In the months and weeks since the 2016 election much has been written about the social and electoral dynamics that shaped the outcome.

An 18 Nov New York Times op-ed piece The End of Identity Liberalism by Mark Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University caught my eye and has been on my desk since then.     Professor Lilla has written an analysis of the perhaps unintentional fragmentation and alienation that a focus on identity politics causes and which can move the country to the kind of election results we saw this past November.   When people are excluded by identity, then struggle for inclusion and fairness, a focus on identity can be useful to seek necessary redress.  As Professor Lilla sees it,  a reliance on identity as a basis for political engagement can obscure our broader common connection and needs as citizens.

While the article has caused controversy, it was the reference to what Lilla called upon as a political vision that caught my eye, and unfortunately, has not been taken up in the subsequent dialogue around this op-ed piece.  Lilla ends his article referencing Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms as the “real foundations of modern American liberalism.”   Here they are as expressed by FDR in his last state of the Union address on January 1944.

“In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

• The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world.
• The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way–everywhere in the world.
• The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world.
• The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.”

These Four Freedoms, Lilla notes are fundamental because they encompass our common humanity.   If we lived in a society where those Four Freedoms were upheld, were expressed consistently in our policy and law, were taken seriously in our civic dialogue, were taught in schools, were invoked by parents when they teach their children values,  consider how differently our politics would seem, how we might view social, economic and environmental challenges?

Yes, Franklin Roosevelt gave us these foundations to American liberalism, but he left us even more treasure.   FDR outlined The Second Bill of Rights and in the same speech where he articulated the Four Freedoms.

The Second Bill of Rights meets professor Lilla’s aspirations for a robust liberalism that addresses our commonality as citizens. We are meant to use these first principles to express the political and democratic potential of the United States.    We can use them to evaluate our current law and policies, to foster governance in a way that brings this Second Bill of Rights to life.

• The right to 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.

We can think about Social Security as an expression of Bill #7 – and something that applies to and helps all citizens.    The Affordable Care Act is a solid piece of Second Bill legislation that addresses Bill #6 and #7.   Bill #1 was the cause of much political angst in this year’s election.   What would happen if, when major industries change, like coal, for instance, we invoke Bill#1 to focus on helping workers and families to ensure that they do have useful and remunerative jobs?  One might say that the GM bailout was Bill#1 in action.   How does the right to a good education become thwarted by the exorbitant cost of college saddling a generation of young adults with massive debt (and impacts their ability to realize Bill #2 and Bill#5)?

Professor Lilla also called on us to think of citizenship as not simply rights, but duty and obligation.   As citizens we need to understand our system of government, to take the time to be informed –  about events in other parts of the country, and the world.  One aspect of this recent election that was most troubling was the number of citizens who did not vote.   This is our most important duty as a citizen.   We abdicate our rights when we don’t vote.

I was excited to see that Mark Lilla referenced the Four Freedoms  in his New York Times article* and hope that he will explore and write more on the Second Bill of Rights as well.  The initial controversy of the topic of his article should not obscure the message on the opportunity the Four Freedoms and Second Bill of Rights presents.

Liberals are often unaware of the Four Freedoms and the Second Bill of Rights, but conservatives are not, as was evidenced in recent remarks by New Gingrich.    In the coming political season they will seek to undo the benefits of the laws and programs that exemplify the Second Bill of Rights.

I created this website and blog to help create awareness of the Four Freedoms and the Second Bill of Rights.   I invite readers to get together with friends and neighbors to begin to talk about the Second Bill of Rights, to think about finding and voting for candidates who can lead towards a society where these rights can thrive, to help craft and support Second Bill-inspired legislation.

Let’s create Second Bill of Rights Societies around the country and bring forward ideas and legislation that will create a broadly inclusive and economically secure society.   As the Four Freedoms are the foundation, the Second Bill of Rights is the house we should be living in.

 

 

 

* On November 25, 2016, Mark Lilla was interviewed on NPR.