Over a century and a half ago, this nation threatened to fall apart. It was only through the strength and bravery of our citizens that our country survived, resolving to ensure that our unique nation, governed of, by, and for the people, did not perish from the earth. Since that moment, the U.S. has faced many great challenges, from combatting the rise of fascism to facing down communist aggression. Our nation persevered through those difficult times and came out stronger, and, for a time, we were the greatest nation on earth.
We are no longer the greatest nation on earth. America is one of the lowest ranked developed countries in the world in terms of healthcare, education, economic disparity, quality of living and countless other fields. We blame politicians, lobbyists, corporations and so many others for our nation’s woes, but if we are honest, the problem lies with us. A country is only as strong as its citizens, and the American people have lost what made us great.
The average American today is more informed about the latest celebrity gossip than the genocide being committed in the Central African Republic. We seem more concerned about the latest iPhone release than the plight of millions of undocumented immigrants flowing into the country. The average conversation you’ll hear on campus will be about the party last weekend, not the growing number of families and children being forced into homelessness. The American people have lost interest in being informed. The American people have stopped caring.
Blame the Republicans, Democrats, Obama or Congress all you want, but it is us as a people who elect our leaders. It is the American people who set the direction of our country. It is our civic duty to not just be voters but to be informed voters. In this digital age, an era where the power of social media rivals the power of traditional media, we as college students once again have the opportunity to be the catalyst for change. We must begin to care about the issues that affect our nation and our world.
I have no doubt that the American people still carry the capacity for empathy, the capacity to care. If we are all truly informed, not just through sound bites from MSNBC or Fox News but through genuine exploration and interest for all sides of an issue, I am confident that the decisions we will make will help us to move our country forward. Republicans, Democrats and Indpendents alike will understand they have a common goal and that they must compromise their various paths to that goal to keep moving forward. While the solutions may be imperfect and neither side will be fully satisfied, moderate and bipartisan efforts are the only true way to effect lasting and meaningful change.
America will never regain its stature in the world by focusing on any single issue, domestic or foreign -— it must rely upon the informed decisions of its people to form a multifaceted way forward to improve the lives of Americans and the world. We remain the preeminent superpower in the world, and it is the moral responsibility of those in great power such as ourselves to protect the innocent and suffering, both at home and abroad. This unique capacity for change, for empathy, for caring, remains our country’s greatest hope.
I call you to be part of this change in culture. Instead of being apolitical or blindly tethering yourself to a single party or ideology, become part of the informed electorate. We must have a different type of strength and bravery than in the past. We must have the strength to get truly educated on the issues and care about what is happening in our nation and in our world. We must have the bravery to spread and share our views, to vote, to get involved. The U.S. remains the grandest experiment in democracy, and yet in comparison to the many great nations of the past, we are still a fledgling nation. Despite its recent decline, America’s story as the shining city on the hill is far from ending. We are not the greatest country in the world anymore, but we can be.
Shinseki is a member of
the Class of 2015.
