While Joe Biden puts one foot after the other in his mouth, Bernie
Sanders sends a clear message. Although I feel we need to bring
pressure on Sanders regarding his foreign relations, he certainly is
the best of the male contenders. It will be interesting to watch the
Democratic Party Leaders shoot him down.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/16/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Bernie Sanders Proposes New Economic Bill of Rights
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addresses a rally at the Pasadena
Convention Center
Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed an economic bill of rights affirming the
right to health care, affordable housing, education, a living wage and
more.
Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images
By Marjorie Cohn, TruthoutPublished June 13, 2019
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders delivered a full-throated defense of
democratic socialismin his June 12 speechat George Washington University.
Sanders quoted FDR's 1944 State of the Unionaddress: "We have come to a
clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist
without economic security and independence."
Sanders, like FDR, proposed an Economic Bill of Rights, including the
rights
to health care, affordable housing, education, a living wage and
retirement.
"Economic rights are human rights," Sanders declared. "That is what I mean
by democratic socialism."
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Sanders cited figures of vast wealth disparity in the United States, where
"the top 1 percent of people own more wealth than the bottom 92 percent."
He
said there is higher income and wealth inequality today than at any time
since the 1920s. And, Sanders stated, "despite an explosion in technology
and worker productivity, the average wage of the American worker in real
dollars is no higher than it was 46 years ago and millions of people are
forced to work two or three jobs just to survive."
He also noted, "in America today, the very rich live on average 15 years
longer than the poorest Americans."
Economic Rights Are Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rightssets forth two different
categories
of human rights: (1) civil and political rights, and (2) economic, social
and cultural rights.
Civil and political rights comprise the rights to life, a fair trial and
self-determination; freedom of speech, expression, assembly and religion;
and freedom from torture, cruel treatment and arbitrary detention.
Economic,
social and cultural rights include the rights to health care, education and
social security; the right to form and join unions and to strike; and the
right to equal pay for equal work, unemployment insurance, paid maternity
leave, and the prevention, treatment and control of diseases.
U.S. policy since Reagan has been to define human rights only as civil and
political, excluding economic rights.
These two types of human rights are enshrined in two international treaties
- the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(ICESCR).
The United States has ratified the ICCPR, but not the ICESCR. U.S. policy
since the Reagan administration has been to define human rights only as
civil and political rights, excluding economic, social and cultural rights
from the realm of human rights.
The ICESCR, which has been ratified by 169 countries, guarantees the rights
to work with favorable conditions, to the highest attainable standards of
physical and mental health, to education, to housing, to an adequate
standard of living, and to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and
cultural freedom. It protects the rights to form and join trade unions,
social security and social insurance, equal rights for men and women, and
protection and assistance to the family.
Cuba, whose human rights record is frequently criticizedby the U.S.
government, puts the United States to shame with its recognition of
economic
rights. Cubans enjoy universal health care, universal free education
including higher education, the right to form and join unions, and
government-subsidized abortion and family planning. Cuba has a higher life
expectancy than the U.S., as well as a relatively small ecological
footprint
due to low energy consumption.
Democratic Socialism vs. Corporate Socialism
Trump and his fellow oligarchs oppose democratic socialism, Sanders said,
but "they don't really oppose all forms of socialism." Indeed, "they
absolutely love corporate socialism that enriches Trump and other
billionaires."
Sanders noted that FDR and his progressive coalition were successful, and
their legacies continue to flourish.
Sanders cited the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in 2008 by the
Treasury Department "after their greed, recklessness and illegal behavior
created the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression - with
millions of Americans losing their jobs, their homes and their life savings
- Wall Street's religious adherence to unfettered capitalism suddenly came
to an end."
He also mentioned tax breaks and loopholes for fossil fuel companies,
pharmaceutical companies, Amazon, and the Trump family who "got $885
million
worth of tax breaks and subsidies for your family's housing empire that is
built on racial discrimination."
As Dr. King observed, the United States "has socialism for the rich, rugged
individualism for the poor."
Embracing Socialism Is a Winning Strategy
Sanders noted that FDR and his progressive coalition were successful, and
their legacies continue to flourish in programs and protections like Social
Security, regulation of Wall Street and unemployment compensation. He
pointed out that Roosevelt aimed to go further.
"In 1944, FDR proposed an economic bill of rights but died a year later and
was never able to fulfill that vision. Our job, 75 years later," Sanders
said, "is to complete what Roosevelt started."
He then set forth his vision of a 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights,
which would recognize that all Americans should have:
.The right to a decent job that pays a living wage
.The right to quality health care
.The right to a complete education
.The right to affordable housing
.The right to a clean environment
.The right to a secure retirement
Sanders listed Democratic presidents vilified by the oligarchs of their
time
for their programs of alleged "socialism." Lyndon Johnson was attacked for
Medicare, Harry Truman's proposed national health care program was dubbed
"socialized medicine," and Newt Gingrich called Bill Clinton's health care
plan "centralized bureaucratic socialism."
55 percent of women ages of 18 to 54 would prefer to live in a socialist
country.
Although none of the other leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidates
has embraced socialism, the party's base has. Candidate John Hickenlooper,
former governor of Colorado, was roundly booedat the California Democratic
convention earlier this month when he said, "If we want to beat Donald
Trump
and achieve big progressive goals, socialism is not the answer."
Indeed, Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century,
argues, "Without a strong egalitarian-internationalist platform, it is
difficult to unite low-education, low-income voters from all origins within
the same coalition and to deliver a reduction in inequality."
Keith A. Spencer, writing at Salon, cites Pikettyfor the proposition that
"nominating centrist Democrats who don't speak to class issues will result
in a great swathe of voters simply not voting."
"The only way we achieve these goals is through a political revolution."
Moreover, a 2018 Gallup poll determined that a majority of young Americans
have a positive opinion of socialism. According to a recent Axios poll, 55
percent of women ages of 18 to 54 would prefer to live in a socialist
country.
Sanders said the U.S. and the rest of the world face two different
political
paths. "On one hand," he noted, "there is a growing movement towards
oligarchy and authoritarianism in which a small number of incredibly
wealthy
and powerful billionaires own and control a significant part of the economy
and exert enormous influence over the political life of our country. On the
other hand, in opposition to oligarchy, there is a movement of working
people and young people who, in ever increasing numbers, are fighting for
justice."
After his speech, Sanders told CNN's Anderson Cooper, that real change is
generated by mass movements. He cited the civil rights movement, the
women's
movement, the gay movement and the labor movement.
"It is time for the American people to stand up and fight for their right
to
freedom, human dignity and security," Sanders affirmed. "This is the core
of
what my politics is all about." He clarified, "the only way we achieve
these
goals is through a political revolution
