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Consult general welfare clause about taxes

    Re Howard Littman’s Jan. 8 letter: I believe he needs to read the Constitution before making his comments.
    Benjamin Franklin helped establish a hospital in Pennsylvania in 1751 with a combination of private and state funds. The hospital was for the reception and cure of poor sick persons.
    If you remember your history, Franklin was one of the writers of the Constitution, yet you can’t find a word about health care there. In reference to the general welfare clause, United States v. Butler [297] U.S. 1 (1936), I quote, “General welfare implies government may not tax and spend for the ‘specific’ welfare of individuals, regions, or socioeconomic groups, or to regulate under the guise of taxation. The power to confer or withhold unlimited benefi ts is the power to coerce or destroy.”
    However, in subsequent rulings, the court found for the government, thus expanding the power of government. The present ruling over the right of eminent domain is a good example; many people believe that the court was wrong. If you want to look at poor ruling, just look at the Dred Scott case.
    Prior to FDR's presidency, many of the items Mr. Littman cited were not in place. The liberal media painted Roosevelt as the savior of this country. In reality Roosevelt nearly destroyed this country, and we are still paying the price today. Roosevelt’s spending and the alphabet soup programs he put in place kept us in the Depression until the beginning of World War II.
    Just look at what Obama is trying to do. Does this sound or look familiar?

    RICHARD YELLIN
    Ballston Spa

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With respect to the words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.

James Madison, 1825