Time: Bernie Sanders’ Problem With the Constitution

[portlander23]

Bernie Sanders’ Problem With the Constitution

His point reminds us that the Constitution may be more prone to change than the candidate:

"The most obvious weakness of our Constitution is that the economic rights of our citizens are not adequately addressed. Freedom must mean more than the right to vote every four years for a candidate for President. Freedom must also mean the right of a citizen to decent income, decent shelter, decent health care, decent educational opportunity and decent retirement benefits. One is not free sleeping out in the streets. One is not free eating cat food in order to survive."

FDR’s Second Bill of Rights

January 11, 1944

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.

[HassleCat]

1. He's right, but

No constitution can guarantee good government, a decent society, etc. It's the way we interpret and implement our constitution that makes or breaks us. Citizens United is a fairly good example.

[peacebird]

2. True.

[roguevalley]

3. actually, I think we can create whatever we have the will to desire.

[hifiguy]

4. I agree.

And nobody can thump the tub for a genuinely decent society more effectively than Bernie does.

He has a lot of FDR and Harry Truman in him: Roosevelt's policies and Harry's plain-spoken style.

[reformist2]

5. The constitution was not designed to be worshipped. I have to believe Franklin and

a lot of the other anti-Slavery leaders knew what they were doing, when they put in the
ability to amend the constitution. Like the previous poster said, the constitution can be
anything we want it to be - it was designed that way!