Would a Second Bill of Rights Prevented Us From Having the Economic Crisis We Have Today?

I saw Michale Moore's new documentary Capitalism: A Love Story over the weekend and found it to be not only thought provoking, but educational.

On topic I found not only intriguing, but also had now idea of such a proposal ever existed. The proposal of a Second Bill of Rights.

In Mr. Moore's movie it is revealed that during his State of the Union address on January 11, 1944,President Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested a Second Bill of Rights. He stated that the "political rights" guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights had "proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness." Roosevelt's proposed second bill of rights would have guaranteed:

A job with a living wage

Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies

A home

Medical Care

Education

Recreation

Here is a portion of Roosevelt's message to congress on the State of Union address:

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, not 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 it's 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 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 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 to every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right to 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 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.


It's interesting to think "what if". What would our world be like now had this Second Bill of Rights become a reality? Do think we should propose another Bill of Rights? What would it do to the economy if we enforced these rights? Let's hear from you.