Do what’s right, not just what others say

Imagine a country in which every citizen would be guaranteed the following rights: a job with a living wage, a decent home, good education, adequate medical care, and protection from economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment.

This is not the communist or socialist ranting of radical fringe element discontents. Rather, this was a proposal by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1944 State of the Union address, less than a year before his death.

So often, we are willing to accept the pronouncements of the most callous and exploitative among us as wise and practical, even when they conflict with our own self-interest. The ideas of humane individuals are often dismissed as misguided, impractical or foolish. This needs to change.

Robert J. Boes

Ely