Economic Bill of Rights

They gave you life
And in return you gave them hell
As cold as ice
I hope we live to tell the tale
--Tears for Fears

FDR proposed an 'Economic Bill of Rights' during his 1944 state of the union address. Roosevelt proposed that all US citizens have a right to a useful job, a decent home, good education, and adequate medical care. FDR asserted that "all of these rights spell security' and that after war the country should move forward to secure those rights.

The original Bill of Rights are grounded in natural law. They enumerate inalienable freedoms that individuals have from government interference.

FDR's Economic Bill of Rights are not rights at all. They are entitlements to economic resources. Providing such entitlements necessarily require government interference in the liberties that the original Bill of Rights protect. Delivering entitlements requires confiscation of resources produced by some for the benefit of others. Socialism.

Fortunately, FDR could not advance his agenda far because he died before WWII ended. Unfortunately, others have picked up the baton. The notion of entitlements engulfs the political field.

As entitlements grow, liberty declines.

And society crumbles.