B/W SCOTUS, INC Sellout and the POTUS SOTU Freeze, the AUDACITY OF FDR's Economic Bill of Rights

[omega minimo]

On the heels of the SCOTUS brand endorsement of global corporations as American citizens;
on the eve of the POTUS SOTU announcing a freeze on spending that does not benefit those corporate citizens,
at the expense of actual human beings who happen to be -- real, not conceptual -- citizens;
after the first Bill of Rights has been abandoned, here is the Second or Economic Bill of Rights, from FDR.



"We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom
cannot exist without economic security and independence." -- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt


"What people fail to understand is what happens when you go down that slippery slope we've gone down... regarding our civil liberties... people keep saying "We'll get them back, we'll get them back later" but it's very difficult to climb back up that hill... " -- John Dean on Randi Rhodes show 10-10-07


Franklin D. Roosevelt
“The Economic Bill of Rights”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaghvZWVrl8
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/globalrights/econrights/fdr-econbill.html
Excerpt from 11 January 1944 message to Congress 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. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

One of the great American industrialists of our day -- a man who has rendered yeoman service to his country in this crisis -- recently emphasized the grave dangers of "rightist reaction" in this Nation. All clear-thinking businessmen share his concern. Indeed, if such reaction should develop -- if history were to repeat itself and we were to return to the so-called "normalcy" of the 1920's -- 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.

I ask the Congress to explore the means for implementing this economic bill of rights -- for it is definitely the responsibility of the Congress so to do. Many of these problems are already before committees of the Congress in the form of proposed legislation. I shall from time to time communicate with the Congress with respect to these and further proposals. In the event that no adequate program of progress is evolved, I am certain that the Nation will be conscious of the fact.

Our fighting men abroad -- and their families at home -- expect such a program and have the right to insist upon it. It is to their demands that this Government should pay heed rather than to the whining demands of selfish pressure groups who seek to feather their nests while young Americans are dying.

[FredStembottom]

1. I have just started Steven Hill's "Eurpoe's Promise"

...and, apparently, europe has spent the last 60 years instituting those very rights for all!
And manage to be the #1 economic powerhouse as well.

They are now fully into the kick-back-and-enjoy-it phase of these rights!

We, on the other hand sink steadily while our corrupt politicians offer only deception and manipulation.

We are falling sooooooooooooo faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar behind!!!!!

[omega minimo]

2. Thanks for checking in, FS

Are they ready for their cousins to be bailing out of this mess?

[FredStembottom]

3. Don't tempt me, O!

I love Europe anyway. And reading all this egalitarian stuff just might make me crack!

[omega minimo]

4. I'll go witcha

:hi:

"All this egalitarian stuff" -- what a concept, that a government serve its members, who contribute to and support its existence, for the benefit of, like, people. :wow:

[omega minimo]

5. .

[Greyhound]

6. K&R. For inescapable truth.

[omega minimo]

7. For inescapable truth.

[omega minimo]

8. Who let Tough Obama out of the bag!!!?!!

[puebloknot]

9. "...the spirit of Fascism here at home ..." was personified at the SOTU ...

... last night by the presence of the Supremes in black robes, and the gang sharing one brain (not a very good brain, either) who all sat on their asses and refused to applaud anything Obama said that might smack of actually helping their constituents, rather than their Wall Street friends who have just been propped up and proclaimed to be "persons."

Something very European comes to mind: Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!