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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, January 18, 2009

Student urges Obama to believe in young generation

 •  In our words


Kelly Maeshiro
Pearl City High School Junior
Hawaii State Student Council Representative
Leeward District

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Kelly Maeshiro is a Pearl City High School junior and Hawaii State Student Council representative from the Leeward District.

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Mr. President, I am Kelly Maeshiro, a member of the Hawaii State Student Council. I represent a constituency of some thousands of students. Let me acknowledge though, that it is not through election that I speak on their behalf, but through popular consent and common opinion. We, Mr. President, have a vision for a better tomorrow and we, Mr. President hope that you realize what significance your role plays in this vision. We the people have vested in you the authority to sculpt a new America, that if there were one thing we would ask, it would be that the promises you make not be empty, but filled with dire intent, that although these promises may be unattainable, you at least try. We the people have endowed within you the authority through popular consent that you may draw your upon your powers to change this nation.

I imagine, Mr. President that our constitution shall be upheld to the majesty that it is, a virtue we have long seen neglected, that We the People means something to those who represent us, and that to secure our rights, Government is instituted among us, deriving its just powers from the consent of the we, the governed.

I imagine Mr. President that our Representatives and our Senators realize that a Democratic Republic means a government for the people, by the people, that it is only through common consent that they derive their just power, and that these congressmen see their roles as statesmen, the virtuous citizens of our country, rather than agenda-pushing politicians we have long had enough of, and that our congressmen open their ears to the plight of the American people and act in accordance.

I imagine Mr. President, a government that makes Education a priority, and that the powers that preside over education be moved back into the institutions that implement and more thoroughly understand it, the schools. I imagine that our teachers will realize that the world today is radically different from the world that shall be tomorrow and that they teach us accordingly.

I imagine Mr. President, a United States of America where health, as we have to means to attain it, is not a privilege, but a right, that every citizen is now entitled to healthcare, regardless of size of their pocketbook, because we have held and shall continue to 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

I hope you will understand, Mr. President, the importance of our generation, that we are the future of this planet, and that our prosperity, on many parts, is contingent upon your generation's commitment to us. Let me warn you, you have never seen a generation quite like this one, Mr. President. We are a generation that will rock and shake and scream until all is justly done. We are a generation that will not sleep until our representatives and senators close their hands to the corruption that has too long plagued the American government. We are a generation that can and will do, with all our might, everything that has been dreamed of and everything that has yet to be dreamed of. Might I request one more thing, Mr. President, it is that you believe in our generation and that you remember the American people.