[rad-green] Excerpt from Franklin Roosevelt's 1944 State of the Union

Excerpt from Franklin Roosevelt's 1944 State of the Union

*This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under
the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right
of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from
unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and
liberty.*

*As our Nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial
economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us
equality in the pursuit of happiness.*

*We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual
freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.
"Necessitous men are not free men." People who are hungry and out of a job
are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.*

*In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We
have accepted, so to speak, 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.*

*Among these are:*

*The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or
farms or mines of the Nation;*

*The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and
recreation;*

*The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which
will give him and his family a decent living;*

*The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere
of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or
abroad;*

*The right of every family to a decent home;*

*The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and
enjoy good health;*

*The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age,
sickness, accident, and unemployment;*

*The right to a good education.*

*All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be
prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new
goals of human happiness and well-being.*

*America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how
fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our
citizens. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting
peace in the world.*

*One of the great American industrialists of our day—a man who has rendered
yeoman service to his country in this crisis-recently emphasized the grave
dangers of "rightist reaction" in this Nation. All clear-thinking
businessmen share his concern. Indeed, if such reaction should develop—if
history were to repeat itself and we were to return to the so-called
"normalcy" of the 1920's—then it is certain that even though we shall have
conquered our enemies on the battlefields abroad, we shall have yielded to
the spirit of Fascism here at home. *

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