Knightskye
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- Oct 16, 2007
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- 7,249
Progressives argue that the separation of church and state comes from Jefferson's letter to Danbury Baptists. So, they're arguing the intent of the founding fathers.
One of their favorite defenses is the "general welfare" clause. However, as Madison wrote:
So if Christine O'Donnell, or whoever else, argues the case that the First Amendment doesn't provide for a separation of church and state, then progressives are wrong, because the general welfare clause does not provide for powers not enumerated in the Constitution!

One of their favorite defenses is the "general welfare" clause. However, as Madison wrote:
Some, who have not denied the necessity of the power of taxation, have grounded a very fierce attack against the Constitution, on the language in which it is defined. It has been urged and echoed, that the power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States," amounts to an unlimited commission to exercise every power which may be alleged to be necessary for the common defense or general welfare. No stronger proof could be given of the distress under which these writers labor for objections, than their stooping to such a misconstruction.
Had no other enumeration or definition of the powers of the Congress been found in the Constitution, than the general expressions just cited, the authors of the objection might have had some color for it; though it would have been difficult to find a reason for so awkward a form of describing an authority to legislate in all possible cases. A power to destroy the freedom of the press, the trial by jury, or even to regulate the course of descents, or the forms of conveyances, must be very singularly expressed by the terms "to raise money for the general welfare.
So if Christine O'Donnell, or whoever else, argues the case that the First Amendment doesn't provide for a separation of church and state, then progressives are wrong, because the general welfare clause does not provide for powers not enumerated in the Constitution!
