"Promote the General welfare"

In the preamble to the U.S. Constitution there is the phrase that says the constitutions is being established in part to promote the general welfare.  I think that is another another way of saying that the constitution is established in part to provide for the "common good."  I don't think it is too much of a stretch to suggest that our political system has lost contact with the "general welfare."  I do not think that I am the only one who thinks that there is no agreed upon definition of what is the "common good."   In fact, I might even go so far as to suggest that neither party has much interest in seeking the "common good" or the "general welfare" of the country and are both operating out of the position of what is good for their power and how to sustain their power base.

I do not suspect that we will get any help in wrestling with the question of the general welfare in the next four years. But perhaps these next four years could be helpful if there were among people a calm, civil, thoughtful discussion of what does the "common good" or "general welfare" look like for all of us in the 21st century.  With automation, technology, globalization, and religious fervor changing the patterns and the goals of society, the "general welfare" of our society will certainly look a great deal different than it did in previous generations. Thus the idea that the USA could be made to look like it did in the 1950's is a very destructive and counter productive goal.

When planes and trucks are operated with no drivers, when so much of the economy is service and technology and yet some one still is needed to repair and to build and farm, the common good will be hard to define, but it needs to be defined so that both parties can work together to make progress.