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According to Bernie Sanders, income inequality means many Americans aren’t “truly free”
According to Bernie Sanders, income inequality means many Americans aren’t “truly free”snip>
But last Thursday, Sanders added a new dimension to his argument: the yawning gap between rich and poor has created a growing class of Americans, he suggested, who aren’t really free.
“People are not truly free when they are unable to feed their family,” he said. “People are not truly free when they are unable to retire with dignity. People are not truly free when they are unemployed or underpaid or when they are exhausted by working long hours. People are not truly free when they have no health care.”
snip>
Sanders grounds his argument in former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1944 State of the Union speech. Addressing an America that he had helped pull up from the depths of the Great Depression, Roosevelt said, “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.”
snip>
In previous remarks, Sanders has tended to frame his economic proposals in terms of the success of Scandinavia’s welfare economies. His latest speech marks a significant turn away from all the Europhilia, however, rooting his vision instead in American beliefs about the basic nature of freedom. What Sanders wants to deliver is neither radically new nor radically un-American; it’s the old promise of American democracy that was never fully fulfilled.
But last Thursday, Sanders added a new dimension to his argument: the yawning gap between rich and poor has created a growing class of Americans, he suggested, who aren’t really free.
“People are not truly free when they are unable to feed their family,” he said. “People are not truly free when they are unable to retire with dignity. People are not truly free when they are unemployed or underpaid or when they are exhausted by working long hours. People are not truly free when they have no health care.”
snip>
Sanders grounds his argument in former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1944 State of the Union speech. Addressing an America that he had helped pull up from the depths of the Great Depression, Roosevelt said, “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.”
snip>
In previous remarks, Sanders has tended to frame his economic proposals in terms of the success of Scandinavia’s welfare economies. His latest speech marks a significant turn away from all the Europhilia, however, rooting his vision instead in American beliefs about the basic nature of freedom. What Sanders wants to deliver is neither radically new nor radically un-American; it’s the old promise of American democracy that was never fully fulfilled.
http://qz.com/560106/according-to-bernie-sanders-income-inequality-means-many-americans-arent-truly-free/
Really good article!
1 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read