“To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816

“A wise and frugal government … 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.” — Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.” — Thomas Jefferson

“The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.” — John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787

“With respect to the two 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 in a letter to James Robertson

In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees who fled from insurrection in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia, James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object saying, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” — James Madison, 4 Annals of Congress 179, 1794

“[T]he government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” — James Madison

But maybe the Founding Fathers, who created the Constitution from scratch, were wrong and Mr. Obama is right. Mr. Obama is, after all, a Constitutional scholar… isn’t he?? What the heck do the founding fathers know!

Charity begins in the home, and not in Congress, the Supreme Court OR the White House. People tend to give more to good causes if they are allowed to do so freely and not under duress, and if they have a good example to emulate… but if forced to give through taxation, they will cease to be benevolent to their friends, their neighbors, their churches or their communities where they have a direct interest as well as cease to give to those good-works organizations which they might otherwise be convicted to donate to.

But perhaps Obama doesn’t want people to choose who to give their charity to… that’s the essence of socialism. The government knows best where to direct charity. And the government knows best where to get that charity from, and will get it by force if need be. That’s only fair, right?

“From each according to his abilities, To each according to his needs.”

… Karl Marx