We Want the Future

  • by: Leo Gold
  • recipient: Congress of the United States

We demand that the Congress of the United States support the vision of the future described by "President Barack Obama" in his "State of the Union" address made on The New Capital Radio Show on Thurday January 28, 2010.  Specifically,

1.  We demand that the Congress make all regulations necessary to bring about this future.

2.  We demand that the Congress make all necessary changes to the tax laws, including elimination of subsidies, to bring about this future.

3.  We demand that Congress make all necessary appropriations necessary to bring about this future. 

Congress, and My Fellow Americans:


Our Union is strong, and our future is bright.  I would like to describe to you exactly how I see that bright future.


In the future that I see, America will be a place of vibrant, clean, and efficient cities.  The buildings in our cities will be designed by the world's best architects and constructed by the most accomplished and safest construction teams.  Importantly, these buildings will use energy in the most efficient ways.  They will be lit, heated, and cooled passively, through features of their design, rather than through the combustion of fuels.  The buildings will not leak energy, but will conserve it; many, in fact, incredibly, will produce energy for others to use on the electricity grid.  Water will not be wasted by our structures, but used judiciously and carefully.  And the materials used for our buildings will be sourced from mines and forests so that the impact on the earth is minimized and where possible materials from recycled sources will be chosen.


Our cities will not simply consume resources, but also produce.  They will be extremely conscious of how the disposal of these byproducts is managed.  All materials, including glass, paper, metal, plastic, fabrics, yard waste, and construction materials will be sorted, cleaned, and reused.  Urban gardens and food plots will be planted to help supply our food and flowers.  When we take walks, our cities will be safe and full of trees and birds, flowers and produce.  The air in our cities will be clean, and there will be little noise from the sound of combustion engines.  Our city roads will not be clogged with traffic, and there will be many ways for city dwellers to get around including buses, light rail systems, street cars, and yes, even walking on well paved handsome sidewalks.


Our urban homes will be smaller, but they will be no different.  They will be designed to use energy and water efficiently.  Importantly, they will be the right size for our families.  We will not look at our neighbor with the biggest home and feel that we are failures in life if our home is smaller.  Instead, we will have peace of mind, and we will seek homes that are the right size and design for our families, rather than what some marketing firm wants us to believe.


Our older buildings and homes will not simply be torn down.  Instead, they will be retrofitted with the most advanced renovation products in the world, designed by American engineers, made by American companies, and put into service by American tradesmen.  In this way, they will be given new life for decades to come. 


Our government will not implement these urban changes itself, but it will create the conditions for this to occur, and it will create regulations and incentives to encourage it.  Contrary to what others in this room believe, that is the function of the government of our people.


Outside our cities, our countryside and rural areas will produce food as they have for generations.  But the food they produce will once again earn our farmers a good living, and will create incentives for our family farmers to return to the land and do what they do best: create healthy nutritious food in healthy, safe, and human ways.  Our new generation of family farmers will farm using organic methods and will try to produce their crops without massive quantities of chemicals.  They will care for the land and use it efficiently, not taking so much from the soil that chemical additives are required to restore its fertility.


Our future farms will treat their animals humanely, giving them room to roam, grass and pasture to graze, and comfortable lives.  Their waste will be recycled sustainably, rather than dumped into large lagoons, which then seep into our waterways and groundwater.  Our animals raised for meat will be slaughtered painlessly and in accord with the humane teachings of the Bible. 


Our government will not do these rural things itself, but it will enforce these rules and create incentives for our farmers to convert their operations.


Above us, our skies will be clear and healthy.  They will not be polluted with the emissions of power plants or vehicles.  That does not mean that we will not have power plants or vehicles.  To the contrary, we will have the most advanced power plants and vehicles ever designed and produced.  Our power plants will make use of a variety of methods to generate electricity, including wind power, solar power, and natural gas, and where these are not feasible or possible, we will use coal and nuclear energy, but we will use these latter methods sparingly, because they are expensive and destructive to our landscape, air, and water.


Our rivers will run clear, and we will once again be able to fish, paddle, or just lie by the banks and take in the breeze on a sunny spring day.  Our seashores will be protected and rejuvenated, and we will all feel safe that our shores are clean and uncontaminated from sewage dumps.  When Europeans first came to this land, they commented on how rich the fishing stocks were, and some said you could walk out onto the ocean upon schools of codfish.  In the future, we will restore our fish stocks through intelligent management and license allocation.  And we will feel safe eating fish, knowing that they are not contaminated with mercury or other pollutants.  And we will lead the rest of the world in doing the same for the entire oceans of the world, because we are Americans, and we accept the obligation to lead.


In the future, the schools our children attend will all be good.  Not just some.  Not just the schools for the rich.  Not just the schools in the nicer part of town.  Not just the private schools.  All the schools will be good.  All will be built well and have first class amenities and technology.  All will have qualified teachers and offer important lessons in all areas, including physical education, art, music, and science.


In the future, our people will be healthy.  We will know what foods are healthy, and how and where to buy them.  We will teach our children the importance of eating a balanced diet from reputable food sources, and we will turn our backs on those purveyors of food who are not interested in our children's health, but are only interested in forcing ever more unhealthy concoction on our nation's children.  We will know the importance of exercise and we will have the time to do it.  When we get sick, we will have the ability to get quality treatment, and if the costs are exorbitant for some who are older or unhealthy, we will be able to participate in an insurance risk pool to help defray those costs.  And as we age, we will find a pension system that is solid and sound and able to help us meet our needs in our golden years.


Our people will have close communities, where friendships and common goals are shared.  Where those in need can find those with resources.  Where life's events, births, celebrations, weddings, and deaths are passed with empathy and joy.  The design of our neighborhoods, houses of worship, schools, transportation, businesses, and programs, will make possible the close associations between people that are vital to happy and healthy lives.


In describing this future so far, you may have noticed that I have not mentioned banks.  It is not that banks are not important.  Rather, it is that our banks do not produce the key elements necessary to bring about this future.  They do not design the products or systems, they do not sell them or implement them, they do not train the people to install them or use them.  They do none of those things.  That does not mean, however, that our banks do not serve a purpose.  To the contrary, our banks are financial intermediaries, and their main purpose is to help move the savings of our people to these projects so that they can be financed.  In this future that I describe, our banks will do exactly that: they will take our people's savings, and lend them for the projects needs to bring about this future.


To do this, however, our banks will need savings to lend.  In the 1970's the savings of our people reached 15% of our income.  During the last Administration, our savings reached 0% of our income.  That's right - during President Bush's two terms with a Republican Congress, our people saved nothing.  We earned too little and spent too much.  As a result, we had to turn to other sources to finance our economy.  And turn we did.  We turned to the Chinese, to the Japanese, to Germans, and others, to everyone but ourselves for savings.  And as a result, we now owe a large debt to these other savers.  And what do we have to show for our borrowings?  Have we achieved the future I described?  Did we borrow all of that money to build the buildings and homes of the future?  To build the roads and vehicles and train systems of the future?  To build the schools and healthcare systems of the future?  To build the energy generation and transmission systems of the future?


We did not.  We borrowed all that money and used it to invade other countries, which I am in the process of now winding down, to build ever larger homes ever farther from our vital city centers and to fill them with merchandise that we thought we wanted but in the end could not have cared less about.  All too often, that is what we have to show for our borrowings.  It is a bitter harvest.


Those days are now over.  They are over for our people and they are over for our banks.  Our banks must now return to the process of managing our people's savings properly by investing them in the future I describe - especially in the businesses that will make the future possible.  In the small businesses and the large businesses.  In the local businesses and the international businesses.  In the old businesses and the new businesses.  In the exciting businesses and the steady businesses.  In the urban businesses and the rural businesses.  That is what we entrust our savings to our banks to do, and that is what our banks will do.


Our government will not do this financial work itself, but it will ensure that our banks are properly regulated, properly capitalized, and properly managed to do this work.


This is my vision for the future of our country.  I believe it is a credible and appropriate vision, and one that is well achievable within current lifetimes.


The role of our government is to help lead our people into this future.  It is not to abdicate its role, throw up its hands, sit on its rear and scowl, or block every attempt to make progress, as some in this room now believe.  The role of government is to lead, to participate, and even to follow.


The interesting news is that, in fact, our government right now is following in many ways.  In fact, in many ways, the government is behind our people and our businesses.  In the past year, while our government squabbled, the business of wind power grew 39%, new clean electric cars debuted at the Detroit auto show (including, in the wake of their recent emergence from bankruptcy, models by General Motors and Chrysler), energy efficient buildings are opening all over the country from hotels in Las Vegas to government offices right here in Washington DC.  New schools using dynamic models and teachers are opening.  New models of efficient and effective healthcare, like the Mayo and Cleveland Clinics, are developing.  Old homes are getting new insulation and windows.  Organic farms, markets, and restaurants are opening in places all over our country.  People are turning to healthier foods and getting exercise.


The future I describe to you is happening right now, and it is happening right here in the United States.


Still, we are a very long way away from the complete vision.  As President, I must give you not only the good news, but also the other news.  Today, unfortunately, most of our buildings and homes use energy and space and water inefficiently.  We produce entirely too much waste in all forms.  Too many of our roads are in disrepair, and our passenger rail system, both within and between cities, is among the worst in the world.  Today, most of our energy still comes from polluting sources.  And today, our human systems of education and healthcare are too often improperly designed to meet the needs of our people.


My fellow Americans, as you can see, this list is long and you may imagine that it cannot possibly be done.  But there is good news.  Tonight, as I speak, millions of you are out of work, and believe that you have no value to our society.  You could not be more wrong.  Because the needs to create this future are so great, and because we are so far from this future, everyone's help will be needed.  And this means that many, many jobs will be created %u2013 they will be created specifically so that we can get to this future.


There will be basic science jobs for people in physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics, so that we can create the theoretical foundations of our future innovations.  There will be design jobs for people, for architects, designers, and engineers, so that we can take ideas and implement them in designs.  There will be manufacturing jobs for metal workers, lathe operators, line workers, and supply chain planners, so that we can take the designs and implement them in the real world.  There will be shipping jobs for lift drivers, truck drivers, train engineers, logistics planners, and switchmen, so that we can transport materials where they are needed most.  There will be sales jobs for marketers, advertisers, and salesmen, so that the word can get out about these new products and services.  There will be basic jobs for cleaners, servers, and apprentices, who lend the dignity of their work so that others can labor in clean and supportive environments.  And there will be education jobs for teachers and experts, so that all can learn from those who already know how.  Finally, there will be jobs for our soldiers.  But the jobs for our soldiers will be here, at home, with their families and with us.  After several decades of fighting in places across the world, it is time for our soldiers to come home and join the effort here to build this future, because their future is here as well.  We will need them, because few people know more about building something where there is nothing, than a United States soldier.


In short, there will be more jobs than I could ever imagine and certainly more than I could ever list here tonight.


There is not a moment to waste.  Over the past year, our government has wasted too much time.  I, like everyone here, share some of the blame for this.  I understand that people are upset and angry, and I pledge that I will not spare one additional moment in moving toward the future I describe tonight.


But I will need your help.  Because of the way our government was designed over two centuries ago, I do not have all the power, and that is good.  But it also means that for me to help make change, I must have the assistance of Congress and the courts, but especially the Congress.  And the rules of our Constitution are such that both houses of Congress, both the House of Representatives and the Senate, must agree together before I can sign a law.  Furthermore, the rules of the Senate, as set by the Senators themselves, are that a minority of 41 Senators can prevent a majority of 59 Senators from approving a bill.   It may not sound fair, and it may in fact not be fair, but those are the rules, and as President I cannot change them, and there are no indications that the Senators themselves intend to change them.


That means that you, my fellow Americans, must tell these Senators exactly what you want.  And if you share my vision for this country, the one that I have tonight described, if you want to put the full force of our nation behind this vision, and if you want to share this extraordinary journey that we have the opportunity to take together, to work together for the future that I describe, then I need your help.  Specifically, I need you to tell the Senate that you want this vision and you want these things.  And to help you tell the Senate, we have set up a petition site.  You can get to this site by going to www.newcapitalshow.com/home/sotu - %u201Csotu%u201D, stands for State of the Union.  From there, you can click to sign a petition demanding that the entire Congress take measures to support this vision of the future.  That%u2019s it %u2013 I ask you to take a few minutes to tell the Congress, including the Senate, what you want.


Our Union is strong.  Our future is bright.  Our people are angry but open to alternatives.  We are tired of obstruction, but willing to forgive in the name of progress.  Many of us are idle but are rarin%u2019 to go.  There%u2019s not a moment to waste %u2013 because the future awaits.


I%u2019m President Barack Obama.  This is The New Capital Show.

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