And we're going to return to fiscal responsibility because it is the foundation of our
economic strength. Our plan will cut the deficit in half in four years by ending tax
giveaways that are nothing more than corporate welfare — and will make
government live by the rule that every family has to follow: pay as you go.

And let me tell you what we won't do: we won't raise taxes on the middle class.
You've heard a lot of false charges about this in recent months. So let me say
straight out what I will do as President: I will cut middle class taxes. I will reduce the
tax burden on small business. And I will roll back the tax cuts for the wealthiest
individuals who make over $200,000 a year, so we can invest in job creation, health
care and education.

Our education plan for a stronger America sets high standards and demands
accountability from parents, teachers, and schools. It provides for smaller class
sizes and treats teachers like the professionals they are. And it gives a tax credit to
families for each and every year of college.

When I was a prosecutor, I met young kids who were in trouble, abandoned by
adults. And as President, I am determined that we stop being a nation content to
spend $50,000 a year to keep a young person in prison for the rest of their life —
when we could invest $10,000 to give them Head Start, Early Start, Smart Start, the
best possible start in life.

And we value health care that's affordable and accessible for all Americans.

Since 2000, four million people have lost their health insurance. Millions more are
struggling to afford it.

You know what's happening. Your premiums, your co-payments, your deductibles
have all gone through the roof.

Our health care plan for a stronger America cracks down on the waste, greed, and
abuse in our health care system and will save families up to $1,000 a year on their
premiums. You'll get to pick your own doctor — and patients and doctors, not
insurance company bureaucrats, will make medical decisions.

Under our plan, Medicare will negotiate lower drug prices for seniors. And all
Americans will be able to buy less expensive prescription drugs from countries like
Canada.

The story of people struggling for health care is the story of so many Americans. But
you know what, it's not the story of senators and members of Congress. Because
we give ourselves great health care and you get the bill.

Well, I'm here to say, your family's health care is just as important as any politician's
in Washington, D.C.

And when I'm President, America will stop being the only advanced nation in the
world which fails to understand that health care is not a privilege for the wealthy, the
connected, and the elected — it is a right for all Americans.

We value an America that controls its own destiny because it's finally and forever
independent of Mideast oil. What does it mean for our economy and our national
security when we only have three percent of the world's oil reserves, yet we rely on
foreign countries for fifty-three percent of what we consume? I want an America that
relies on its own ingenuity and innovation — not the Saudi royal family.

And our energy plan for a stronger America will invest in new technologies and
alternative fuels and the cars of the future — so that no young American in uniform
will ever be held hostage to our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

I've told you about our plans for the economy, for education, for health care, for
energy independence. I want you to know more about them. So now I'm going to
say something that Franklin Roosevelt could never have said in his acceptance
speech: go to johnkerry.com.

I want to address these next words directly to President George W. Bush: In the
weeks ahead, let's be optimists, not just opponents. Let's build unity in the American
family, not angry division. Let's honor this nation's diversity; let's respect one
another; and let's never misuse for political purposes the most precious document
in American history, the Constitution of the United States.

My friends, the high road may be harder, but it leads to a better place.

And that's why Republicans and Democrats must make this election a contest of big
ideas, not small-minded attacks. This is our time to reject the kind of politics
calculated to divide race from race, group from group, region from region. Maybe
some just see us divided into red states and blue states, but I see us as one
America — red, white, and blue. And when I am President, the government I lead
will enlist people of talent, Republicans as well as Democrats, to find the common
ground — so that no one who has something to contribute will be left on the
sidelines.

And let me say it plainly: in that cause, and in this campaign, we welcome people of
faith. America is not us and them. I think of what Ron Reagan said of his father a
few weeks ago, and I want to say this to you tonight: I don't wear my own faith on
my sleeve. But faith has given me values and hope to live by, from Vietnam to this
day, from Sunday to Sunday. I don't want to claim that God is on our side. As
Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side. And
whatever our faith, one belief should bind us all: The measure of our character is
our willingness to give of ourselves for others and for our country.

These aren't Democratic values. These aren't Republican values. They're American
values. We believe in them. They're who we are. And if we honor them, if we
believe in ourselves, we can build an America that's stronger at home and
respected in the world.

So much promise stretches before us. Americans have always reached for the
impossible, looked to the next horizon, and asked: What if? Two young bicycle
mechanics from Dayton asked what if this airplane could take off at Kitty Hawk? It
did that and changed the world forever. A young president asked what if we could
go to the moon in ten years? And now we're exploring the solar system and the
stars themselves. A young generation of entrepreneurs asked, what if we could take
all the information in a library and put it on a little chip the size of a fingernail? We
did and that too changed the world forever.

And now it's our time to ask: What if? What if we find a breakthrough to cure
Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's and AIDs? What if we have a president who
believes in science, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem cell
research to treat illness and save millions of lives? What if we do what adults
should do — and make sure all our children are safe in the afternoons after school?
And what if we have a leadership that's as good as the American dream — so that
bigotry and hatred never again steal the hope and future of any American? I learned
a lot about these values on that gunboat patrolling the Mekong Delta with young
Americans who came from places as different as Iowa and Oregon, Arkansas,
Florida and California. No one cared where we went to school. No one cared about
our race or our backgrounds. We were literally all in the same boat. We looked out,
one for the other — and we still do.

That is the kind of America I will lead as President — an America where we are all
in the same boat.

Never has there been a more urgent moment for Americans to step up and define
ourselves. I will work my heart out. But, my fellow citizens, the outcome is in your
hands more than mine.

It is time to reach for the next dream. It is time to look to the next horizon. For
America, the hope is there. The sun is rising. Our best days are still to come.

Goodnight, God bless you, and God bless America.

SOURCE: Rocky Mountain News, CO
http://tinyurl.com/5ajnn

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