"With respect to the 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.
So much for the 'the world has changed' argument.
They knew better.
They knew better because they understood, as brilliant men of the liberal Enlightenment movement, human nature. Yes, things 'change' but the general nature of man remains the same.
It's why Homeric themes continue to endure. All great literature contain in one way or another universal laws of human nature.
The Founding Fathers damn well understood how obtuse people can be. Which is why it doesn't surprise me they likely wouldn't accept the absurdly loose interpretation given to the 'general welfare' and 'commerce clause.' They knew people would beat those things up to force through actions never intended to fall under them.
Alas, it's a piece of paper written over, like, 50 years ago by dead-white guys and slave owners who spoke gay and wore funny looking shoes. Jesus, doesn't anyone read the Crusades anymore? What difference does it make at this point?!
/derp.
Tell you one thing, even after all these years I still think they were wiser and smarter than the pundits interpreting the Constitution today.
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