Last week, while volunteering on a painting job, the team got to talking about something that seems to define far too much of today’s politics — the misuse of the “General Welfare” clause in the U.S. Constitution.

As I told the crew that day, there’s one simple question every elected official should ask before voting on any bill:

“Where in the Constitution do We the People authorize the federal government to do this thing we’re about to vote on?”

That one question alone would stop a lot of reckless spending and government overreach. Unfortunately, most of the big spenders in Congress have a ready-made excuse for every pet project and bloated program: “It’s for the General Welfare.”

But that’s not what the Founders meant. The “General Welfare” clause was never intended to give politicians a blank check to spend taxpayer money on whatever they want. It was meant to ensure that government acts within its limited, defined powers for the benefit of the nation as a whole - not to fund endless programs that buy votes and grow bureaucracy. Here's what James Madison had to say about this very thing,

If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions. -- James Madison

If our leaders took their oath seriously and applied that one question to every piece of legislation, we’d have a smaller, more honest government and a freer people.

The Constitution doesn’t need to be reimagined or reinterpreted - it just needs to be respected. And that starts with holding our representatives accountable for the promises they swore to uphold.