general welfare
Society's collective benefit
General welfare refers to the overall well-being and common good of a population or community.
The term appears prominently in the U.S.
Constitution, where it justifies government powers to tax and spend for public benefit.
What constitutes general welfare—and how far government may go to promote it—remains perpetually contested: Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes... to provide for the common Defence and general Welfare.
The phrase balances collective benefit against individual rights.
- common goodBenefit shared by all
- public goodNon-excludable shared benefit
- greater goodCollective benefit over personal
- public interestSocietal welfare and benefit
- national interestNation's collective welfare priorities
social safety net · safety net programs · social services · basic needs · constitution · preamble · founding fathers · citizen · community · common cause · prosperity · health · education · infrastructure · taxation · government · society · collective
- ConstitutionBill of Rights, preamble, articles, U.S. Constitution, Article I
general welfareself-interest
Concern for personal advantage
special interests · vested interests · corporate interests · particularism
general welfareselfishness
Excessive concern for oneself
egoism · greed · self-aggrandizement · individualism · particularism
general, welfare, generals, generally, generality, generalize, generalization, generalist, generalship