The Constitution Authorizes No Government Charity

By Mason Chandler

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, as of November of 2015, there were nearly 45,500,000 Americans on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Incredibly, when compared to the estimated U.S. population in November of 2015, that number leaves almost one in every seven Americans on food stamps! The funds for this program come out the paychecks of American taxpayers.

Helping the poor and needy is not a bad thing; Proverbs 14:21 says, “Blessed is he who is generous with the poor.” But the fact of the matter is, it’s not the government’s job. James Madison said, “Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.”

Upon vetoing a measure that would help the mentally ill, U.S. President Franklin Pierce said, “I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity. To approve the measure would be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and subversive to the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded.” Due to the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Washington has absolutely zero power over handouts to ensure individual welfare. The responsibility of charity falls not on the government, it falls on the people.

Respected former neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson said, when asked about welfare and subsidies for the poor in Greenville, South Carolina, “My stance is that We the People have the responsibility to take care of the indigent in our society. It’s not the government’s job. You can read the Constitution all you want, it never says it’s the government’s job. I wish the government would read the Constitution. I think that would help quite a bit. And maybe they did read it, and they got confused when they read the preamble, which says one of the duties is to promote the general welfare. They probably thought that meant putting everybody on welfare.”

Charity is not the job of government. Thomas Jefferson said, “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”

The Constitution is clear, if only Washington would follow it.

Learn more about your Constitution with Mason Chandler and the “Institute on the Constitution” and receive your free gift.

Mason Chandler is a 14 year old who is associated with the Institute on the Constitution.

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