“The Economic Bill of Rights”
Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January 11, 1944 message to the Congress of the United States on the State of the Union
It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.
This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. 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.
We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
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.
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.
The classic Democratic values expressed most completely above did not die with FDR either, it was evident straight through until at least LBJ (regardless of his flirtation with war that I vehemently disagreed with), and even to a lesser extent Carter.
The Neo-Democrats came in largely with the Neo-liberals that had much in common with the Neo-cons of the same time (the war Republican lights if you will) and also the founding by the Kochs and others of similar values of the Democratic Leadership Council (who's crowning achievements were Bank deregulation, Welfare reform (that ended welfare), and free trade agreements that favored outsourcing of much of our factory work.
The latest incarnation of these stealth Republican ideologists that are registered as Democrats like to call themselves "The Third Way". You may check out their beliefs on their own site and compare their ideas to Newt's Republican Congress, you will find the ideas the same or very similar.
http://www.thirdway.org
I hope this was somewhat helpful.
I will check out that post you linked to, but may not post in it as telling the truth has gotten my posts hidden before by hyper-partisans.
= new reply since forum marked as read
