Our Toxic Bill of Rights

Abstract

Franklin Roosevelt’s famous “Four Freedoms” and “Second Bill of Rights” are steeped in the empirical realism of Original Institutional Economics (OIE). FDR’s intent was to supplant elements of the self-destructive illogic of capitalism with instrumentalist policies strongly reflective of OIE. Influenced during his first administration by Rexford Tugwell and other institutionalists, FDR’s proposed remedies for a structurally malfunctioning economy continued to exhibit enduring OIE influences throughout his four terms in office, culminating with the Four Freedoms (1941) and the Second Bill of Rights (1944). Alarming shifts in the political economy landscape of contemporary America suggest the need for an ongoing examination of the role of countervailing power in reversing the terrifying trend toward authoritarianism. Rugged, boorish individualism and negative, faddish personal freedoms saturate American culture paradoxically propping up past-binding institutions of corporate hegemony which undercut substantive positive freedoms and democracy. The time is nigh for renewed calls for a Second Bill of Rights. This article explores Tugwell’s thoughts on basic rights and responsibilities of citizens/businessmen and their influence on Roosevelt and reciprocal influences of Roosevelt on Tugwell as part and parcel of the OIE legacy.