Constitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Constitution - Essay Example Today however, federal budget amounts to billions of dollars and it subsidizes on almost everything that you can think of claiming that it is for the 'general welfare.' According to Moore, this phenomenon is a result of the following incidents: first, when the income tax was enacted, this enabled the federal government to amass wealth. Second, national crisis brought about by wars gave Congress the reason to push constitutional limits in favor of releasing more money for the benefit of the citizenry. Third, the Supreme Court passed a decision declaring that the power of Congress in allocating federal funds for public purpose is not limited by the powers granted by the Constitution. All these led to the over-extension of the general welfare clause - Congress can just allot on anything as long as it alleges that it is for the 'general welfare'. Moore also presented certain political analysts stating that a significant amount of the federal funds have been on charity. However, no matter how good the government's intentions are, apportionment for public charity has no constitutional basis. There is no constitutional provision authorizing such allotment. The article of Moore thus presents the following problems. ... "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government" (1776) The people's consent to submit to a single government is embodied in a document called The Constitution. There, the people would specify the power it vests in the government and its various departments. Without a power being expressly granted to the government or any of its department in the Constitution, then such government or department does not have it. Now the Constitution provided for different departments in government: the legislative, executive and the judiciary. The legislative department makes the laws, the executive department executes it and the judiciary implements it. This division is designed to prevent the concentration of power in one person. It also provided for checks and balances in government. (Devine, 2004) This way, no one person or department controls the entire government. This is an effective way to ensure that the rights of the people are protected. Now the power of the legislative is specifically stated in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. And I must admit that there is no provision for public charity. The only provision that Congress could use to justify allocations for public charity is in Section 8 #1 which grants them the power to levy taxes "for the general welfare of the United States." On the other hand, Section 9 of the same Article provides the limitations and prohibitions with respect to the powers of Congress. And there is no prohibition against allocations for public