- Address to UA Young Democrats…

People ask me why I’m running for President.  I say it’s because I want to elevate some of the issues that I feel aren’t’ being adequately addressed during this election.  But that doesn’t really say it all.  What I really mean is that I believe that this is the most significant election that this country has ever faced, and that we have, perhaps, this one more opportunity to “turn this old world around” before we go off the edge.

Why do I say that?  Well, we’ve had our problems in the past.  George Washington had his difficulties wrangling free of the English, and establishing a government on these shores.  Lincoln had his problems trying to keep the Union together. Wilson was kept busy by World War I and FDR by the Depression and WWII.  Presidents have had to deal with Vietnam, the cold war and more recently with the terrorist threat.

But consider what the situation is now.  Consider what the challenges the next President will have to face.  We are engaged in another un-popular war.  The economy is entering recession.  We have a looming Social Security meltdown.  We are loosing our influence and reputation on the world stage due to a variety of factors including our failing education system, loss of manufacturing, export of technology and just plain arrogant attitude.  Our civil liberties are eroded daily.  And on top of all this we have a global environmental and energy crisis.  Any one of these challenges would be plenty for our new leader to handle, but to address all of them at once (and we do need to address all of them) will require a Super President.

Let me illustrate one of these challenges, by way of a mental exercise.

Consider what it was like on this spot 50 years ago (1958).  The building we were in wasn’t here… There were far fewer cars on these roads, and virtually all were made by American manufactures.   The city pretty much ended at Wilmot, and much of it was undeveloped.  There were few Air Conditioners, and no cell phones, computers or ipods.  The sky was bluer and the stars were brighter.

Now go back with me another 50 years to 1908.  The U of A had been established 23 years earlier, and now consisted of a handful of buildings in the area.   Arizona was not yet a state.  The roads were mostly dirt.  There were few cars.  Transport was by foot, horse or wagon.  This was the edge of town, mostly surrounded by desert and a few orchards.

OK, lets go back another hundred years to 1808.  The population of Tucson was about 1000 (about the number of people that live in Coronado Dorm).  This area was owned by Spain.  The only buildings were the San Xavier mission, A new Spanish fort (El Presidio de Tucson) and a few adobe structures along the Santa Cruz river, which was the main source of water.  Apache attacks were a common problem.

The point being that this area, and indeed the entire country has changed dramatically over the last 200 years.  Juxtapose this with the fact that mankind has been farming the earth for something like 10 to 12 thousand years, and you begin to understand that the period in which we are living is unique to all history.  The problems that this generation faces are unique problems.  The world is changing at an alarming rate.  We are running out of land.  We are running out of oil.  Soon we will be running out of fresh water, then food, then air to breath.

And this is not just a US phenomena, every populated area on the planet has changed substantially since the beginning of the industrial revolution.   Even the cities that we think of as ancient like Paris, London, Athens, Jerusalem, Peking, Tokyo, etc have all changed radically in the last 200 years.  The area’s around these cities, which are now modern suburbs were undeveloped agricultural areas 300 years ago.  Today 85 million barrels of oil will be consumed, 74 million tons of CO2 will be released, 211 thousand more people will inhabit the earth, and 120 people will die on US roadways.

That’s our situation.  What do we do about it?  The window of opportunity is small.  That is why this election is so critical.  There is much to do: 

We must find other sources of energy.  We must develop more efficient means of transportation and become more energy efficient and less polluting overall.  We need to have better city planning.  We need to reassert our influence overseas and take a leadership role in fostering an international community to address social strife so that we are not the policemen of the planet.  We need to rebuild Iraq as quickly as possible, so that we can get out of there.  We need to take a leadership role in addressing the world population problem.  We need to rebuild American manufacturing using green, efficient processes.  We need to institute a Guest Worker program to entice skilled workers to this country.  We need to fund Government research so that resulting patents are the property of the people and not of big business.  We need to improve our schools to train students to be good citizens and learn to think instead of just regurgitate.  We need to cut spending on War and Homeland Security and increase spending on solving our problems.  And we need to institute election reform and term limits so that we can get some good, fresh blood into government.  We need to stop our patrician bickering and unite to work together.

None of the current presidential candidates are up to this task…nor is the current Congress.   You are the only hope for this country, perhaps even for this world.  You need to research and understand these issues.  You need to discuss and disseminate them.  You need to pressure your congresspeople to address them, and if they don’t you need to kick their butts out of office.  You need to elect competent replacements, or run yourself.  You need to protest, march, set-in…whatever it takes to make the necessary changes.  But work fast. 

You are our brain trust…the brightest, best situated and best equipped.  You are the agents of change.  Let’s get to work!