[GOP]

The "Contract With America" and the General Welfare

We've heard a great deal about a new social contract in recent months-- the Republican "Contract With America." If you haven't had a chance to read it, here it is--courtesy of the Electronic Democracy Forum--along with links to the specific bills that have grown out of it:

The Republican Contract With America

The Preamble to the Constitution reads as follows:

"WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of liberty to ourselves and out Posterity, do ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION for the United States of America."

The drafters of Republican "Contract With America" agreed on "five principles" to describe their "basic philosophy of American civilization":

Can you find any mention of "the general welfare" here?

In the name of this new 'contract,' conservatives now have been calling for the outright elimination of many federal departments programs and the return of others to the states. Here is what Alexander Hamilton and James Madison had to say in The Federalist Papers about the role of the federal government in promoting the general welfare.

Federalist Papers #23, "The Necessity of a Government At Least Equally Energetic With the One Proposed," Alexander Hamilton

Federalist Papers#51, " The Federal Government and Justice," James Madison

As these passages remind us, the 1787 Constitution replaced a weak federal government with a stronger one, not the other way around.

Even though the first 100 days of the Contract With America have passed, the debate over its provisions continues.

There is a Senate Democratic Policy Committee Analysis of the Republican contract---, which identifies working families, children and the elderly as among its primary victims. The Committee even provides a state-by-state breakdown of how many people will lose support as a result of Contract Provisions.

The League of Conservation Voters has developed a list of Ten Key Environmental Issues during the first 100 days of the Republican Contract and a Congressional Score Card documenting how members of the House Representatives voted on them.

United We Stand--Ross Perot's organization--has developed a detailed, Point-by-Point Analysis of the Contract that offers their perspective on the issues.

Also important is the Personal Responsibility Act--the Republican welfare 'reform' bill that turns the adminstration of programs for the poor back to the states as 'block grants'--while cutting the program budgets. This legislation must be evaluated in terms of the 'general welfare' as well and we are developing a Welfare Reform Home Page for this purpose.

These issues will continue to gain wide public visibility as we enter the 1996 Presidential campaign.