'The Most Progressive President Since FDR: Biden's Policy Proposals Reveal A Pleasant Surprise"
Last edited Sat Jul 11, 2020, 11:45 AM - Edit history (4)
- "The Most Progressive President Since FDR: Biden's Policy Proposals Reveal A Pleasant Surprise," By Alex Henderson, July 10, 2020, AlterNet. - Edited.
With the presidential election less than 4 months away, more specifics are emerging about the policy agenda of former Vice President Joe Biden - who has been making an effort to unite the centrist and liberal/progressive wings of the Democratic Party. Many on the left were critical of Biden’s centrist record during the Democratic presidential primary, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT). But some liberals and progressives now find themselves warming up to Biden’s policy agenda, and Sanders recently told MSNBC that the “compromises” Biden has in mind on health care, the economy and other issues would, if implemented, make him “the most progressive president since FDR.” Some of the specifics of Biden’s policy agenda are outlined by liberal Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent, who generally likes what he is hearing. Sargent says Biden’s economic plan “draws a stark contrast with Trump on 2 fronts- his failure to mobilize a robust federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, and his full-on embrace of GOP plutocracy."
Sargent notes that the core of the Biden plan is a pledge to ‘use the full power of the federal government’ to ‘rebuild U.S. domestic manufacturing capacity’ and fortify ‘supply chains’ to ensure availability of ‘critical supplies’ in ‘future crises.’ It envisions $700 billion in new spending to stimulate demand for U.S.-manufactured products and on research into clean energy and digital technologies.” The “U.S.-manufactured products” part is important. In 2016, “made in the U.S.A.” was a key element of Trump’s platform, and as conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin noted, Biden is making U.S.-based manufacturing a priority. Biden’s plan would tighten rules to ensure products purchased by the federal government are comprehensively made in the U.S. The review would determine supply chain ‘vulnerabilities’ to reduce dependence on China for- among other things- medical supplies.
One of the many issues that Biden hotly debated with other presidential candidates during the Democratic primary debates was health care. All of the candidates said they wanted universal health coverage, but how they hoped to achieve it varied considerably.. NBC News reporter Marianna Sotomayor, this week, described Biden’s health care plan as “Affordable Care Act 2.0.” The plan would build on Obamacare, according to Sotomayor, and would allow Americans to either keep their private insurance or “buy into” a “Medicare-like” public option. Liberal economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has said that Biden’s “major expansion of Obamacare, which would probably get us close to universal coverage.”
Journalist Matthew Yglesias, in Vox, reports that Biden’s proposals on housing are receiving positive feedback from “Columbia University scholars” as well as Mary Cunningham, vice president for metropolitan housing and communities policy at the Urban Institute. Cunningham told Vox: “Biden’s plan is bold, comprehensive and will go a long way in making sure every American has a home. It’s plainly obvious, in the middle of this pandemic, that home is more important than ever.” Yglesias writes that according to Columbia scholars, Biden’s “housing plan agenda” could “cut child poverty by a third.”...
More, https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/the-most-progressive-president-since-fdr-bidens-policy-proposals-reveal-a-pleasant-surprise/
- Biden's policy plans speech in Dunsmore, Pa., Thursday, July 9, 2020.
- Jan. 6, 1941, FDR "Four Freedoms" Speech. In his Annual Message to Congress (State of the Union Address) President Franklin Roosevelt presented his reasons for American involvement, making the case for continued aid to Great Britain and greater production of war industries at home. In helping Britain, President Roosevelt stated, the United States was fighting for the universal freedoms that all people possessed.
As America entered the war these "four freedoms" - the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear - symbolized America's war aims and gave hope in the following years to a war-wearied people because they knew they were fighting for freedom.
The ideas enunciated in the Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms were the foundational principles that evolved into the Atlantic Charter declared by Winston Churchill and FDR in August 1941; the United Nations Declaration of January 1, 1942; President Roosevelt’s vision for an international organization that became the United Nations after his death; and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948 through the work of Eleanor Roosevelt.
- FDR Library, "Four Freedoms"
https://www.fdrlibrary.org/four-freedoms
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- Jan. 11, 1944, FDR, A "Second Bill of Rights" (Economic Bill of Rights) Speech. The plan was proposed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his State of the Union Address. Roosevelt suggested that the nation had come to recognise and should now implement, a second "bill of rights". Roosevelt argued that the "political rights" guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights had "proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness." His remedy was to declare an "economic bill of rights" to guarantee these specific rights:
Employment, food, clothing and leisure with enough income to support them
Farmers' rights to a fair income
Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
Housing
Medical care
Social security
Education
Roosevelt stated that having such rights would guarantee American security and that the United States' place in the world depended upon how far the rights had been carried into practice. This safety has been described as a state of physical welfare, as well as economic security, social security, and moral security. The implementation of these ideals into a global context has been viewed as a continuation of the war effort, in which the success of these proposed values within the U.S were vital to securing global peace. (*Roosevelt died in the spring of 1945 and did not live to see his Second Bill of Rights realized)... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bill_of_Rights
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Go Joe go!! This country needs you
