A few interesting things I've learned

Here's just a little something to show you that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Did you know that the health care debate is not new in the US? In fact, the idea that access to adequate health care should be the right of all Americans was first introduced by President Harry Truman in November of 1945. Click here to connect to information at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum.

Franklin Roosevelt began in 1932 to speak about the need for social and economic rights to complement the political rights provided for in our original Bill of Rights. In January of 1944, he proposed what he called a "Second Bill of Rights."

If you are interested, you can click here and here for more detailed information.

This is a portion of his 1944 State of the Union address in which he described his proposed social and economic rights:

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a 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.

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.

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 unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.