The Letter “P”

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

You should recognize those words as the preamble to the United States of America. Preamble is our first “P” word. Exactly what is a preamble and the Preamble. According to Dictionary.com:

pre•am•ble
–noun
1. an introductory statement; preface; introduction.
2. the introductory part of a statute, deed, or the like, stating the reasons and intent of what follows.
3. a preliminary or introductory fact or circumstance: His childhood in the slums was a preamble to a life of crime.
4. ( initial capital letter ) the introductory statement of the U.S. Constitution, setting forth the general principles of American government and beginning with the words, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union. …”

Like the Declaration of Independence sets forth and describes the purpose of our government, the Preamble to the constitution sets forth the general principles of out government.

Purpose is our next “P” word. Exactly what is the purpose of our government? That is a very easy question to answer it was spelled out in the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Most people in government want more and more power have plainly persistently perverted the meaning of the constitution, and ignore the principles and purpose proposed and instituted by our forefathers for our government. They use the "general welfare" clause to validate social welfare and wealth re-distrubution. From the Preamble it is clear that government funded charity was never a principle espoused by our constitution or our forefathers. It was never a principle or duty or requirement of our government to provide for citizens, but always to promote their welfare by protecting individual rights.

Lets go back to dictionary.com and look at our other two "P" words, both are found in the Preamble.

pro•mote
–verb (used with object), -mot•ed, -mot•ing.

1. to help or encourage to exist or flourish; further: to promote world peace.

2. to advance in rank, dignity, position, etc. ( opposed to demote).

3. Education . to put ahead to the next higher stage or grade of a course or series of classes.

4. to aid in organizing (business undertakings).

5. to encourage the sales, acceptance, etc., of (a product), esp. through advertising or other publicity.

6. Informal . to obtain (something) by cunning or trickery; wangle.


pro•vide
–verb (used with object)

1. to make available; furnish: to provide employees with various benefits.

2. to supply or equip: to provide the army with new fighter planes.

3. to afford or yield.

4. Law . to arrange for or stipulate beforehand, as by a provision or proviso.

5. Archaic . to prepare or procure beforehand.
–verb (used without object)

6. to take measures with due foresight (usually fol. by for or against ).

7. to make arrangements for supplying means of support, money, etc. (usually fol. by for ): He provided for his children in his will.

8. to supply means of support (often fol. by for ): to provide for oneself.

Obviously our forefathers knew the difference between promoting something and providing something. All the writings of our forefathers are consistent with the idea that the federal government was never given the power to provide charity. It is also obvious that they thought the government does and should have the authority to provide for the common defense, hence fund the military, which I believe includes providing for the health and well being of soldiers (even after they retire). Obviously they used the correct “P” word to indicate what they thought was the purpose and principles if government, and what government should promote and provide. Just because we have allowed our leadership over the past 70 years to slowly add more and more charitable provision for general welfare does not make it right.

Promoting the General Welfare does not and should not include providing for the specific welfare of individual citizens.

This message was brought to you by the letter “P”, which stands for preamble, principle, purpose, protect, promote and provide. If you understand the meaning of these words, you probably understand that we are in a mess because our elected leaders either don’t understand them, or choose to ignore them.