01/14/2010

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And welfare for all? Cass Sunstein's case for inalienable economic rights.(On Political Books)(Book Review) The Washington Monthly | September 01, 2004 | Farber, Daniel And welfare for all? Cass Sunstein's case for inalienable economic rights.(On Political Books)(Book Review) The Washington Monthly | September 01, 2004 | Farber, Daniel Ads by Google Press Release Templates Use PRWeb templates, SEO tools and features to get maximum visibility! www.prweb.com Distribute Press Releases to Newspapers, Magazines, TV +Radio 500,000 Global Contacts + AP Feed. www.MassMediaDistribution.com Three decades ago, young stars of constitutional law like Larry Tribe were advocating a constitutional right to welfare. For reasons that are probably obvious, the idea has faded from sight over the past 20 years. A right to welfare sounds out of place in a world in which a Democratic president has successfully campaigned to "end welfare as we know it." Admittedly, advocates of constitutional welfare rights did not merely; or even primarily, mean the right of single unemployed mothers to receive government stipends; they had in mind a broader set of rights to protect basic "welfare" in the general sense of human needs. But constitutional welfare rights do appear to be out of rune with the zeitgeist, and arguments on their behalf have been scarce. In The Second Bill of Rights, Cass Sunstein, a University of Chicago law professor who is one of today's academic stars, reopens this debate. He makes a surprisingly plausible case for resurrecting this idea with some modern twists. Recalling FDR's proposal for a "second of bill of rights" protecting basic human needs, Sunstein urges Americans to recognize a new list of constitutional rights, including access to a good education and health care, and the opportunity to work at a fair wage--in essence, economic rights in addition to the largely political rights enshrined in the country's founding documents. But Sunstein is ambiguous on the nature of these proposed new rights. It's not clear whether these rights would be...

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