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A Bill of Economic Rights and Responsibilities

"We need an Economic Bill of Rights."

Martin Luther King, written in 1968 just before his assassination

"We'll never revitalize our market economy till ...

every single American is protected by

an economic bill of rights."

Jerry Brown, "We the People, Take Back America"

***

"I ask the Congress to explore the means for implementing this economic bill of rights

(a second Bill of Rights) -- for it is definitely the responsibility of the Congress so to do."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

State of the Union Message, Jan. 11, 1944

***

"At the United Nations, the Pope urged the rich to show solidarity

with the poor.

His social teaching has emphasized that this moral commitment

should not be done by dole that creates dependency,

but by empowering the poor to become full participants in

economic life."

George Weigel, President, Ethics & Public Policy Center

* * *

A Working Draft

***

Article 1

We all have the right to receive economic justice;

we all have the responsibility to grant economic justice to others.

Article 2

We all have the right to peace and to the economic benefits of law and order;

we all have the responsibility to pay for the instrumentalities of peace, law and order.

Article 2a

We all have the right to equal pay for equal or comparable work;

we all have the responsibility to provide equal or comparable work for equal pay.

Article 2b

We all have the right to associate in unions to even out our status in arguments for the reception of our share of the fruits of economic life;

we all have the responsibility to keep membership in our unions open to all potential co-workers.

Article 2c

We all have the right to associate in cooperatives and corporations to assure our role in the production and distribution of our share of the fruits of economic life;

we all have the responsibility to keep membership in our cooperatives and corporations open to all potential co-producers and co-consumers.

Article 3

We all have the right of access to natural resources;

we all have the responsibility to pay taxes as compensation to the rest of the community for the exclusive use of those resources.

Article 4

We all have the right of access to national credit;

we all have the responsibility to repay the loan issued on the basis of national credit.

Article 4a

All communities with taxing power have a right of access to national credit for the financing of public works programs;

communities have the responsibility to repay the loan issued on the basis of national credit.

Article 5

We all have the right to own the fruits of our labor;

we all have the responsibility, if working with and for others, to offer services commensurate with the value of the reward received in the form of stocks -- eventually, no longer wages.

Article 6

We all have the right to protect our wealth;

we all have the responsibility to respect other people's possessions.

Article 7

We all have the right to healthy air, water, and food supplies;

we all have the responsibility to accept the higher prices that result from the provision of those qualities.

Article 8

The poor have the right to society's surplus;

the poor have the responsibility to accept society's surplus.

Article 9

The government has the right to raise taxes to administer peace and justice;

the government has the responsibility to administer peace and justice.

This work has uniquely been assisted financially by "The Joan M. Gorga Foundation" and editorially by Stuart-Sinclair Weeks.

First penned by

Carmine Gorga

October 12, 1995

Last revised: March 15, 2005

Can the Visitor improve upon this language?

Can the Visitor subscribe to it?

Would the Visitor help draft a national petition for its implementation?

E-mail: cgorga (AT) jhu.edu

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