10 signatures reached
To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Stand Up For Our (Economic) Rights
President Obama and Members of Congress,
The Great Recession has provided us all with an enormous challenge, but also an opportunity to push for meaningful economic change in America. We ask that you stand up for the 99% in these tough times, and ratify an economic bill of rights that guarantees our people the security they need to pursue the American Dream. This second bill of rights is to include:
(1) The right to a job and a living wage;
(2) The right to have housing;
(3) The right to have healthcare;
(4) The right to have an education;
(5) Protection from unfair competition and monopolies;
(6) And access to Social Security when we need it.
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"All of these rights spell security... America's own rightful place in the world depends in part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens."
~Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1944
The Great Recession has provided us all with an enormous challenge, but also an opportunity to push for meaningful economic change in America. We ask that you stand up for the 99% in these tough times, and ratify an economic bill of rights that guarantees our people the security they need to pursue the American Dream. This second bill of rights is to include:
(1) The right to a job and a living wage;
(2) The right to have housing;
(3) The right to have healthcare;
(4) The right to have an education;
(5) Protection from unfair competition and monopolies;
(6) And access to Social Security when we need it.
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"All of these rights spell security... America's own rightful place in the world depends in part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens."
~Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1944
Why is this important?
Nearly 70 years ago Franklin Delano Roosevelt outlined a bold new strategy in the war on poverty. In his broadcast of the State of the Union Address on January 11th, 1944 he argued that the political rights outlined in the Constitution had "proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness," and that it was time to add a new economic Bill of Rights.
Those rights are even more necessary in the shadow of the Great Recession. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and their homes. Our small business economy has been crushed by big box retailers, our middle class is shrinking, and the economic gains of the last century are being rolled back. That economic frailty has allowed big business interests to push for lower wages and less workplace protections even as corporate profits continue to soar. Our children are faced with overcrowded and underfunded schools, and have to submit themselves to a lifetime of student debt in order to attend college. Our elderly, our poor and our sickly depend on social security programs that have been weakened by budget cuts and austerity measures when they need them the most.
This is unacceptable for any country claiming to be the greatest nation in the world. It is time that we recognize the economic needs of our citizens, time to stop leaving them at the mercy of Walmart and the big banks. It is time to codify a new set of rights to ensure that our middle class is not erased, and that our lower class is not enslaved to debt. As FDR said, "true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. Necessitous men are not free men."
Those rights are even more necessary in the shadow of the Great Recession. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and their homes. Our small business economy has been crushed by big box retailers, our middle class is shrinking, and the economic gains of the last century are being rolled back. That economic frailty has allowed big business interests to push for lower wages and less workplace protections even as corporate profits continue to soar. Our children are faced with overcrowded and underfunded schools, and have to submit themselves to a lifetime of student debt in order to attend college. Our elderly, our poor and our sickly depend on social security programs that have been weakened by budget cuts and austerity measures when they need them the most.
This is unacceptable for any country claiming to be the greatest nation in the world. It is time that we recognize the economic needs of our citizens, time to stop leaving them at the mercy of Walmart and the big banks. It is time to codify a new set of rights to ensure that our middle class is not erased, and that our lower class is not enslaved to debt. As FDR said, "true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. Necessitous men are not free men."