The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
It's that folks are hungry for change - they're hungry for something new. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. But if we choose to be bound by the past, we will never move forward.
Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that's the essence of America's promise. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically-elected Iranian government.
It's a journey that takes us back to our nation's founding, when none other than a UCC church inspired the Boston Tea Party and helped bring an Empire to its knees. We can recognize the truth that's at the heart of the UCC: that the conversation is not over; that our roles are not defined; that through ancient texts and modern voices, God is still speaking, challenging us to change not just our own lives, but the world around us. We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.
It is not up in heaven. These challenges are not all of government's making. Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton's Army, and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.
I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair. Each of us in our own lives needs to do what we can to help the poor. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias. Out of work? Tough luck.
God bless you.