WTF FDR?

As much as I don't want to say it, Michael Moore taught me something last night. Not that I don't agree with Moore's politics, it's just his tactics have worn so thin over the past two decades that I just can't get behind him the way I used to. He's got this psuedo-compassion that's totally not believable. And it looks like he's had a stroke, too. No?

This is what he taught me though. In January of 1944, FDR proposed a Second Bill of Rights, outlining the new basic rights that should be allotted to each citizen, an "economic bill of rights" that would guarantee citizens some tangible measure of their quality of life reflecting the modern economy America was building at the time. In essence, these rights outlined the means toward the end that was the "pursuit of happiness." FDR proposed the following:

• 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.

Guess I should have learned this while getting that good education--and I did get a good education--but somehow I missed it. This struck a chord with me, as I'm sure Moore was hoping. I was thrown in the the "What the fuck?-This is brilliant!-Why didn't this go anywhere?-This would have solved all our problems!" tailspin that I'm sure Moore was trying to create, while creepily salivating and wringing his chubby hands. And despite his puppetry, I'm still there--WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS IDEA?

I dreamed that Obama would be a domestic policy president, that he would return the focus of our government to our own problems, the needs of our infrastructure, our social policies and departments, our suffering people and the needs of those who were given no bootstraps with which they've been told their whole lives they should use to pull themselves up. 17 months into Obama's presidency, I no longer hold much hope for the return of a strong domestic policy and the reemergence of programs that rebounded our economy, our infrastructure and our morale after the Great Depression. The Great Recession will not end with a similar fate, unfortunately.

I do think, however, that I will send the president an email every single day with these 8 inalienable rights, just to remind him that someone's already lit the fire. All he has to do is take and carry the horn and light the way.