FDR - New Bill Of Rights

[Cheerful Charlie]

We keep hearing from today's GOP conservatives that we need a small, limited government, as opposed to "big government".
Which should have a good reply to this idea. Here then is one possibility. FDR's New Bill of Rights. A government that works for all.

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/address_text.html

State of the Union Message to Congress


January 11, 1944 Franklin D. Rossevelt

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.

 

[Harry Bosch]

We keep hearing from today's GOP conservatives that we need a small, limited government, as opposed to "big government".
Which should have a good reply to this idea. Here then is one possibility. FDR's New Bill of Rights. A government that works for all.

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/address_text.html

State of the Union Message to Congress


January 11, 1944 Franklin D. Rossevelt

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.

Charlie: I pretty rarely disagree with you. But how could the US afford to ensure everyone adequate protection from economic fear? I do pretty well and have a nice retirement portfolio, but I worry all the time that it won't be enough. How do we ensure that every farmer will get a return which will provide him a decent living? There is too much milk in the market today. So the price for milk has dropped. The market is signaling to dairy farmers to grow something else. If we keep propping up markets we're just going to incentivize people making/growing stuff that people don't want. That's essentially why the USSR collapsed.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

We keep hearing from today's GOP conservatives that we need a small, limited government, as opposed to "big government".
Which should have a good reply to this idea. Here then is one possibility. FDR's New Bill of Rights. A government that works for all.

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/address_text.html

State of the Union Message to Congress


January 11, 1944 Franklin D. Rossevelt

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.

Charlie: I pretty rarely disagree with you. But how could the US afford to ensure everyone adequate protection from economic fear? I do pretty well and have a nice retirement portfolio, but I worry all the time that it won't be enough. How do we ensure that every farmer will get a return which will provide him a decent living? There is too much milk in the market today. So the price for milk has dropped. The market is signaling to dairy farmers to grow something else. If we keep propping up markets we're just going to incentivize people making/growing stuff that people don't want. That's essentially why the USSR collapsed.

Well, one can try or decide not to try. We now have the GOP giving massive tax cuts to the rich, doubling our deficits over the years to come. and braying that because of those bad ol' deficits, we have to slash medicare and Social Security. We have massive inequality. the rich get rich, the working Americans see their wages stagnate. We have utter failure of the GOP to deal with adequate health care for all in this nation. And on and on.

Under the GOP we have economic incompetence and a truculent attitude to service for American citizens. It is time to try something else. FDR's Second Bill of Rights may not be perfect, but it is a start, unfinished business. What do the Democrats stand for now? They should be standing for a competent set of policies that give good service to the working lass Americans the GOP is going to screw with their small government mantra.

 

[J842P]

Charlie: I pretty rarely disagree with you. But how could the US afford to ensure everyone adequate protection from economic fear?

Pretty easily, probably, if we are talking about a basic standard of living. Just don't have as many wars, and cut military spending in, say, half.

But I agree, the government guaranteeing some price for agricultural products is insane.

What wouldn't be insane would have been ditching the tax cuts and *forgiving all student debt in the US*.

Of course, ideally, the above would come with some form of overhaul of the University System in the US.

Yes, the Universities lost a lot of government support (especially from the States). And yes, Universities themselves are to blame with being unable to keep their tuitions down. of which they should be ashamed, (but of course they won't be). But there is absolutely no reason why getting tertiary education should require onerous debt.

If we can afford to be in a two-decade long war, with several other wars sprinkled in, you better believe we can afford a much more expansive social welfare programs.

 

[dismal]

He left off free wi-fi.