Interesting factoid. Moore shows footage filmed by Roosevelt, a couple of months before he died. Roosevelt was too sick to do his State of the Union address, 1944, in front of cameras. Instead, he did it on the radio. After the addres, he asked reporters to go to a special room to film him outlining a Second Bill of Rights.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bill_of_Rights
Moore uncovered the footage in 2008 while doing research for the film.
We've talked here about whether there has ever been a desiderata for Liberalism. Michael Pollack, SA, and Doug discussed it on the "more noxious crap" thread.
I was going to respond, have a draft somewhere, to take issue with the idea that Liberalism is largely contentless, that it's pragmatic, simply swaying like a blade of grass swaying to whatever pragmatic possibility seems possible at the moment. I don't agree with that at all. There is some substance to Liberalism. Obama is, quite obviously, not a Liberal, at least not the kind that I remember.
I was going to describe the ideas of high school teachers I'd had, ideas which seemed at one time to be so ordinary and worthy that high school teachers held them and discussed them with ninth graders. A time when people weren't yet ashamed to call themselves Liberal.
Decided not to bother. Just anecdata.
Meanwhile, what Roosevelt said in that footage? *that* is what Liberalism used to mean. It's exemplary of a reformist impulse that preserves and strengthens capitalism. The goal of prosperity for property is still there, it's just that the means to that end is to create a stability and regularity, to mitigate chaotic turmoil in the polity and economy so that business will thrive. A recognition that, contrary to an auto exec in Moore's film who claims that it's imperative to prevent a company's bankruptcy and that means laying off however many people it takes, even if it means laying off all of them.
I thought the proposed second bill of rights was the best statement I've read as to what Liberalism once meant in this country. It's certainly not contentless, but makes specific demands on behalf of "duh people."
shag