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Shamelessly plagiarized from Wikipedia:
The Second Bill of Rights was a proposal made by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his State of the Union Address on January 11, 1944 to suggest that the nation had come to recognize, and should now implement, a second bill of rights. Roosevelt did not argue for any change to the United States Constitution; he argued that the second bill of rights was to be implemented politically, not by federal judges. Roosevelt’s stated justification 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 create an “economic bill of rights” which would guarantee:
- A job with a living wage
- Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
- A home
- Medical care
- Education
- Recreation
Roosevelt stated that having these rights would guarantee American security, and that America’s place in the world depended upon how far these and similar rights had been carried into practice.
How different a political landscape we would be faced with today if FDR has lived. Would we see the Plutocracy that is in full bloom currently in the US? Perhaps, but I think that the enormous divisions that exist in American society would be significantly less and more people would feel like they were part of the system rather then victims of it.
President Obama should take heed of FDR’s words and make them his second term platform. Adopting such a progressive goal, I think, would take the bitter taste out of so many progressive’s mouths.
The Second Bill of Rights TV address to the American people in case you missed it.
Your opinions…