Let's examine the eight economic rights enumerated by FDR in 1944:
1. The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation.
2. The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation.
3. The right of every farmer to raise and sell his (sic) products at a return that will give him (sic) and his (sic) family a decent living.
4. 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.
5. The right of every family to a decent home.
6. The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.
7. The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment.
8. The right to a good education.
FDR closed his 1944 State of the Union Address with these prophetic words:
All of these rights spell security. … [W]e 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 U.S. women -- fully half the nation -- these economic rights, and the freedom they engender, remain an unrealized dream.
Likewise, for the majority of Americans despite race, gender, or creed.
