Our nation is adrift. After centuries of advocating personal liberties, 75 years of developing social programs, and decades of civil rights reform, we should expect that when standing on the threshold of the new millennium, we would see an America that had taken the strings of tolerance, religious freedom, personal liberty, and compassion and stitched them into a single garment of humanity.

Yet this is hardly the picture we see today. Not enough reforms have been made, and indeed earlier reforms are being reversed by a tide of protectionism and a lack of inclusion. We as Americans are so blinded by our own self-fulfilling needs that instead of viewing our great country as a bountiful feast with plenty of room at the table, we see America as a poker game, where everyone must ante-up if they even want a chance to play.

We are so controlled by our own fears and ignorant prejudices that, instead of wishing to engage in educational and enlightening dialogs with those who were born different than us, we have nowhere to turn but to the ever present and corrupting demons that are hate, and intolerance.

As members of a single national community, we have an obligation to ourselves, to those who are less fortunate or who are oppressed, and to our country’s future to make a stand in order to create a breakwater between ourselves and the waves of injustice and miss-guided policy that are pounding against the shores that are our nation.

America needs a president who values all Americans and believes in universal equality. America needs a president who will change the government’s emphasis from assisting the private accumulation of wealth, to assisting all of our nation’s citizens. America needs a president who is not interested in extending the legacy of western nations invading third world countries at the expense of their own citizens well being. America needs our help.