FDR Understood the Need to Expand the Bill of Rights in the Post War Era!

FDR and the 2^nd Bill of Rights!

Richard J. Garfunkel

There are always important historical parallels. As George Santayana said, “People who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it!” If your child was hurt in an accident, or in a hospital, or was a victim of malpractice, and the state capped your claim, and the cost ran into hundreds of thousands per year, you would not be happy. There are thousands of similar situations that happen annually, that are not in any way connected to some woman spilling coffee on her pudenda! Most times the individual needs representation to receive justice. If you think insurance companies do not like to limit claims then you should just read the newspapers.

In answer to Mr. Eboch convoluted piece on FDR and rights, one must understand what FDR proposed. One must understand that America wasn’t created so that a small percentage of super capitalists should live off the other “wage” slaves. Inherently because of the compromises made by the “Founding Fathers” with regards to the heinous institution of slavery and the limits on who could vote, we entered into a long struggle over rights, which have not ended. Mr. Eboch must have let slip his mind the various patchwork laws and compromises (Missouri 1820, Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act,) that put off the inevitable and eventually led to the devastating Civil War. In the same sense reforms like anti-trust laws, changes in the Progressive Era and finally the New Deal gave this country back to its people.

Being well off and being a so-called liberal should not condemn a person to be a “traitor to one’s class.”  Not all rich people, who are liberal, are limousine liberals. It is the little guy who needs support in the courts. It is the little guy that needs to be protected from corporate excess, and it is not just the “liberal” guy who needs protections from the “state.” That is what the Founders of this great country knew right from the start. That is why the “Bill of Rights” is essential to America and the world. Without the “Bill of Rights” the Constitution is just a piece of paper setting up the structure of government. The Constitution with the “Bill of Rights” is the essential document.

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 2nd Inaugural, January 20, 1937. Should we have a society where the rich only live in “gated communities” because they are so fearful? Hollywood, big business and Madison Avenue are run not by liberals. They are run by business men/women who cater to sponsors, who are highly sensitive to the market, and the fear the specter of “secondary boycotts.” They make and shape most of the policy in our country and society. Rights alone to do not cause social friction or cultural upheaval, they have a strong tendency to level the playing field and allow access to greater opportunity.

It is the limitation of rights that is the ultimate injustice. Great leadership, of which we should have needs to balance and temper the interests of all parties. I believe sincerely in rights with responsibility. But to say that conditions and realities have departed far from the 1940’s begs the issue. Justice whether worldwide or at home is the ultimate salvation of civilization. We must always deal with the current and immediate threat and terror. That is only practical. But we must never lose sight of the ultimate problem, injustice breeds contempt, disillusionment and social upheaval.

The Second Bill of Rights was a proposal made by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his State of the Union Address on January 11, 1944 to suggest that the nation had come to recognize, and should now implement, a second bill of rights. Roosevelt did not argue for any change to the United States Constitution; he argued that the second bill of rights was to be implemented politically, not by federal judges. Roosevelt’s stated justification was 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 remedy was to create an “economic bill of rights” which would guarantee:

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

Roosevelt stated that having these rights would guarantee American security, and that America’s place in the world depended upon how far these and similar rights had been carried into practice. 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.