Where in the Constitution does it say the federal government is responsible for social engineering?

Since social engineering is not a function assigned by the Constitution to the government.  Who gave government progressive elitists this responsibility?  No one.  They took it upon themselves to assume that responsibility thinking that legislating human behavior was the tool they would use to forge a society "they" felt appropriate, for the good of the less informed and sophisticated folk across the land.  Whether intentional or not the whole scheme  emerged during the Wilson administration with the establishment of the Federal Reserve and launch of the federal income tax program.  In tandem those two events enabled the government for the first time to have access to an endless supply of money courtesy of taxpayers.  The founders considered but rejected the idea of a central bank (federal reserve) and direct taxation of citizens owing to their view that the federal government's duties should be few and limited.  And, they felt individuals and families should be self sufficient with those requiring charity provided for by local communities and churches.  What happened?

Government spending on social programs started slowly but took off with the Roosevelt administration's New Deal.  Principle among the programs started were various programs which until then had been the province of communities, charitable and religious organizations.  New Deal advocates thought that a centralized system managed out of Washington DC was a good idea because they could use funds confiscated from taxpayers and distributed as the Washington elite saw fit.  As employed in the Roosevelt administration the programs turned into political tools used to manipulate the voting process. Through these programs every president and congress since has in one way or another contributed to ever expanding intrusion of federal government involvement in the lives of individuals, families and businesses across the country. 

The pace, however, accelerated with President Johnson's Great Society which expanded Social Security beyond that launched by the New Deal and added both the Medicare and Medicaid (among others) programs to the growing list of government sanctioned social programs.  It is safe to say that every president and complicit congress since Johnson has broadened social support systems some to limited degrees and others more expansively.  Those programs have had at least two major impacts.  First, dramatic increases in program costs and devastating impacts on our nation's social structures (see link 1).  Secondly, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid alone now consume 55% of the federal budget and that percentage does not include the cost of food stamps, housing subsidies and a host of other programs.  

The costs of all of these programs is growing at an alarming rate while the economy, number of taxpayers and tax collections are in a steady decline.  (see link 2)  As documented in the 2012 edition of the Index of Dependence on Government, "The federal government spent more taxpayer dollars than ever before in 2011 to subsidize Americans. The average individual who relies on Washington could receive benefits valued at $32,748, more than the nation’s average disposable personal income ($32,446)."  It also noted that 49.5% of the American population pays no federal income taxes.  (see link 3)

Now add to the list of federal government social engineering projects the current administration's latest proposal.  They want to establish racial standards for neighborhoods. (see link 4)  Even after reading the item it is hard to imagine the full extent of impacts to the nation's social and economic structure and infringement of individual rights that are sure to result if implemented.  I checked my copy of the Constitution and could not find anything that even had the word "neighborhood" in it nor could I find anything that one could use to construe such a meaning.  And I absolutely know no words can be found that assign the federal government responsibility for setting racial standards for the nation's neighborhoods.

When will we learn that government does not successfully implement social programs nor does it have any business doing so.  As noted in the second link the unintended consequences of such programs often produce enormously expensive bureaucratic nightmares and end up harming the very people they were intended to help.  I cannot imagine who will benefit from this administration's latest scheme.  Please folks, we need to get the progressives in the federal government out of our lives and back to performings their rightful Constitutional duties, which are few and limited and do not even in the remotest sense include social engineering. 

1.  http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/hhs/welfare-spending

2.  http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=1258

3.  http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/08/dependence-on-government-at-all-time-high/

4.  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/23/team-obama-steps-up-racial-standards-for-neighborhoods/?cmpid=NL_FNTopHeadlines

George Burns