{"id":1311393,"date":"2019-06-13T20:36:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T02:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/funt-column-fdr-in-2020\/"},"modified":"2019-06-13T20:36:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-14T02:36:00","slug":"funt-column-fdr-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/funt-column-fdr-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Funt column: FDR in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Modern politics can be summed up this way: Republicans frequently refer to Ronald Reagan, while Democrats prefer to conjure memories of Franklin Roosevelt.<\/p>\n

Roosevelt\u2019s New Deal rescued the nation from the Great Depression with economic reforms and bold individual measures including Social Security. But it was FDR\u2019s unfinished business 75 years ago that profoundly inspires Democrats now seeking the presidency.<\/p>\n

In his State of the Union message on Jan. 11, 1944, Roosevelt outlined what he called a Second Bill of Rights, \u201cunder which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race or creed.\u201d Among the provisions: \u201cthe right to adequate medical care,\u201d \u201ca good education,\u201d \u201cthe right to a useful and remunerative job\u201d and \u201cthe right of every family to a decent home.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Democrats in the current campaign these are bedrock themes. Sen. Bernie Sanders has reissued his Medicare for All plan, with the support of Senators Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren. \u201cHealth care is a human right,\u201d Warren and Sanders declare in their standard stump speeches, echoing the sentiments of FDR.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am running to declare education is a fundamental right,\u201d said Harris, joining a field that widely supports one form or another of free or low-cost college, universal pre-K, and better pay for teachers.<\/p>\n

Booker has introduced legislation to establish a federal jobs guarantee program. He believes every American has the right to a job \u201cand that right has only become more important\u201d in today\u2019s marketplace, he maintains, where unemployment is low but many Americans still struggle to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

The other day Bernie Sanders gave a speech in Washington in which he called for a \u201c21st century economic Bill of Rights\u201d that would ensure the right to health care, higher education, a decent job and affordable housing. It was pure FDR. \u201cTogether with organized labor, leaders in the African-American community, and progressives inside and outside the party,\u201d Sanders recalled, \u201cRoosevelt led a transformation of the American government and the American economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders was three years old when Roosevelt outlined his Second Bill of Rights. He\u2019s been championing such programs since entering public office in 1981 as mayor of Burlington, Vermont.<\/p>\n

The only thing separating Sanders from FDR \u2013 and the 22 other Democrats running for president \u2013 is the single word \u201csocialism.\u201d Sanders calls it \u201cdemocratic socialism\u201d and says it is \u201cthe unfinished business of the Democratic Party.\u201d He\u2019s right. Yet, it is also the crux of how conservatives seek to stir fear and confusion about progressive policies.<\/p>\n

Sanders reminds us of words President Harry Truman once spoke: \u201cSocialism is the epithet they have hurled at every advance the American people have made in the last 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours after Sander\u2019s speech Republican Sen. Marco Rubio released a video saying democratic socialism \u201cis incompatible with our American values.\u201d The GOP National Committee fired off emails titled \u201cBernie [hearts] socialism,\u201d ending with the line \u201cso do his 2020 comrades.\u201d<\/p>\n

The eventual Democratic nominee would probably be wise to avoid the term socialism, made toxic by Donald Trump and his enablers \u2013 not because it\u2019s wrong, but because it\u2019s a distraction.<\/p>\n

Roosevelt, who was elected president four times, noted in 1944 that liberties enumerated in the Bill of Rights \u201cproved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.\u201d The nation will be best served if FDR\u2019s vision for expanded economic rights is finally approved by voters in 2020.<\/p>\n

Peter Funt is a writer and speaker. His book, \u201cCautiously Optimistic,\u201d is available at Amazon.com and CandidCamera.com.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Modern politics can be summed up this way: Republicans frequently refer to Ronald Reagan, while Democrats prefer to conjure memories of Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt\u2019s New Deal rescued the nation from the Great Depression with economic reforms and bold individual measures including Social Security. But it was FDR\u2019s unfinished business 75 years ago that profoundly inspires […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1311393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 01:21:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}