The Social(ist) Network

Political Action & Discussion Forum for America's Socialist Party

FDR 2nd Bill of Rights

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The Second Bill of Rights was a list of rights proposed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the then President of the United States, during his State of the Union Address on January 11, 1944. In his address Roosevelt suggested that the nation had come to recognize, and should now implement, a second "bill of rights". Roosevelt's argument was that the "political rights" guaranteed by the constitution and the Bill of Rights had "proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness." Roosevelt's remedy was to declare an "economic bill of rights" which would guarantee:

Employment, with a living wage,
Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies,
Housing,
Medical care,
Education, and,
Social security

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRZUaW0HwCM

This is a speech by FDR during his reelection campaign in 1936. I think of this whenever I hear Republican presidential candidates talk about "making health care more accessible and affordable for every American." In FDR's case, the Republicans were claiming they could create and manage the social programs FDR was fostering better than FDR himself. I think everyone knows the Republicans can not be trusted with social programs like universal health care, but they've seen the writing on the wall and desperately want to take the issue away from the liberals and progressives. The GOP (Greedy Old Perverts) can not be trusted with any issue that benefits the poor and middle class. By the way, even though it's not widely known, we are worse off today than we were in 1936 when FDR gave this speech.

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Comment by Timothy Platt on November 22, 2011 at 6:29am: They are reintroducing Right-to-Work legislation here in Indiana. It was defeated this past spring, but they are now pushing the issue again.

Funny isn't it - We are only allowed to bring issues up once, but politicians and corporations can reintroduce issues over and over until they are accepted. Things are structured against the common worker.