Living in the San Francisco Bay Area and working in health care I am often cornered by coworkers about my opposition to the Health Care Bill.  Liberals always want to take the argument to the poor, the down trodden, those that cannot seem to make ends meet financially.  This is really a simple argument for the Conservative.  But if this is where the argument stays then Conservatives will lose any time they are not in power in Government.  If my Conservative argument stays in this arena, it is no more valid or just than the opposing Liberal argument.  In the end, it is just my opinion.  On the other hand to make the Constitutional argument is to take both Conservative and Liberal opinions out of the equation.  The Constitution doesn’t care about my opinion or yours. 

When asked to defend the Health Care Bill, Liberals have only one place to go.  They go to the, “promote the general welfare,” clause.  The Constitution refers twice for the Government to, “promote the general welfare.”  The first time is in the Preamble, which is only an introduction, and therefore grants no power.  The second time in Article 1, section 8, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson here used the phrase to refer in aggregate to the enumerated powers (instead of listing them all again).  To take that phrase literally is to take it grossly out of context.  This would metamorphosis the Constitution into something it is not.  A literal interpretation here would make no need for enumerated powers at all and give the Government the power to do anything at all under the premise of promoting the general welfare.  So in essence and in fact there is NO Constitutional authority for the Government to tax citizens with the purpose of providing Universal Health Care.