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A Social and Economic Bill of Rights for the 21st Century
In his 1944 State of the Union address President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called for 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." Sixty-six years later, his vision for a nation in which members of society went "ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed and insecure," is yet to be realized.
To prevent the grotesque social inequalities that unbridled capitalism would otherwise engender, democratic societies "decommodify" (take out of private market provision) and provide as a right such basic human needs as health care, childcare, education, housing and either jobs or income. Such a society must protect labor rights, ensure a sustainable environment and employ a strong social insurance system to protect, as far as is possible, all members of society from the vicissitudes of life, such as illness, disability, and old age.
The United States can readily afford these social and economic rights by restoring progressive taxation, cutting wasteful "defense" spending, investing in human needs and curtailing runaway health care costs via a single-payer health insurance system. Winning such a bill of rights - and making it applicable...