FDR's Economic Bill of Rights could be our Democratic Platform every American needs to hear again

HoundDog for And Now for Something Completely Different

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Monday March 17, 2014 · 10:30 AM PDT

2014/03/17 · 10:30

Jessica Levenson's UpWorthy links us to this YouTube video of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt describing his proposed "Second Bill of Rights, aka an Economic Bill of Rights in 1944, just after his state of the Union, in her article, What This President Said About U.S. Security Needs To Be Tattooed On Every Congressperson's Hand. I found it to be so remarkable and inspiring, poignant, and sad, that I retrieved the full transcript from Wikipedia.

“The Economic Bill of Rights”

Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the Congress of the United States on the State of the Union:[2]

“ It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.”[3] People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.

For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

What incredible vision from FDR, in 1944, yet look how far we have yet to go. If anything we may have less support for such a noble vision now than we did then.

What has happened to America? What has happened to the Democratic Party? Even the Republican Party! I'm going to put a quote in the update from Republican President Eisenhower, denouncing those that might think to diminish Social Security that will make even our own centrists squirm.

This noble, wise, compassionate, and generate vision is the vision of America and the Democratic Party I was brought up on.

This is the vision of America I have spent my life fighting for, and it used to be the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Now we are called leftists, oddballs, "idealist purists," socialists, communists, or worse. Sometimes, we're even invited to leave.

Well, I'm not going "nowhere!" (sic - building street cred as a dog of the people! woof!) I'm fighting for this vision of American equality, justice, prosperity, fairness, generosity of spirit until my last breath.

I call on those who are similarly inspired to come back and join us in making this vision a reality not just for Americans but for all people around the word.

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FDR's Economic Bill of Rights could be our Democratic Platform every American needs to hear again

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