Time for Our Second Bill of Rights

from Truthdig:



Time for Our Second Bill of Rights

Posted on Dec 1, 2009
By Bill Boyarsky


In his powerful new book, “The Healing of America,” T.R. Reid asks, “Which inequalities will society tolerate? Is it acceptable that some people are left to die because they can’t see a doctor when they get sick? That question encompasses a more basic question: Is health care a human right?”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the answer when he offered his “Second Bill of Rights” as the nation was nearing the end of World War II in 1944. He looked ahead to a postwar world where Americans had the right to a decent job, home, education and “adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.”

President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are pursuing that long-sought goal as they muster support for legislation that would greatly improve an unfair, inadequate system that denies affordable health insurance to many, including most of those with pre-existing medical conditions, calamitous illnesses or no access to group insurance.

On Nov. 21, Reid put together the 60 votes needed to send the measure to a Senate debate. It was a big victory for Obama, and it came as critics from the left and right—and the Washington media mob—mocked him as a hapless loser. His strategy of giving the ball to Democratic congressional leaders, rather than dictating his own health plan, now looks like a smart move.

Unfortunately, the significance of the vote was buried by the mass of bad reporting and punditry on the president’s nine-day Far East trip, which began Nov. 13. The trip was generally portrayed as a journey of submission, if not surrender, to the Chinese and even the Japanese. (An American president bowing to the emperor? What would Gen. Douglas MacArthur have said?) .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/time_for_our_second_bill_of_rights_20091201/