A LIBERAL VIEW OF THINGS: The Bill of Rights: Part II

On Jan. 11, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made his last State of the Union speech from the White House. He introduced concepts that have been forgotten or addressed piecemeal.

Roosevelt’s argument 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." He continued:

"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, 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 all our citizens.

For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.”

The countries that adopted these rights after the war were Germany, Italy and Japan, our former foes.

We, on the other hand, fought with each other like dogs over bones to limit these rights or disguise them as part of capitalistic competition. The huge fight over health care is the perfect example of how we lost sight of pursuing happiness for all our citizens because we couldn’t see short-term profit in it.

Health care should be a right, not a commodity to be fought over, profited from and doled out by leaders who have political agendas. Education is another example of how we have confused capitalism’s imperatives with the needs of our people to best support long-term wealth. Education should be a right, too.

Those who think profit for everything is the only way to go need not include the word morality in their lexicon.

We claim to be the richest nation on Earth, yet we have the highest rate of poverty in the industrialized world, ranked in the high 20th percentile in health care and the low 30th percentile in educating our children. These numbers tell me that for-profit everything is not the pursuit of happiness or “promoting the general welfare” of our citizens.

We also have the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world, irrespective of economic status, and that prison population is 75 percent illiterate. Am I the only one connecting the dots here?

I think we should dedicate our economical pursuits to this New Bill of Rights and away from wars that have no purpose except to drain our resources and kill our soldiers. In pursuit of these rights, I envision a nation that liberates itself from foreign oil, cleanses itself both physically and morally and fulfills the dreams of our founding fathers — who so often are misunderstood — such that we can become the true beacon of idealistic democracy that was their original intent.

Turner is a retired teacher and industrial engineer who lives near Marble Falls. He is an independent columnist, not a staff member, and his views do not necessarily reflect those of The Tribune or its parent company. "The Voter’s Guide to National Salvation" is a newly published e-book from Turner. You can find it at www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks. He can be reached by email at vtgolf@zeecon.com.