Celebrating America's 250th: Reclaiming the Pursuit of Happiness

This week, we are doing something different from welcoming an outside guest. For our episode on the week of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we are going to talk about an article Fran recently published on the website Common Dreams: Reclaiming the Pursuit of Happiness: Let’s Celebrate the Declaration’s 250th by Ending Poverty (https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/reclaiming-pursuit-of-happiness) To lead our conversation, we pulled out from behind the scenes our podcast’s guru and producer Jack Quigley.  Jack is a journalist and writer, now Chief Marketing Officer for 14 Regional Construction Trade Magazines.Jack takes over the questioning and asks Fran about his article, including:      •    The historical evidence showing that, by promising that our new government would fulfill “the pursuit of happiness” as an inalienable right, the founders meant a government guarantee of housing, healthcare, and meeting critical needs;     •    How civil rights like voting, free speech, etc. are completely dependent on fulfilling economic rights to housing, healthcare, etc.;     •    Why the record shows that the U.S. people, now and throughout history, are nowhere near as hostile to guaranteeing economic rights to housing, healthcare, etc. as we have been led to believe;     •    Why the U.S. ratifying the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights could solve our poverty crisis. The full article is available here: Reclaiming the Pursuit of Happiness: Let’s Celebrate the Declaration’s 250th by Ending Poverty (https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/reclaiming-pursuit-of-happiness)