“Necessitous men are NOT free men.”

[bvar22]

"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.” [font size=3]People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.[/font]

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 [font size=3]for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.[/font]

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."

--- FDR, Democratic Party State of the Union Address, 1944

Please note that FDR specified the above as Basic Human Rights,
to be protected and administered by our Government of the People,
and NOT as commodities to be SOLD to Americans who can afford them by For Profit Corporations.

There was a time, not so long ago, when voting FOR the Democrat
was voting FOR the above values.
Sadly, this is no longer true.

I joined the Democratic Party 47 years ago because I believed in the above values.
I still do.
"Necessitous men are NOT free men."

I haven't changed.


[font color=firebrick size=3][center]"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone[/font][/center]
[center][/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font]

[font size=5 color=firebrick]Solidarity![/font]

[TheMastersNemesis]

1. I Have Posted This Economic Bill Of Rights In The Past. Got Little Response. Many Americans I Know

would find this economic philosophy as too communistic and anti free market. Sharing the wealth is verboten in the new America.

[bvar22]

4. Thank You. I have posted it from time to time over the last 10 years too....as a reminder.

I posted it again today, and chose to highlight the sentence,
[font size=3]“Necessitous men are NOT free men”[/font]
because, despite the Government Claims of a "Recovery",
we are blindly accelerating toward [/font size=3]A Nation of Necessitous Men[/font]


Right now, forty percent of Americans make less than the minimum wage from 1968.
http://pac.petitions.moveon.org/sign/raise-the-minimum-wage-19/?source=search


Daily CEO Pay Now Exceeds the Average Worker's Annual Salary –
http://thecontributor.com/daily-ceo-pay-now-exceeds-us-workers-annual-salary




76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck
http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/24/pf/emergency-savings/index.html


New Rule (Passed by Congress and signed by President Obama) signals Kiss of Death for Pensions
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100694955

Wealthy win lion's share of major tax breaks
http://www.boston.com/business/news/2013/05/29/wealthy-win-lion-share-major-tax-breaks/Ua0UyYle21EUXub7g1suCI/story.html

Half of America is in poverty, and its creeping toward 75%
http://www.alternet.org/economy/real-numbers-half-america-poverty-and-its-creeping-toward-75-0

Wealth gap widens as labor's share of income falls
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/wealth-gap-widens-labors-share-income-falls-1B6097385

As the Economy Recovers, the Wealth Gap Widens
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/rick-newman/2013/03/11/as-the-economy-recovers-the-wealth-gap-widens

Top One Percent Captured 121 Percent Of All Income Gains
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/top-one-percent-income-gains_n_2670455.html

Corporate Profits Hit Record High While Worker Wages Hit Record Low
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/03/1270541/corporate-profits-wages-record/?mobile=nc

[Arcanetrance]

2. I really wish the Democratic party would pick this up again and run with it

This is what the country needs now more than ever. Sadly it seems the democratic party is becoming more and more the friendlier wing of the corporate government.

[MrSlayer]

3. Too bad they fucked Wallace out of his rightful VP position.

We may have gotten some of this.

[Laelth]

5. k&r for FDR. n/t

-Laelth

[Eleanors38]

6. These are the values l have. Brevity and Clarity in 1 page.

[bvar22]

7. I agree, and I fear these Human "Rights" detailed by FDR...

Last edited Wed Jul 17, 2013, 06:33 PM - Edit history (1)

... have all been replaced by the RIGHT of The RICH to Make a Profit.

BofA chief: We have a 'right to make a profit'
http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/05/news/economy/bank_of_america_moynihan/index.htm

The NAFTA Chapter 11 "Tribunals" are ALL about the RIGHT of Corporations to Make a Profit,
and from leaked reports, the new TPP (NAFTA on Steroids) is going to be worse.


NAFTA enforces the RIGHT of Corporations to Profit

"Remarkably, NAFTA also provides foreign investors the ability to privately enforce their new investor rights. Called "investor-to-state" dispute resolution, this extraordinary mechanism empowers private investors and corporations to sue NAFTA-signatory governments in special tribunals to obtain cash compensation for government policies or actions that investors believe violate their new rights under NAFTA. If a corporation wins its case, it can be awarded unlimited amounts of taxpayer dollars from the treasury of the offending nation even though it has gone around the country's domestic court system and domestic laws to obtain such an award.

http://www.citizen.org/publications/publicationredirect.cfm?ID=7076

You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS.[/font]

[Eleanors38]

8. The corporate state not only brooks no tolerance for "progressive" notions, it will not tolerate...

traditional conservative thought when it comes to sovereignty. This used to be a lynch pin in conservative theory. Gone! without a whimper with any number of treaties. I used to say we are a corporate state. I will have to modify that to a dispense with the state.

[kentuck]

9. Good post!

Thanks for the reminder!

[BornLooser]

10. Kris wrote it so poignantly, and how profoundly relevant it is 45 years on...

"Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose, and nothin' that's all that they left Me.

Well, feelin' good is most decidedly NOT good enough for Me!

[saidsimplesimon]

12. BornLooser, don't like your screen name, would you consider "Born Free"?

I don't like the libertarian speak that claims only those who want no government are worthy.

[BornLooser]

13. Twist it any way you choose, Meats. I'll stay loose...you stay condescending...for now.

I will NOT consider a canard, now leave me be and take your drive-by patronage elsewhere.

[kentuck]

14. }:-)__~~~

Stay Loose.

[BornLooser]

15. Thanks k, I'll do it.

[DeSwiss]

11. Excellent post!

[reformist2]

16. And when the net worth of the country is over $64 TRILLION, let no one claim 'we're broke'!

It's time for wealth redistribution. It's the only answer.

[99Forever]

17. I registered as a Democrat 42 years ago myself...

... I couldn't agree more.

FDR must be spinning in his grave at the spineless wimps that pretend to be Democratic "leaders" these days. Almost all of them are completely worthless.

[bvar22]

18. Sometimes I think that is part of the problem.

One has to be OUR age to remember what a DEMOCRAT is supposed to Sound Like.

The History of the Labor Movement has been erased from the History Books,
and nobody in the Democratic Party Leadership ever mentions it anymore.

Those FDR Values and Democratic Party Advocacy FOR the Working Class,
and AGAINST the RICH Bankers and Corporations
[font size=3]built the Largest, Wealthiest, and MOST Upwardly Mobile Working Class the WORLD has ever seen[/font],
but it no longer merits a mention from our modern Party leadership.

How old does someone have to be to have a Living Memory of what a DEMOCRAT should sound like?
Elizabeth Warren brings back some of those memories.

[SalviaBlue]

19. k and r

[raouldukelives]

20. K&R