General Welfare Indeed!

The current argle bargle over free contraceptives under Obamacare raises some interesting Constitutional issues.

General Welfare in Pill Form!

I am not referring to the obvious infringements on the First Amendment freedoms.  Rather, I am wondering how the Federal government is authorized to demand or provide free contraceptives in the first place.

The prevailing logic at the Supreme Court is that free contraceptives are authorized under the 'general welfare' clause of the Constitution.

This is where, in the Preamble and Taxing and Spending clause, the founders revealed their true intentions to grant the Federal Government unlimited powers, thus invalidating every other part of the document that keeps referring to limited powers.

Some critics have scoffed at the idea that this falls under the general welfare clause, but, if you think about it, free contraceptives are just about as close to 'providing for the general welfare' as you can get.

Other freebies from the Feds only help the person who gets the cash.  Food Stamps, HUD, WIC, etc, provide direct benefits with little or no benefit to the general welfare.

But free contraceptives are different.  They do directly benefit the general welfare.

Now millions of women are free to have no-strings-attached sex with little downside or the need for a long term commitment.

This not only benefits those women, but every un-attached male in the land.

General Welfare indeed!