lay and collect Taxes … to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.


We hear this phrase spoken often by people to defend basic social safety net programs like Social Security.  What you don't hear is that there are 17 specific things that follow this often quoted portion of the Constitution.  Things like; To establish Post Offices and Post Roads. Or this one; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces. Does this mean that the Founding Fathers would not have wanted the government to fund an Air Force? Or is that covered under; To promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

One thing is certain, it is not a great argument to quote "The Congress shall have the power" phrase. My 13 year old daughter told me it was like I said "The cats white socks are dirty brown like his fur." Then she yells, "Look he is so stupid he said, "The cats white", clearly the cat is a dirty brown."Her interpretation was that the Congress could impose taxes for the good of the Government but not for the good of the Individual. I then asked her why the government could help itself but it could not help one of its citizens? She asked me Who decides what helps a citizen? Then said, and I quote,"One mans help is another mans hell."

The question becomes What is the General Welfare? Does Social Security make people more well off? If  people were told at a very young age that they had to save money for retirement because the government was not going to help them when they got older would they be better off? Does the Department of Energy make your life any better?Does the Department of Education make us all smarter? Does Homeland Security makes us safer? If you say yes to any of them, than do you have to say yes to all of them?

Should these agencies have been a States Rights issue as many 10th Amendment supporters have argued?  Article I, section 8, grants the Congress only 18 powers. Nothing for education, or retirement security, or health care: Those responsibilities were left to the states or to the people, as the Tenth Amendment makes clear.What can we do about it now 70 years later? The Federal Government has made promises to its citizens that it likely won't be able to keep. Many states have financial problems of their own. What are the people to make of all this? Will we gut our national defense to pay for these Health Care benefits? Article 1 Section 8 says that Congress will provide for the common Defence. Perhaps, as my daughter contends, the Constitution was written and ratified by the states to start and limit the government created through it.

How do we raise kids who value freedom?

There are many facets to freedom. Whether you are for religious freedom, financial freedom, social freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to bare arms, all freedom comes at a cost. How does a parent teach their children to value the cost of freedom? How do you as a parent explain how important freedom and liberty are to your kids? How do you fight the indoctrination of liberal schools and media?
We all have a set of values that we pass to our children whether we want to or not - lets face it they are like sponges. Tommy's Mother and Father both work 60 hours a week at big corporations. They buy their kids all the latest electronics, they take private Karate lessons and Mom and Dad have a nice college nest egg saved up for their little rugrat. Little Billy is down the street his Dad is a Union Bus Mechanic who puts in his 40 hours and goes home - his mom stays at home and is active in the P.T.A. Little Billy doesn't have an X-Box 360, his family likes to hike in the woods near their house, and Billy wants to be a carpenter when he grows up.
I am not saying that 1 of these lives is better than the other, or that one sends a "good message" to either kid, I'm sure that you have formulated your own opinions by now and I don't care what they are. My point is that these are two American families and both sets of parents love their child, share a patriotism for America and have a value system that they are passing on to their child. Also, if I'm any example the kids may say I don't like the example these grown-ups are setting for me and forge their own path.
I want my children to understand my beliefs, they don't have to agree with everything I tell them about God, politics, football, fishing, or freedom. It is essential that they hear what I have to say and if I'm any good at making a point they will see why I feel that way - how I came to know this as the truth - and hopefully they will understand and invest themselves in what I teach. Down the road if they feel my philosophy has a fatal flaw I encourage the debate. I want them to question everything I speak about as a philosophy, not so much about keeping their rooms clean. I wish for them to give things that require strength of belief and of faith and of honor, courage, virtue, and conviction all of the contemplation necessary for them to live their beliefs to the fullest.
At some point in time, everyone of us has had their beliefs challenged. When the time comes where they have to stand up for what is right - when everyone else is against it - or say this is wrong when - everyone else is for it - I want my children to have the faith, the power, the confidence to believe what they say and say what they believe. So this is forum of debate. I will relate stories and conversations and try my best to keep them interesting and thoughtful. I will do my best to present questions my children might have, and on occasion I will try to muddy the waters and ask for your opinions as well.

May yet another great American experiment begin!