Dear Rachael, Alex, and Natasha:
In 1966 roommate Jesse Samburg and I were discussing the tragedy of American foreign policy. The War in Vietnam was devastating Vietnam, our nation, and our generation. Casualties were mounting and Lyndon Johnson was escalating the war. We spoke about LBJ and his generation's responsibility for the loss of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and American lives.
I said to Jess, "After the Vietnam war is over, another cruelty is that it will divide our generation, perhaps forever."
That war divided us and prevented my generation from participating in profound change...
...We worked hard, we did bring change, good change that lead to the election of the first black president, but we never fundamentally changed the premise upon which our government functions
Your generation experienced something we never had. You have a President you can call your own who represents unimaginable possibilities for your nation and the world. JFK brought hope but he, and all of the Presidents who followed him up to George W. Bush were a continuation of the political ideology of the first half of the twentieth century.
Bill Clinton was a Baby Boomer and represented my generation.
He did and he did not.
His birthday, his idealism in the 1960's, smoking dope, and embracing the rhetoric of social and economic justice says he was part of my generation.
His most dominant policies, particularly, his economic policies that destroyed millions of American skilled jobs, and in turn, reduced the economic purchasing power of those families, says he was not a part of my generation.
I had lunch with John Odom today. We planned it two weeks ago to get some work done and to celebrate the anticipated victory of Barack Obama. John said, "Obama's greatest strength to bring real change to this country is his use of the bully pulpit."
I replied, "As President Obama can do more by inspiring a generation than be all of his programs the Congress may pass. If these millions of young people can vote, they can take the next step and go to a city council meeting, attend their child's parent-teacher conference, and vote in local elections next spring."
John continued, "Obama should inspire them to stay in school, go to college or get technical training, get married, have a family..."
While we succeeded on the local and even state level, we failed to build working majorities that brought fundamental change and return this country to the principles up which it was founded.
Rugged individualism is part of the American story, but it is the exception, not the rule. This country was built when we embraced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, which in turn were based on the Magna Carta and the concept of the social compact.
The United States was built on the assumption that there are certain basic services that government should provide and national defense is only one of many.
That social compact goes back to the Greeks and the Romans. It is reflected in our public works programs such as aquifers, aqueducts, bridges and roads. It is demonstrated in public libraries, schools, and lighted sidewalks.
The expansion of the frontier was an American phenomena, financed by the granting of public lands for free, mail and communication systems, a military that was not always used wisely, and a sharing of the water and waterways.
Even the rugged individualists was the benefit of neighbors gathering for a barn raising or harvest or to tend to the herd in times of illness.
No western movie is complete without the storyline of the community banding together to hire a school teacher and build a one room school.
That is not socialism, that is America.
Use this election to rediscover the American story and separate the myths and legends from reality. Use this election to unify your generation.
Borrow from my generation and make your own reality.
Embrace a foreign policy that changes the world through understanding and generosity, not just force. Embrace a domestic policy that recognizes that public investment is for struggling townspeople and the sons and daughters of the ghetto, it is not just for failed selfishly run businesses.
Vietnam defined my generation. Let this election define yours.