Poll: Should we revive FDR's SECOND BILL OF RIGHTS???

[Selatius]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Roosevelt%27s_Second_Bill_of_Rights

We should adopt it as the mainstay of the long-term platform of the Democratic Party. The original broad points of such a bill were spelled out in FDR's State of the Union Address on January 11th, 1944. The points were to guarantee these things for all American workers:

• A job with a living wage
  
• Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
  
• Homeownership
  
• Medical care
  
• Education
  

I think it's a great platform, and his Address has been on the damn history books for 60 years now. There are some other things I would like added on as well such as a publicly subsidized election/campaign system, the abolition of the Electoral College, institution of IRV for all federal elections, etc., but I believe that should be broken off and made into another set of bill of rights, which won't be discussed here.

Would you support such a move to enter the 2nd Bill of Rights into the US Constitution? Speak your mind!

[sasha031]

1. this should become one of the main talking points

of the Democrats

[underpants]

2. Last option-great idea. Short and simple easy to understand

oh there are those who will reject it because they either think they are going to be millionaires one day...you know the rest OR they are sure it will mean that their (and only their) taxes will go up-see first part.

I like it.

[Lowell]

3. They've done everything they can to dismantle

all of FDR's social programs. It is time they were reminded of what they were. These ideas came out of the "greatest generation" and they still apply.

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. U Chicago law prof...

...Cass Sunstein has written a book precisely on this subject.

One of my favorites...

[Telly Savalas]

29. Thanks!

From amazon.com it looks like a really good book.

Unfortunately our library doesn't have it. :( (They do have about 15 other titles by him though.)

[pocket]

5. yes

yes

[MN ChimpH8R]

6. As Stone Cold Steve Austin said

Gimme a "HELL YEAH!!"

[BrotherBuzz]

7. Dust off and polish FDR's GI Bill of Rights while you're at it and...

and we'd have a couple of very popular platforms.

[Selatius]

8. Bump... n/t

[NewJeffCT]

9. Heck, didn't Nixon support a few of those things

like health care & a living wage for all?

[yurbud]

13. Nixon was to the left of a lot of today's Dems. Hell, IKE would be too.

[Chautauqua]

17. I'm a Democrat for Eisenhower!

Bring back the Minimum Wage that we had under Eisenhower (about $15/hr in today's money)
Bring back the tax structure that we had under Eisenhower (progressive rates up to 90% for the extremely wealthy)
Bring back the size of government expenditures that we had under Eisenhower (which we also had under Clinton)

Under Eisenhower we had a government the same size that we had under Clinton, workers made MUCH more and kept more, corporate executives made MUCH less and kept less. Sounds like a pretty good plan to me!

[bluestateguy]

19. I'd have voted for IKE in 1956

I think MLK did too. The Democrats under Stevenson were too deferential to the segregationists, though I would have voted Stevenson in 1952.

[yurbud]

20. I'm a democrat who looks like Ike

[bluestateguy]

18. On domestic policy Nixon was a liberal

EPA, OSHA, Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, wage and price controls, affirmative action in the federal government, Consumer Product Safety Commission, removed the US from the gold standard.

Then on foreign policy he gave us the ABM treaty (which Bush junked), detente with the Soviets, the end of the draft and relations with China.

You take away Vietnam and Watergate (which is a lot, I know), and Nixon is deficiently I guy I could have otherwise voted for.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. When people say Dems don't have ideas I say

We put our main ideas in place from 1933-1968. Those ideas will last forever. The Repuke idea is to tear it down. Oddly enough, this period coincides with the greatest economic boom in world history. :think:

Add alternative energy and environmentalism and we're good for generations.

[yurbud]

11. kick & rec

[yurbud]

12. Howard Dean said something similar and simple in primaries...

I think I have it roughly memorized:

95% of people agree they want four things:

a good job that can support their family

access to good schools for their kids

good health care at an accessible price

safety

They don't necessarily care HOW they get these things, whether from a government program or the private sector, so we should figure out the best way to make those happen.

[jon strad]

14. I chose the last option.

You know, it really baffles me as to why many on the right are so successful in branding the Democratic party as a party with no ideas or suggestions on how to run the country. Is it so hard for our Democratic representatives to go out in the media and declare their support for these 5 points (and do it with one, unified voice)? Jeez, it is just me that thinks this is common sense stuff?

[Chautauqua]

15. Being pedantic

The actual rights Roosevelt listed in his speech were as follows:

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.

[bluestateguy]

16. I encourage everyone to read this speech

FDR's 1944 State of the Union Address:

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16518

[Selatius]

21. Bump n/t

[Jamison]

22. In this day and age

we need those rights more than ever!

[lonestarnot]

23. Damn too old to recommend! or you would have my vote!

[Al-CIAda]

25. mine as well. This would be aces for the Dems to use. -nt

[lonestarnot]

27. kick!

[katinmn]

24. Now we're talkin!'

Wish I would have seen this sooner.

[RagingInMiami]

26. So what happened?

He died and they were never talked about again?

[Al-CIAda]

28. .

[Don1]

30. Throw in Social Security

It is pragmatic (for popular support) and ethical.

(1) Congress and the Executive Branch cannot keep borrowing money from the SS trust. This should be in a Constitution.
(2) Congress's automatic full pay and benefits after just 1 term in office should be removed. Cut it in half. Additionally, put Congress on Social Security and Medicaid automatically after serving only one term. This helps to guarantee that they will treat the programs with respect. And it would save money.
(3) Being a homemaker, too, for X years should also guarantee one for Social Security as it is a job. This should win support from Republicans for the platform and it is the right thing to do.

In addition to FDR's State of the Union, the ideas you express are also in the Bolivarian Constitution. In that Constitution, they write that
"Health care is a fundamental part of the right to life." (I am paraphrasing)

A statement like this also helps with popular support.