Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933. Lietuvių: Franklinas Delanas Ruzveltas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
President Obama won the 2012 election, but the gap between the very rich and the poor is still far too wide. Wages are stagnant, corporations are bloated with excess earnings and far too many people often go hungry.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was President during the Great Depression. His vision probably saved our nation. Republicans exhibited some of the same symptoms of intransigence that we see today.
Author Ellen Brown wrote an article for The Asia Times in 2011 that posits an idea Roosevelt put forth in 1944. It is worth quoting:
Time for a new Bill of Rights
By Ellen Brown
Roosevelt’s own vision reached its sharpest focus in 1944, when he called for a Second Bill of Rights. He said:
“This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights. ... 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.”
He then enumerated the economic rights he thought needed to be added to the Bill of Rights. They included:
“The right to a job;
The right to earn enough to pay for food and clothing;
The right of businessmen to be free of unfair competition and domination by monopolies;
The right to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to 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.”
Nov 16, 2011
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