I haven't decided who to support as the nominee -- well, aside from Hunter S. Thompson, and he's too busy being fireworks to run. So instead, I've drafted portions of the speech that I want the nominee to give. This is necessarily rough, incomplete, un-fact-checked, and disorganized. So be it.
The next four years won't be easy. I could stand here and promise you
tax cuts and more spending and everything else you might want to hear --
but that wouldn't be realistic, and you know it. I think you've been lied
to enough that you have a pretty good feel for when it's happening again.
So let's just skip all that, shall we?
And I could list all the problems we face...but you already know what
they are, too. You're living them, so you don't need me to tell you.
And you know how difficult it will be to tackle all of them at once
with limited resources. We have a lot of cleaning up to do after the
reckless, incompetent, disastrous presidency of George W. Bush and the
Republican party.. We're all going to have to roll up our sleeves and
work hard -- together -- to put our country back on the right track.
And that's EXACTLY what we're going to do. Together.
And I really do mean "together". We cannot afford the self-indulgent
luxury of allowing our biases, our prejudices, our pre-conceived ideas,
our pasts, to keep us apart. We are not brown or black or white or
yellow, we are not old or young or straight or gay, we are not Irish or
Latino or Japanese or Polish, we are not Jewish or Lutheran or Buddhist,
we are not Democrats or Republicans or Greens or Libertarians -- we are
not any of these labels. We are Americans. THAT is the label we will
apply to ourselves, before all others. And as Americans, we will work
together to make our nation what we all know it could be.
To those who don't buy into this -- who want to keep preaching hate,
promoting division, exploiting differences -- we've had enough. We're not
listening to you any more. Oh, you're welcome to join us -- but on our
terms, not on yours.
[...]
We are the United States of America.
We don't tremble in fear at the pronouncements of dictators or the
threats of madmen. We've dealt with worse and we're still here.
We don't forget who we are merely because we're threatened. We don't
surrender our values, our rights, our Constitution when we're attacked --
because that's when we need those things the most.
I know that some of you are afraid. That's understandable: the cowards in
the current administration have spent the last eight years projecting
their own fears onto you, deliberately making you afraid. They've
tried to convince you that you can only be safe if you give up your
freedom, give up your privacy, give up your rights. They've cynically
manipulated you in order to advance their own agenda and further enrich
their already-rich corporate friends. And in the process they've done
incredible damage -- to you, to this country, to other countries, to
America's reputation around the world.
We reject this. We reject the contention that Americans must surrender
some of what makes them Americans just to live their lives. We reject the
inherently dishonest approach that says "rational debate ends as soon as
someone references 9/11". We reject the assertion that Americans should
spy on other Americans. We reject the phrase "May I see your papers,
please?" as an obsolete relic of failed fascist states. We reject the
mindset that anyone who's different in appearance or behavior or belief
is somehow suspect. We reject fear because we hear the echo of Franklin
D. Roosevelt's famous words -- and we know he was absolutely right.
Some people will say this is a dangerous approach. I say to them: find
your courage. We are a bold experiment in democracy, and that experiment
has risks. Our founding fathers accepted that -- remember the line about
pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor? -- and so
do we. We are determined to live up to our the principles enumerated
in our Constitution -- because we know that if we sacrifice them, then
we are no longer who we think we are...who we want to be...or what we
might one day become.
Therefore, when I am sworn in as your President, and I take an oath
to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, I invite
you all to take it with me. Together, we will stand fast. Together,
we will show the world our strength -- the strength of our principles,
the strength of our resolve, the strength of those words written down
more than two centuries ago but kept alive in all of us.
Listen to what they said:
"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more
perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,
do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States
of America."
They were writing about us. WE are posterity. We're the people they
were counting on, and we're not going to let them -- or ourselves --
or those who will follow us -- down.
Will will we be attacked again? Possibly, maybe even probably.
And if and when we are, we will mourn our dead, rebuild what's been
destroyed, track down those responsible, bring them to justice and -- most
importantly -- keep right on being who we are. Our collective will is
unbreakable: we will not yield to common thugs with delusions of grandeur.
[...]
I say to all of you, and to the rest of the nation, and to the entire
world: the United States is not above the law.
No citizen of the United States is above the law.
We did not accept the flimsy excuse from the Nazis that they were "just
following orders" 60 years ago, and we do not accept it now from ANY of
our own citizens. The cases of those that are suspected of violations
of the Geneva Conventions will be referred to [check cite] at The Hague,
and the United States will cooperate fully with [check cite].
[...]
One last thing. One last...very important thing.
As I stand here tonight addressing you, there are 200,000 veterans out
there in the dark. TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND VETERANS.
Our veterans. Our people. People who answered when we asked for
volunteers to stand in harm's way. People who served this country.
People who sacrificed their time and their blood for us. And now they're
out there in the dark, on a night patrol that never ends.
They're our veterans, and they're homeless.
NOT ON MY WATCH.
The day I am sworn in as your President, I will send a bill to Congress --
which I will ask them to enact that same day and which I intend to sign
into law that same day. That bill will won't solve this problem, but it
will provide housing, food, training, jobs, medical care, counseling --
whatever those veterans need to get their lives back on track.
This bill will require sacrifices -- because we have to pay for it.
It won't be the last thing we do that will require sacrifices, just
the first. So it seems appropriate to try to set the tone for what
will follow.
Accordingly, I am announcing today that there will be no inaugural
ball, no lavish parties, no expensive festivities. The money that
would be spent on those will instead be allocated for this purpose.
And we will ask everyone who can, across the country, to hold multiple
fundraisers that same night. As Pops Staples sang, "Spare some change
for the soldiers who fought the war/Put a little money in those hats
and those tins/Give them hope in a hopeless world."
As to the celebration -- If things work out, then maybe we can do that
four years down the road. But not yet. We cannot celebrate in good
conscience while so many of our heroes are still out there. Not while
we have so much work to do.
I know there are others out there on the street as well. Many others.
I know we must help them, too. But we have to make a start, and I think
we should start by giving back to those who gave so very much for us.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to serving as your President.