General welfare.It needs to be said, so I will be the "heartless grinch" who dares to broach broach (broch) a fine barbed instrument for dressing a tooth canal or extracting the pulp. broach n. A dental instrument for removing the pulp of a tooth or exploring its canal. the forbidden subject. FEMA FEMA, n.pr See Federal Emergency Management Agency. was broadly criticized for its tardy tar·dy adj. tar·di·er, tar·di·est 1. Occurring, arriving, acting, or done after the scheduled, expected, or usual time; late. 2. Moving slowly; sluggish. and inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. ("Katrina Exposes Fatal Flaws," October 3). While I am no constitutional lawyer, I certainly am a citizen of the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. with a right and a duty to read, study, and interpret the Constitution of the United States Constitution of the United States, document embodying the fundamental principles upon which the American republic is conducted. Drawn up at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the Constitution was signed on Sept. . Accordingly, I have done so and find no authorization for the involvement of the federal government in local disaster relief. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution lists 18 specific powers of the Congress, none of which is to authorize or finance localized disaster relief. Some people would make a case that the justification for it comes from the "general welfare" clause laid out in the first of those 18 listed powers. Such an errant interpretation would, of course, require that the relief for and reconstruction of New Orleans However, that same general welfare clause specifies that the taxes collected to provide that "general" welfare will be uniform throughout the country. Well, what about the tax relief now being offered to New Orleans' business and citizens and to contractors coming into the area to help in the reconstruction? That situation certainly violates the uniform taxation clause. Let's face it, regional welfare is not general welfare and is blatantly unconstitutional. What if Canon City, Colorado, were to be destroyed by some natural catastrophe; would the federal relief, which would surely follow, be justified as general welfare for the entire United States? No! We citizens have no legal obligation to provide localized disaster relief. But we Christians (and hopefully members of other religions) do have a moral obligation to help one another. I close then with an appeal to all of my fellow Christians to join me in meeting these personal obligations. KEN CAREY Canon City, Colorado |
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