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FDR's Forgotten Freedoms
Knowing full well what his fellow citizens aspired to achieve, FDR sustained the prospect of a social-democratic United States. In January 1941 he proclaimed the Four Freedoms—freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear—and charged a generation with renewed purpose and promise. And three years later—with polls showing that both Democrats and Republicans wanted to expand Social Security to cover old-age pensions for all, job insurance, student aid, and public works—he elaborated upon freedom from want and fear in his annual message to Congress by advancing the idea of an Economic or Second Bill of Rights to “assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.” These rights included: “The right to a useful and remunerative job… The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation… The right of every family to a decent home… The right to adequate medical care… The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment… The right to a good education.”
Roosevelt’s call for enhancing American freedom and equality antagonized the usual powerful and propertied suspects. But it garnered the enthusiastic support of the AFL, the CIO, and National Farmers Union, and helped to propel FDR to a fourth presidential term that November. He would pass away the following spring—before he could lead a postwar campaign to pursue a third New Deal.
As Michael Moore himself apparently appreciates, the vision that Roosevelt projected in the Four Freedoms and Second Bill of Rights continues to move us. We saw evidence of that last January when 2 million Americans—full of hopeful expectations and ready to be called upon—turned out in the nation’s capital to witness Barack Obama’s inauguration.
In Capitalism: A Love Story, Moore is not asking if we still feel the democratic impulse and imperative that makes us Americans. In the shadows of our own great depression, with the rich still getting richer and working people losing their jobs, savings, homes, and health care, he is essentially asking us what we, the American Founders of this day, intend to make of it.
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Harvey J. Kaye is the Ben & Joyce Rosenberg Professor of Social Change and Development at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and the author of Thomas Paine and the Promise of America. He is currently writing The Four Freedoms and the Promise of America.
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Harvey J. Kaye is the Ben & Joyce Rosenberg Professor of Social change and Development at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and the author of Thomas Paine and the Promise of America. He is currently writing The Four Freedoms and the Promise of America.
advoken
So far Michael Moore's movies like Farenheit 911 and Sicko have been right on the mark; sadly most of the media, including some liberal darlings, have mocked his efforts of being too hyberbolic, and too "over -the-top." Yet, his facts have rarely been disputed.
It's time we take serious his "Capitalism" movie, since our raging capitalistic society is at the root of many of the ills that bother the US today, and dim the prospect of fulfilling FDR's call for the "Four Freedoms," which Professor Kaye properly cites.
President No. 44 should look more closely at following the example of the 32nd President of the U.S.
mcmchugh99
Only historians remembered this Economic Bill of Rights that FDR announced in 1944, and we had no way to communicate it to teh larger public as Michael Moore has done. They were lost and forgotten in the Cold War after 1945, especially in the Second Gilded Age of the last 30 years.
This is one of the big differences between progressives and conservatives: we believe people have social and economic rights, and they do not. These are incorporated in the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights as well, so most countries subscribe to the idea that people have social and economic rights, at least on paper.
retired-army-1SG
Well said! Profits Before People (PBP) has been then bane of the working classes (which includes the middle class, although we don't seem to think so sometimes) since the first day the "Owners" stepped foot on this continent followed closely by the indentured servants and slaves. We can only hope that the President will continue to strike fear in the hearts of the PBP'ers so they will be more inclined to listen and do what is right.
dougdrenkow
You, Michael Moore, and FDR are/were absolutely correct, Dr. Kaye. As James Madison prophesized: "We are free today substantially, but the day will come when our Republic will be an impossibility. It will be an impossibility because wealth will be concentrated in the hands of a few. A Republic cannot stand upon bayonets, and when the day comes, when the wealth of the nation will be in the hands of a few, then we must rely upon the wisdom of the best elements in the country to readjust the laws of the nation to the changed conditions."
And I would add that by continually re-making America's economic power more equitably distributed, we are re-making America more economically stable. Most of the Gross Domestic Product is and always has been "personal consumption expenditures" -- spending by households, primarily poor, working class, and middle class families, who unlike the rich, spend rather than save most of their income. While personal saving is a virtue, and the debt-driven extravagance of recent times is a vice (and I'm not referring to the government's deficit spending to jump-start the economy), the lack of sufficient spending power by "average Americans" is what has been crippling our economic recovery.
In short, when the "common people" thrive, then the wealthy -- invested in the companies that sell the products and services consumed -- also thrive. The fairest economic policies are indeed the wisest overall.
keith123
This is an extroadinary dream of FDR's, I love his ideas for a post war new deal, so tragic he (like Lincoln) did not live to bring it to life, we are all the poorer for it. Thanks to Michael Moore for putting it in his new film, very inspirational and we surely need it today!
dailyplanet
Some years ago there was thrown out an idea that Ronald Regan should somehow be chiseled into the face of Mt. Rushmore to preside in honor among the presidential greats. That such a thing would even be considered (except as a joke) speaks to the tragic degradation of American values.
No longer is America seen as a continuing "work in progress" as FDR and his generation correctly perceived it, but it is a society deformed by self-interest and blind hubris. So many of the humanitarian programs that have bettered the lives of its citizens are now reviled, and have been twisted to conform to a reactionary ideology which has been implanted into many minds as an irrational fear of government.
The Democrats used to be known as the party of "social justice." Indeed, in the 20th century every program instituted for the betterment of society as a whole came through the hands of a president of the Democratic Party. This legacy now lays in ruins with the party itself impotent, and whose lack of vision has abandoned the mission and discredited those very values once celebrated.
Bill Clinton, Democrat, implemented the draconian revision of public assistance to indigent single parents with "workfare," a political maneuver whose rulings only added another layer of hardship onto the backs of the American poor.
Bill Maher recently defined Obama as a "right-centrist." If Franklin Roosevelt is able to look down from his heavenly plane at what America has become...that great man is weeping.
kayadams
I hope Obama sees this movie -- I have been curious why Obama has spoken positive of Ronald Reagan, pursued GW Bush policies and felt the need to make friends of the GOP rather than follow FDR's friend Winston Churchill's famous line, "judge me not by my friends, but my enemies."
magicman
Very thoughtful all the way around.
It is not that Conservatives believe differently than Progressives on issues such as 'The Second Bill of Rights', that may be better reserved for Republicans to dispute. The idea of Conservatives is to preserve Life, Liberty and Property...not to destroy it. Taking the latest crop of Conservative Politicians as an example would be a mistake, as clearly these same people are not revered in Conservative circles, but they always are in Republican ones.
dailyplanet
Just reported, a sad addendum to what FDR saw as the governments' "social contract" with American: the public option for healthcare has been voted down.
The recalcitrant Max Baucus and four of his Democratic playmates joined the Republicans in thumbs down.
Another party participant Steny Hoyer, Democrat from Maryland, gave the royal seal of approval to the group's priority: "It's hard work, but we're determined to get it (the bill's cost) down."
The Senate Finance Committee did the work it was named to do: count the money, at the expense of the health of this country.
Polls show a majority of Americans favor universal care. Why are these people not up, about and loud? The danger to America is what you aptly described Mr. Kaye as "our political passivity."
P.S. Pertinent statistic (and FYI to the Senate Finance Committee) CEO salary currently is 550% higher than what the average American worker sees on their paycheck. Guess which group needs to conserve every penny to put food on the table? You answered correctly if you didn't pick those who need to keep their private jets polished and travel ready.
jojo12
I have yet to see Moore's movie but I look forward to seeing it.
FDR was President when I was born. Unfortunately, I have no memory of him but he is a President I studied. My opinion of him is, he was the 2nd best President this country ever had, with Lincoln being the 1st.
Roosevelt, a man born of wealth, did more to improve the lot of the every day working man & woman in this country. He was a true Democrat. Some of the so-called Democrats now in Congress have capitulated to the Republican Right, in fear of losing their seats in Congress. They have placed themselves ahead of the people they were elected to serve. These so-called Democrats are the ones who today voted against a public option for health care. These bums should be thrown out of the Democratic Party.
When I voted for Obama, I voted for change. I do not believe his continuing to keep Gitmo open represents change. I do not believe his continuing Bush's policy of rendition represents change. I think he allowed the health care plan to get away from him when he placed the plan in the hands of Congress & continued pushing for bi-partisanship. He was naive then & he continues to be naive in thinking the Republicans will ever go along with a health care plan. Their plan is to defeat him at every turn.
I'm sick of seeing the bums who brought this country to the brink of another great depression being rewarded with bonuses. I'm sick of Republicans standing up for Corporate America at the expense of the every day man & woman in this country. I'm sick of Democrats who accept money from the Health Insurance giants & thumb their noses at the every day working men & women who can't afford health insurance.
The call to arms in the lead up to the revolution was "no taxation without representation". 95% of the population in this country pay more taxes than the wealthiest 1% in this country.
The Right has it's tea baggers marching. It's time we, the people who want & voted for change in this country, put our feet to pavement & march on DC to demand our right to affordable health care & the right to be heard.
sophia5
Please explain how people are guaranteed a job ?
Where do they work, and would certain people who
start their own small businesses be FORCED by the
Government to hire someone, and who would decide
if that person was qualified, the actual business
owner or some government bureaucrat that would
oversee said business ?
politico83
It isn't hard to envision. There are millions of things that need doing, just look around your city at all the pot holes, broken sidewalks, empty run down buildings and trash. There is a lot of work to be done, and a lot of people who need work to do. The WPA was a good example, the government had a lot of work to do (national parks, roads ect) and there were a lot of people who needed work. The government then paid the people who needed work to do the work that needed doing, really simple actually.
This could work easily in tandem with private enterprise since this kind of work would be public service work by nature. Additional jobs would come from other areas of government such as law enforcement, teaching, fire prevention ect. If you don't think there's enough work to do for 15 million or so Americans you haven't been looking around. There just isn't enough capital to pay them to work, because our government has spent the WPA money on fat cat bankers currently.
This would also work with temporary agencies run by the government to help people find work in private companies, but not forced employment. Millions find permanent jobs every year from temporary agencies, there would not need to be a mandate.
This would, hopefully, be combined with a strict link between welfare type benefits and work. There would be no unemployment insurance or welfare since anyone who could work would be able to find a job. This could be paid for easily through restoring higher rates of income tax on the super rich (pulling in multiple millions of dollars extracted by underpaying workers) and possibly a VAT that would be reduced for products made in the US.
idicula1979
When conservatives quote the founding fathers often out of context the need to take head in FDR's who said "I do not look upon these United States as a finished product. We are still in the making,"
idicula1979
(cont) and if they honored great documents like the constitution they would realize that it as a "living document," and that we are still living out the possibilities of what those great (but not infalible) men set out to start many, many years ago.
AgileEntrepreneur
Where is the actual footage of FDR speaking that was shown in Michael Moore's movie, "Capitalism - A Love Story"?
I mean the actual video footage of him speaking on camera, right after the radio address. This footage was "lost" until Michael Moore uncovered it.
Geez - I've been searching all over the web and it's nowhere to be found! Not even on Michael Moore's website.
Googled it, Binged it, and Yahood it - what now?
Will you please post the video somewhere, Michael Moore?
stamphil
Roosevelt's Four Freedoms are immortalized for all to see on a U.S. postage stamp that was issued in 1946 in his memory. The stamp is referred to by the Scott postage stamp catalog as U.S. # 933 and this stamp more than anything could probably help to spread the word on this just as Michael Moore's film "Capitalism: A Love Story" has done.
Despite everything that has been going on lately, this stamp will now brings hope more than ever to those needing it most.
Thank you.
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