Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Obamacare ruling, how to govern in 2019, and fighting a tech cold war
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I promised that I was going to start spending some time on Sunday mornings talking about how we move toward a better place. The last time I talked about this, I underlined Martin Luther King’s support for a Basic Income as one plank of a foundation for thaAbbreviated Pundit Round-up: Obamacare ruling, how to govern in 2019, and fighting a tech cold war
I promised that I was going to start spending some time on Sunday mornings talking about how we move toward a better place. The last time I talked about this, I underlined Martin Luther King’s support for a Basic Income as one plank of a foundation for that better place. But this week I’m going further back, to grab enough planks to build a fort. x x YouTube Video A right to a job — Roosevelt puts the guarantee of employment at the top of his list, and notably doesn’t just say that job should provide enough income for food and clothing, but also recreation. I have a conservative relative who loves to point out that Roosevelt thought it was important that people work, under the mistaken belief that modern progressives just want to sit around and cash a check. But that’s a fundamental misread of both progressives and FDR. The right of farmers to make a fair profit — the concern that here was applied to farmers, whose ability to make a living was being constrained by both unfair pricing and destructive financial institutions should today be extended to a broader section of workers, including those trapped between automation and crushing demands for ‘productivity.’ Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies — When Roosevelt talks about free trade, he’s not talking about a free-for-all instantly dominated by those who can push their rivals from the field. He’s talking about the ability to innovate and expand that only comes when monopolies are held in check by government action. A decent home — Not just a bed in a shelter, or an apartment that takes every dime of the family budget. Adequate medical care — Again, Roosevelt makes it clear this isn’t a token gesture, but everything needed to give people “the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.” Freedom from fear of personal economic disaster — This one is usually shorthanded as “Social Security,” but the demand Roosevelt makes here is a protection even someone who, for any reason, can’t enjoy the job mentioned in the first of his new rights, still need not worry about losing healthcare, housing, or their ability to provide. A Good Education — not some education. Not some minimum education. A good education. All of these rights spell security, and after this war is won, we must be prepared to move forward in the implementation of these rights to new goals of human happiness and well-being. For unless there is security here at home, there cannot be lasting peace in the world. When someone on the Sunday morning shows starts saying that Democrats don’t have an agenda, tell them of course we do — it was written seventy-four years ago, and it’s about time we made it a foundation from which to move forward, rather than an aspiration that’s forever out of reach. Read more