”Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.”  “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”—James Madison

I just thought I’d throw those two quotes above out there so you’d know what James Madison, the “Father” of our Constitution, the guy who wrote most of it, thought about a government welfare state.  There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution that gives the federal government the right to spend one thin dime, much less trillions, on charity, even to their own constituents, much less to foreigners.  But, it’s really a moot point; nobody in Washington, D.C., especially in Congress, pays the least bit of attention to what the Constitution authorizes them to do.  But it’s always interesting to know what our Founding Fathers intended.

There is no decent person on this earth who denies that those who have the financial ability should help the “needy poor.”  Both Old and New Testaments abound with commands and examples to help the “poor” and less fortunate.  That is not, nor has it ever been, in dispute.  Good people help those in need.  That’s not the question.  The question is, HOW should they do it? To our Founders, it was not a function of government.  Madison wasn’t a cold-hearted monster; he just didn’t believe that the government could handle charity as effectively as other organizations in society.  To forcefully take the hard-earned money of one person and give it to someone who hasn’t earned it is not “charity.”  “Forced charity” is a contradiction........

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