Today marked my tenth official speech and I have reached the level of Competent Communicator in Toastmasters International. Writing speeches assists me in being an author. Being a speaker allows me to talk about my stories, my ideas and my passions. If you have never heard of Toastmasters, locate a club near you and be prepared to have fun, receive tips on self improvement and get your story out. You can win speaking contests and move up to levels where your name grows. Today was my speech on inspiring an audience and I felt a speech on an announcement of my candidacy for the president of the United States was in order. You tell me if you feel inspired.
My Fellow Americans
Today I am officially announcing my candidacy for the office of the President of the United States of America.
I stand before you today a humble steward of the country my grandparents and parents loved, who sacrificed all, so that their future generations might not suffer as they. I am an American. I am neither liberal, nor conservative, I am an American. We have so many issues in common that we cannot and should not be labeled as anything other than an American. Therefore, I am running as an independent and calling out the same words we once so declared:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
For too long these unalienable rights have not been self-evident. We have delegated the endowment of our unalienable rights to the halls and people of power. We are now more dependent and codependent than ever before. We are racing over a financial point of no return. We have promised more than we can deliver. We have placed our hands in the trust of our future for current political gains. In the past our great leaders demonstrated remarkable foresight, civility and compromise.
Dwight D. Eisenhower brought us the Interstate Freeway System, a private-public partnership that is not only an American success, but the single largest endeavor in human history. He was a conservative.
John F. Kennedy, lowered taxes to stimulate the economy. He was a liberal. We must return to the thinking that there are no absolutes. We Americans are the great experimenters, we fail, we learn, we correct our path, but we never give up. When astronauts landed on the moon, we watched from our homes on black and white televisions with a sense of accomplishment and with pride. That was an American moment and we can return to those days.
“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” I stand before you today requesting the very same of you. I will not tell you what you want to hear, but what you must hear. I will be honest with you. We will endure many pains in the days ahead.
We must seek a second independence and declare war on our energy dependence. We must be free of the very reason that keeps our country held prisoner to foreign interest. Eight presidents over forty years have promised this independence, yet none have delivered. We have lost too many lives and suffered too many financial hardships over this one issue. We will no longer send the treasures of our nation, our sons and daughters to die on foreign soils. We must and we will break this addiction. It is time we face this obstacle and solve it as Americans before the end of this decade. We are up to the challenge. We are Americans. We have proven this more than once in our history. I propose a national hydrogen energy economy, which is clean, renewable, and based on the fact that it is the most abundant element on earth and in the heavens. We will use excess capacity of the electric grid and the science of electrolysis to produce and store hydrogen. We will also use the power of wind and water.
Where there is water, there is life. I will propose a national water grid to control as much as possible the affects of flood and drought and to cease the endless cycle of incurring debt to merely repair and rebuild when we can mitigate such effects. Solving issues, saving money, creating new jobs, and new industries – this is the American way.
I will lower federal income taxes to the point most Americans will never have to file an income tax return ever again. In its place I will ask all Americans to endure a 3% national consumption tax on all goods and services. The revenues from which will be used to help Americans when their need for assistance is at its greatest. Americans take care of Americans. But our system must be refunded to keep us fiscally strong and independent.
I will seek to decrease the size of government so that you will have the freedom from excessive government regulation. This is the meaning of Liberty and your greatest unalienable right.
We will return to the day were children must meet educational standards necessary to compete in the world economy. The time for coddling our children is over; our intelligence will free us from poverty. Our children must know earlier what the jobs of the future will be and how to obtain them. I want to spark the same desire in our children that I had when I saw our country land on the moon. We can and we will accomplish this. But I need the help of teachers, parents and society to reach this goal. There is no higher calling than to prepare our next generation.
We will find those opportunities where private-public partnerships will keep Americans employed, our infrastructure strong and self-reliant.
We will work to return to fiscal sanity and retain a surplus that will never again see us selling debt to foreign powers. We must look inward to regain our independence.
I stand before now you as a passionate, free, and independent American. Not as a man who has a legacy to build. My legacy, your legacy, was passed down by our elders, whose blood, sweat, and tears are engrained into the sweet and fertile soil of our lands. Our legacy is to protect that which has already been endowed – Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
I ask to be your steward and to join me as an American in this second declaration of independence.
