On January 11, 1944, President Roosevelt gave his eleventh State of the Union Address, in which, as part of that address, he indicated that this republic needed to secure a second Bill of Rights, to assure its citizens a fair opportunity for happiness, economic security, and true independence. The President then proceeded to list what he considered to be those rights which thus included: the right to a good job that would provide adequate compensation, the right to a decent home, the right to adequate healthcare, the right to adequate Social Security, and the right to a good education.
Here we are, eighty years later, and when we look at FDR’s Second Bill of Rights, the only reasonable conclusion that we can come to is essentially that none of these rights have ever been fully secured for the people, and there appears to be no realistic agenda or pathway that these rights will ever come into effect, in this the richest nation that the world has ever known, which is to America’s great and lasting shame.
While it has to be said, that governmental monies have been periodically devoted to these rights, the wherewithal though to secure these rights, has been sorely lacking. For instance, despite the fact that America spends an inordinate amount of money on education, our children in the aggregate, are in far too many cases, very poorly educated, and in many a case, functionally illiterate, which is indicative of an educational system that has not served the general public and its children, well or adequately. Additionally, we find at present, that the monies so needed to secure a decent house in a decent neighborhood, is something that is nothing but a pipedream for millions of Americans. Also, the Federal minimum wage has not changed since 2009, and is neither indexed to inflation nor is the minimum wage attached to a wage that would represent a “living wage,” and as a further disgrace, there are also still exceptions for certain employees, such as tipped employees, to make even less than that inadequate minimum wage. So too, despite the billions upon billions of dollars spent on healthcare, we do so find that for the most part, those who are ineligible for Medicare, are often basically responsible for their own healthcare, or receive such through their employment, but of which, at the end of the day, without Universal healthcare, it is the responsibility of the individual to secure such, no matter the affordability of that healthcare, for them. Finally, while the United States has done a fairly decent job with Social Security for those of retirement age, there are still flaws within that system, of which the main flaw is that there should be for those who are retired, some minimum amount of stipend that all are entitled to, no matter the amount of their lifetime wages.
It seems incredible that back in 1944, there seemed to be a more conscious recognition, that any nation that considered itself to be the greatest nation in the world, would first of all, prove such to its citizens, by demonstrating that its safety net would be inclusive and adequate for those same citizens so that they would be in prime position to live a good and fruitful life. When we look around at America, today, and see all these enclaves of poverty, of ill-education, of crime, and of general hopelessness, we have to admit that America has failed in its mission to be that beacon of light, and of hope, for those who represent the huddled masses of this nation, for what has occurred is essentially the turning out of that light upon them.