This Republic of ours was designed to work as a capitalist Republic. The FF never intended the politicians to buy votes with the taxes on the people. It is a corruption of the laws of God and the Constitution.
“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.” — A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787
(0) “I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.”
(0) “The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”
(0) “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”
(0) “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.”
(0) “There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” — speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788
(1) “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.” — 4 Annals of Congress 179, 1794
(2) “[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.”
(3) “Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.”
(4) “If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one subject to particular exceptions.” — Letter to Edmund Pendleton,” in The Papers of James Madison, vol. 14, Robert A Rutland et. al., ed (Charlottesvile: University Press of Virginia, 1984).
(5) “An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.”
(0) “There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” — speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788
(0) “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.” — Letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816
(1) “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
(2) “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
(3) “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
(4) “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.” — First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801
(5) “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
(6) “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
“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.” — letter to James Robertson
“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
“Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression.” — James Madison
“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one subject to particular exceptions.” James Madison, “Letter to Edmund Pendleton,” — James Madison, January 21, 1792, in The Papers of James Madison, vol. 14, Robert A Rutland et. al., ed (Charlottesvile: University Press of Virginia, 1984).
“An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.” — James Madison, Federalist No. 58, February 20, 1788
“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” — James Madison, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” — Benjamin Franklin
“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.” — Benjamin Franklin
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.” — Benjamin Franklin
“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” — Benjamin Franklin