FDR had it right, as he often did … In the midst of the Second World War, he delivered his Jan, 1944 State of the Union Address as a Fireside Chat to the American perople. In it, he outlined a way forward to economic growth and stasbility through a Second Bill of Rights, to counteract the downsides of increasing economic inequality. Here is the relevant section:
“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.”
The young people fighting for a living minimum wage in fast food, the Occupiers of Wall Street, the profiled of color, the middle class families struggling to pay for health care and education – they all need a society in which their interests and concerns are seen as a powerful tool for the growth of our economy as a whole. FDR understood that relationship better than any other leader our country has had. But, like Lincoln, he did not get the opportunity to put his ideas in place after a calamitous war, and the noble thoughts each had remain just that … thoughts.
Petty acquisitive people who are represented publicly by political figures such as Senators Paul and Cruz, Supreme Court justices Scalia, Roberts, Thomas, and Alito, and in the media by scathing (though entertaining) blowhards such as Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck, and even worse by the intellectually robust but misguided pundits such as Krauthammer and Will resist the notion that enabling all is better than enabling just a few of our citizens.
We need a powerful voice in the mold of proud liberals such as FDR and the Kennedys, winners of the economic race who recognized that a richer polity, a stronger nation, is best created through the efforts of all its people. And those efforts are not possible when one is struggling simply to eat, find shelter, and stay healthy.