Suggested Answers Re FDR's Economic Bill of Rights

[johnkarls]

.
Question 1

What is the basic philosophy of FDR’s “Economic Bill of Rights”? Is it admirable?

Answer 1

A centerpiece of FDR’s 1944 re-election campaign, it sought to provide essential support for every American. Of course!!!

Question 2

Would the U.S. have been better off if it had adopted Universal Health Care (FDR’s Right No. 6) following World War II when the rest of the industrialized nations of the world adopted it and, indeed, when President Truman proposed it?

Answer 2

Of course!!!

Question 3

What should be done to provide education (the omission of the adjective “better” is intentional) for America’s inner city children (FDR's Right Eighth Right)?

Answer 3

Please see our bulletin board (http://www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.com) for our May 2009 meeting which culminated in a six-degrees-of-separation e-mail campaign to President Obama regarding “the only way to transform SINGLE-DIGIT inner-city high-school graduation rates to 65%-70%”!!!

Question 4

Even putting aside America’s refusal to educate inner-city children, should the rest of the American educational system from early childhood thru university be more egalitarian – such as in France where education is free even at the university level and admission is determined by competitive examinations rather than parentage?

Answer 4

Yes, if we really believe in equality!!!

Question 5

Is “the right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident” (3 of the 4 items in FDR’s No. 7) being destroyed? Was it ever adequate?

Answer 5

So it seems. No.

Question 6

Much of FDR’s “Economic Bill of Rights” (Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the last item in 7) relate to the right to a decent living – (A) Should the U.S. have a more managed economy such as Europe/China/Japan/etc. have or should we continue to export jobs to China and India? (B) Should the individual’s right to a decent standard of living be conditioned to any extent on the individual’s effort, or should every individual have a right to a decent standard of living regardless? (C) Should an individual have a right to continue working in a job that is no longer necessary (such as manufacturing catapults or other medieval siege machines), or should the individual be required to accept re-training as technological advances make certain kinds of jobs obsolete?

Answer 6

(A) Yes. But let’s discuss on December 9th how this should be accomplished.

(B) Let’s discuss this on December 9th.

(C) Probably not and probably yes – let’s discuss.