If only a Candidate would say this:

The speech I would love to hear:

My fellow Americans, as we move closer towards choosing the person who will represent this nation I have to take a moment and be honest with you.  There are three of us here on the democratic platform that have many of the same ideas, hopes and desires for America in the future.  We will not always agree on how best to proceed with our plans, but the important thing is that we do not get lost in the game of one-upmanship.

The two people that stand with me today are good people and have great moral character and though I sincerely want to win the nomination, I have to admit that any one of us would be a better president than the sum of all the others.

We (America) have lost our way.  We have decided that fear is much stronger than love and that defending ourselves against our enemies is of more importance than building a strong infrastructure, creating good jobs, making education and health access affordable, and eradicating poverty in our streets.

Now I know that these are only popular topics to some of our citizens, but I am willing to believe that more Americans would benefit from this type of world then would not.  What makes us strong is not our military it is our citizens.

Now this is not to say that we should not invest in our military.  Because of the world out there it is tantamount to our survival, but we must decide how much is enough and start to make smarter decisions about spending and where that money should go.

This is not about socialism either.  At least not in the definition that most people have about socialism.  It is about making sure that every American has opportunity.  Not a handout, but a hand up.  If we focus on making America stronger from the bottom up, then the next generations will have a greater shot at success.  Does that mean that we may have to take some drastic measures to equal the playing field?  YES.  It will take years, maybe even decades to reduce the effects of poverty, homelessness, and the undereducated.  It will mean sacrifices.  But these sacrifices do not have to be at the expense of the American people.  Simply diverting the monies spent on useless, outdated government projects, eliminating the flow of money from big corporations to our legislative halls and forcing the same corporations to invest in the American people instead is the quickest way to recovery.

I say to American corporations that want influence on the laws we enact, to invest in the communities that they serve.  Instead of sending lobbyists into D.C., send them into the neighborhoods to abolish hunger and unemployment.  And we are not going to ask you to not be profitable, but just be responsible.  If a CEO makes a 250 million dollar bonus in a year for making his company profitable what would 20% of that mean for jobs or education or health care?

And then there is the immigration issue.  Now I am not for barring immigrants from coming into our country.  But again, we have to be smart.  We must first provide the environment for our own citizens to thrive before opening the flood gates.  It is not about hatred of some religion or region of the world and it cannot be about fear of being attacked.  It has to be about promise.  Promise of a country whose strengths are to take care of its citizens first and then becoming global citizens second.

By doing nothing towards these ends our government has caused a passive acknowledgement that the state of the states is okay.  That our focus is better put on areas of the world that might cause us harm.

There was a time when the focus on terrorism towards the U.S. was minimal, even non-existent.   And it was back in the days when our flag on foreign soil meant respect.  But our attitudes towards other nations and their sovereignty have made us bullies in their eyes.  And what do we preach in America?  To stand up to bullies!  It’s time to retool our reputation around the world or we will soon shrink to a mere shadow of the greatness we once knew.

It is time for our conversation to stop being about fear.  And it needs to stop being about the symptoms of problems and we need to find the roots of them.  Gun violence is not about guns, it is deeper than that.  Much deeper.  It is about the lack of hope.  When you remove hope from the people you also remove the reasons to be involved in society.  You remove the desire to better ones self.  And when the government preys upon our fears then everyone becomes a potential enemy.

I want to be part of the solution, not a part of the problem.  But I cannot do it alone from the White House.  It needs to happen all across America.  The towns, the cities, the counties, and the floors of the House and Senate.  We have to elect people with a conscience.  With a desire to create a change.

But it has to start with leadership.  And that leadership begins right here.  Right from this podium.  Because I know that the strength of America lies in the strengths of its citizens.  And for America to truly be great again does not mean building a wall, targeting immigrants, or bombing the hell out of enemy outposts across the world.  It means bringing hope of a brighter future.  Right here, right now.

Insert candidates name here!