The Economic Bill of Rights-FDR

[jedimind240]

"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.”[2] 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.For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world." Franklin Roosevelt 1944

[Q451990]

At least we have a good idea of when the bastardization of the word "right" began in US politics.

Heath

[jedimind240]

If every tax paying american had each of these things listed as rights, America would be a happier more productive place. If you don't have to worry about paying for; where you have to sleep, how to pay for your cancer treatment, or when your gonna find work again because your company moved your job to the third world to cut cost and increase revenue, you would live a happier life. Some see this as socialist, but we could stop worrying about these things and focus on bigger subjects, like exploring the stars or oceans, giving ourselves renewable power from wind, solar, geothermal, or tidal. We wouldn't have a big difference in class structure, which would be good in my opinion, because i believe the difference in class lifestyle leads to anger, resentment and eventually rioting and at worst war. People want what others have, and this will be that way for a long time.

In Star Trek, earth is one united planet. It has allowed the human race to spread to the stars, we should be one global society focussing on the advancement of are species instead of are individual wants and desires. Its nerdy i admit, but its what should happen to move us forward, its the only logical outcome of increased global awareness, that or the destruction of society by those who fear it.

[crakin]

It's simplicity in a reasonable form. You should earn your keep but not squander it. You should not be denied anything just because it will increase someones profits fr the next quarter. I am an Industrial Electrician and Instrumentation tech. (have schooling, not cert.) I cant find a job because oil companies don't want to hire either b/c it will affect there profit goals or a bank doesn't want to let go of the money. If companies were worried about the country and the economy then these things wouldn't be AS bad. I understand protecting the company from collapse but just to make sure everyone who is tied in already gets a big check, not so much. I don't believe that anyone who makes a million or a billion should be taxed any differently than someone that makes 1200 a year. But the truth is we as lowly Americans have no voice unless a huge rally or mob takes a hold of the governments ear. America sucks now and not enough people want to do anything about it. so raise a hulk fist and watch it burn...

[HashiriyaS14]

In Star Trek, earth is one united planet. It has allowed the human race to spread to the stars, we should be one global society focussing on the advancement of are species instead of are individual wants and desires. Its nerdy i admit, but its what should happen to move us forward, its the only logical outcome of increased global awareness, that or the destruction of society by those who fear it.

^^As dumb as this must sound to a LOT of people here, I sort of understand what you're driving at. This may be because I'm something of a Trek fan.

FWIW, this sort of thing only seems to work in Star Trek (aside from it being fictional) because material scarcity has, in effect, been "innovated" away. If humans perfected cold fusion power tomorrow, you can bet we'd probably see a lot fewer wars because there would be an overabundance of energy to create light, heat, power transport, process food, etc.

The problem with your line of reasoning applying to the real world vs. Star Trek is that we DO have scarcity issues in the real world. For us to give all these things to everyone, all these "rights", something needs to be taken from others. It may not be totally zero-sum, but there will need to be some redistribution because there is a fixed quantity of resources to distribute. Not everyone has the same idea of what is equitable however, and thus you get people squabbling over distribution of resources.

There isn't really any fixed quantity in the Trek Universe, they can always make more of everything due to a few convenient fictional technologies.

I would agree that the current power structure of humanity likely wouldn't survive long in a world of inexhaustible abundance. It would be terribly inefficient and a lot of it would fall by the wayside, but we're talking FAR future here.