The Federal Government can not force anyone to practice a specific religion like they did in England. There, The Church of England, which was completely supported by the people of England and it was the only religion people were allowed to practice openly and freely. The 1st Amendment was only intended to make sure there was never a Church of the United States that every citizen would have to follow and would be fully funded by the people.

I never said that health care reform doesn’t promote the General Welfare. I said that the “general welfare” clause, as it is called, does not give the Federal Government the power to do anything as long as it can be construed to be for the “general welfare.” I said that the “general welfare” clause actually further LIMITS the power of the Federal Government. The first paragraph of Section 8 is meant to provide guidelines that the Federal Government must adhere to when involking the use of the enumerated powers listed in Article 1 Section 8. If the “general welfare” clause was meant to allow the Federal Government power to do ANYTHING as long as it was for the general welfare, why spell out the specific powers that the States and the People were actually delegating to the Federal Government? That being said, health care is not an enumerated power of the Federal Government, therefore, it falls to the States and to the People, per the 10th Amendment.

I believe in the concept that individuals should have the most power and then it goes down from there. The people are the base of the triangle, then they allow local & county governments to have some power, like to provide for waste and sewage removal, upkeep of local and county roads and bridges, local law enforcement and fire fighters and schools. The states are delegated powers to provide for state highways and bridges, national guard, state police and such. The Federal Government is at the pinnacle of the triangle, the weakest part of the triangle, with even less powers. This is what the Founders wanted, a Government that would never be strong enough to take rights and liberties from the People. We have given up far too much to our government. People have become happy to allow the government to provide for them rather than provide for themselves. The problem is, at some point, those that are providing for those that are receiving are going to be out-numbered. Some might even give up and join those that are receiving.

I also believe that further government control and intrusion in the healthcare industry will be much more harmful that helpful. There are some regulations on insurance companies currently that reduce competition, which cause price to go up. Allow all health insurance to be purchased across state lines. There are over 1,300 insurance companies in this country and only a handful are allowed to sell in each state. Removing that regulation would open up the field to all insurance companies and they will have to compete against each other, which would increase choice to people and therefore prices would fall. Tort reform, and all the costs that go with it, is another thing that should be done. But, whatever we do, it is not the job of the Federal Government because it is not in the enumerated powers of Section 8 and is therefore, a job of the States or the People.

Can you explain how things like health care reform don’t promote the general welfare?

Also, it is a freedom of religion, not from religion. If it was freedom from religion, then there would not be any religion allowed in this country. The government is prohibited from establishing a national religion that everyone would have to support.