Dear John,
“Something has gone awry in this country.” That was a sentence spoken to me recently, and it has stayed in my mind ever since. It describes exactly how so many of us feel.
People are arguing who should simply be debating. People are shutting each other down who should be listening to each other’s arguments. People are despairing when America should be a country in which everyone feels hope.
Even the happiest people I know feel sad about America today. We had always thought that despite rough times, the principles of our democracy would hold. Our institutions would stay strong. But now, in too many ways, we look and we’re not so sure…
That is why I’m running for president. We need to act now. We need to get into the solution. We need to lay claim to a season of repair and a new beginning. We’ll never reach the promised land if you’re not willing to begin the journey. |
Over the last few months since I began my campaign, you’ve heard a lot from me about the problems we face. But I’m not running just to diagnose our problems. I’m running to help solve them. It’s time for all of us to rise now, claiming a new space within ourselves, elevating what it means to be an active citizen, creating an era of new possibility for ourselves and the country we love.
Everywhere I go, people hear our message and respond to it. On the left and on the right, among the young and among the old, the feeling is there. Yes, it is time. Enough with the chronic sorrow. It’s time to get into the solution. And our campaign is part of it. No president has all the answers, or can make everything right by fiat. But the president can articulate a vision, call forth a season of repair — and I am uniquely qualified to do that.
Yes, we will ramp down fossil fuel extraction and make a just transition from a dirty economy to a clean economy.
Yes, we will reject the hold that defense contractors have on our military spending and make a just transition from a war economy to a peace economy.
Yes, we will provide for our citizens the promises granted to those of every other advanced democracy: from universal health care to tuition free college and tech school, from paid family leave and childcare to a guaranteed living wage.
But only if we demand those things.
It is time for a new beginning, and as president I will shout that from the rooftops. In fact, I’ll shout it so loud that all the corporate lobbyists in Washington will have a hard time drowning out my voice.
That is my commitment to you. And if you join your voice with mine, we will make a mighty noise.
Together, let’s make history.
With deep appreciation,
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