There seems to be some confusion among our people about what our government is for. Surprising, given the clear statement in the preamble to the Constitution.

Some like to point out James Madison’s qualms about the general welfare clause. The salient point about him and all the other founders is that they signed the Constitution we have despite their qualms, thereby making it the law of the land. Government actions regarding the general welfare include regulations to protect public health and bureaus to write and enforce them. The social safety net includes Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

These are among the obvious but controversial provisions favoring the public welfare.

Some object that they don’t want to pay for other people’s insurance. This betrays a stunning failure to understand the very nature of insurance: People pool their funds to protect each other from various misfortunes. In other words, all insurance makes its subscribers pay for each other’s coverage. What should be a self-evident truth about insurance is that the larger the pool the better and less expensive, per person, the coverage. This, and the fact that we are all at risk, is the primary reason that health insurance should be a function of the government. After all, there is no larger pool than the population of the country and no private company can gather us all together like the government can.

Some like to argue that competition between private companies lowers costs and improves performance. That must be the reason that health care costs in the U.S. are among the highest in the world. In any case, there is no reason that health care wouldn’t improve under government supervision if regulations encourage it.