Article: A Call for a 21st Century Bill of Rights

To realize this vision, we must not view America only as a population of disconnected individuals, we must also view ourselves as part of "an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny," as Dr. King put it. In other words, we are in this together.

We must see ourselves as part of one nation, one community and one society -- regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or country of origin.

This quintessentially American idea is literally emblazoned on our coins: E Pluribus Unum. From the many, one.

And, I should tell you, it is enshrined in the motto of our campaign for the presidency -- Not me, Us.

Let me be clear. I do understand that I and other progressives will face massive attacks from those who attempt to use the word "socialism" as a slur. But I should also tell you that I have faced and overcome these attacks for decades -- and I am not the only one.

Let us remember that in 1932, Republican President Herbert Hoover claimed that Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was, "a disguise for the totalitarian state."

In 1936 former Democratic New York Governor and presidential candidate Al Smith said in a speech about FDR's New Deal policies, "Just get the platform of the Democratic Party and get the platform of the Socialist Party and lay them down on your dining-room table, side by side."

When President Harry Truman proposed a national health care program, the American Medical Association hired Ronald Reagan as their pitchman.

The AMA called the legislation that stemmed from his proposal "socialized medicine" claiming that White House staff were, "followers of the Moscow party line."

In 1960, Ronald Reagan in a letter to Richard Nixon wrote the following about John F. Kennedy: "Under the tousled boyish haircut is still old Karl Marx."

In the 1990s, then Congressman Newt Gingrich claimed President Bill Clinton's health care plan was "centralized bureaucratic socialism."

The conservative Heritage Foundation has claimed that the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was "a step towards socialism."

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner claimed the stimulus package, the omnibus spending bill and the budget proposed by President Barack Obama were "all one big down payment on a new American socialist experiment."

In this regard, President Harry Truman was right when he said that: "Socialism is the epithet they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years"Socialism is what they called Social Security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people."

Now let's be clear: while President Trump and his fellow oligarchs attack us for our support of democratic socialism, they don't really oppose all forms of socialism.

They may hate democratic socialism because it benefits working people, but they absolutely love corporate socialism that enriches Trump and other billionaires.

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