Our Senators and Representatives take an oath to “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and to “bear true faith and allegiance to the same,” but do they really mean it?

Consider the following from the Rules of the House of Representatives as to the conditions that must accompany the introduction of a bill:

Each report of a committee on a bill or joint resolution of a public character shall include a statement citing the specific powers granted to the Congress in the Constitution to enact the law proposed by the bill or joint resolution.

But how do we determine what the “specific powers granted” are? It’s very simple. The specific powers granted to Congress are listed in Section 8 of Article I, Clauses 2 through 17. Clause 1 of Section 8, better known as “The Welfare Clause,” contains the following:

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excise: to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States....

Nowhere in clauses 2 through 17 of Section 8 will you find any grants of power to appropriate monies for “the general welfare” in the form of boondoggles such as bailouts, foreign aid, entitlements, welfare, farm subsidies, state grants, aid to education, housing, student grants, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, etc. The list is endless.

If there is anything else the Framers of the Constitution forgot, Amendment 10 says you can’t do that either. The great Thomas Jefferson quotes and qualifies the Tenth Amendment as follows:

I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That “all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, or to the people.” To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.

“A boundless field of spending and taxes,” along with controls and regulations are stifling our initiative and productivity, sending this country into a quite needless economic tailspin because the Rules have been ignored.

Just think, we could have a small budget for a large country of around $100 billion, instead of $3.5 trillion, had we not let our government handlers take control.

Robert D. Gorgoglione is a long time student of the Constitution, its Framers, and its original intent. He has written two books on the subject, "Foundations of an American Constitutional Government," and "Toward Socialist America." Mr. Gorgoglione has been active in local politics all his life, putting into practice a civic responsibility that involves more than just voting.

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