Learned about something pretty amazing earlier that I am surprised that I had never known until now. Back in 1944 FDR delivered a State of the Union Address where he proposed creating a Second Bill of Rights, which he felt would better help ensure Americans security and freedom. FDRs proposal almost certainly was the single most revolutionary act that any president from 20th century ever proposed doing! Yet, his proposal and actions have basically been written out of American history. Why? Just read some of his ideas and see how contradictory & conflicting they are within todays political climate, and realize that he first spoke of these rights 69 years ago! Roosevelt argued 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. He thought the way to fix this issue was by declaring an economic bill of rights that would guarantee employment(with a living wage), freedom from unfair competition and monopolies, housing, medical care, education, and social security. Roosevelt argued that these rights would guarantee American security, and that our place in the world depended on how far we implemented these and other similar rights into practice. He then went onto say that If history were to repeat itself and we were to return to the so-called normalcy of the 1920s---then it is certain that even though we shall have conquered our enemies on the battlefields abroad, we shall have yielded to the spirit of Fascism here at home.. Wow! Apparently we still hold onto the normalcy of the 20s and have most definitely yielded to such a spirit which FDR spoke of. Roosevelt said that men who lacked the basic necessities are not free men since true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence and that the original Bill of Rights must be supplemented by the following 8 rights which to him spelt security. Second Bill of Rights: 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. To Roosevelt, human distress could no longer be taken as an inevitable by-product of life, society, or nature; it was an artifact of social policies and choices. Much human misery is preventable. The only question is whether a government is determined to prevent it... Foremost was the idea that poverty is preventable, that poverty is destructive, wasteful, demoralizing, and that poverty is morally unacceptable in a Christian and democratic society -Cass R. Sunstein, Professor of Jurisprudence at Chicago School of Law, in his book, The Second Bill of Rights - FDRs Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need it More Than Ever Americans elected FDR to serve 4 terms for many very good reasons. He cared about all citizens regardless of status, wealth, race, gender or creed. FDR understood all too well that all the freedoms in the world meant very little to a person who could not afford the basic necessities required to live. FDR was the president who saved us from the Great Depression and he understood quite well the economic devastation that failed policies can have on a country. From the time he ran for president until he died in office, FDR fought to provide these rights for all people. After he died while in office in 1945 his wife Eleanor went on to campaign for these rights to be accepted internationally. This led to many of the rights FDR originally proposed to be included into the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, and then later on by the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights which was signed by 142 countries as of 2003. The United States, where one of our most revered presidents originally proposed the Second Bill of Rights, has still not joined the 142 other countries who recognize the importance of these fundamental rights. Was it at this point back in 1944 where America began to go wrong and found itself on the wrong side of history? How differently would the entire world be today if we had chosen instead to honor the final wishes of a man who gave the final 12 years of his life to his country? How many countless people have suffered and died, and continue to suffer and die on account of these rights not being enacted? How far does the human condition and economy of the world have to decline before we accept that there exist another way? We either decide in our immediate future to move toward such rights & ideals proposed by FDR, or we remain falling into a very uncertain future. tl;dr
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 02:10:15 +0000
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