The founders trusted us with this awesome authority. We should trust ourselves with it, too. Because when we don’t, when we turn away and get discouraged and cynical, and abdicate that authority, we grant our silent consent to someone who will gladly claim it. That’s how we end up with lobbyists who set the agenda; and policies detached from what middle-class families face every day; the well-connected who publicly demand that Washington stay out of their business -- and then whisper in government’s ear for special treatment that you don’t get.
That’s how a small minority of lawmakers get cover to defeat something the vast majority of their constituents want. That’s how our political system gets consumed by small things when we are a people called to do great things -- like rebuild a middle class, and reverse the rise of inequality, and repair the deteriorating climate that threatens everything we plan to leave for our kids and our grandkids.
Class of 2013, only you can ultimately break that cycle. Only you can make sure the democracy you inherit is as good as we know it can be. But it requires your dedicated, and informed, and engaged citizenship. And that citizenship is a harder, higher road to take, but it leads to a better place. It’s how we built this country -- together.
It’s the question that President Kennedy posed to the nation at his inauguration. It’s the dream that Dr. King invoked. It does not promise easy success or immediate progress -- but it has led to success, and it has led to progress. And it has to continue with you.
Which brings me to the second thing I ask of all of you -- I ask that you persevere. Whether you start a business, or run for office, or devote yourself to alleviating poverty or hunger, please remember that nothing worth doing happens overnight. A British inventor named Dyson went through more than 5,000 prototypes before getting that first really fancy vacuum cleaner just right. We remember Michael Jordan’s six championships; we don't remember his nearly 15,000 missed shots. As for me, I lost my first race for Congress, and look at me now -- I’m an honorary graduate of The Ohio State University. (Applause.)
The point is, if you are living your life to the fullest, you will fail, you will stumble, you will screw up, you will fall down. But it will make you stronger, and you’ll get it right the next time, or the time after that, or the time after that. And that is not only true for your personal pursuits, but it’s also true for the broader causes that you believe in as well.
So you can't give up your passion if things don't work right away. You can't lose heart, or grow cynical if there are twists and turns on your journey. The cynics may be the loudest voices -- but I promise you, they will accomplish the least. It’s those folks who stay at it, those who do the long, hard, committed work of change that gradually push this country in the right direction, and make the most lasting difference.
So whenever you feel that creeping cynicism, whenever you hear those voices saying you can’t do it, you can't make a difference, whenever somebody tells you to set your sights lower -- the trajectory of this great nation should give you hope. What generations have done before you should give you hope. Because it was young people just like you who marched and mobilized and stood up and sat in to secure women’s rights, and voting rights, and workers’ rights, and gay rights -- often at incredible odds, often at great danger, often over the course of years, sometimes over the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime -- and they never got acknowledged for it, but they made a difference. (Applause.)
And even if their rights were already secured, there were those who fought to secure those same rights and opportunities for others. And that should give you some hope.
Where we’re going should give you hope. Because while things are still hard for a lot of people, you have every reason to believe that your future is bright. You’re graduating into an economy and a job market that is steadily healing. The once-dying American auto industry is on pace for its strongest performance in 20 years -- something that means everything to many communities in Ohio and across the Midwest. Huge strides in domestic energy, driven in part by research at universities like this one, have us on track to secure our own energy future. Incredible advances in information and technology spurred largely by the risk-takers of your generation have the potential to change the way we do almost everything.
There is not another country on Earth that would not gladly change places with the United States of America. And that will be true for your generation just as it was true for previous generations.
So you’ve got a lot to look forward to, but if there’s one certainty about the decade ahead, it’s that things will be uncertain. Change will be a constant, just as it has been throughout our history. And, yes, we still face many important challenges. Some will require technological breakthroughs or new policy insights. But more than anything, what we will need is political will -- to harness the ingenuity of your generation, and encourage and inspire the hard work of dedicated citizens. To repair the middle class, to give more families a fair shake, to reject a country in which only a lucky few prosper because that’s antithetical to our ideals and our democracy -- all of this is going to happen if you are involved, because it takes dogged determination -- the dogged determination of our citizens.
To educate more children at a younger age, and to reform our high schools for a new time, and to give more young people the chance to earn the kind of education that you did at The Ohio State University, and to make it more affordable so young people don’t leave with a mountain of debt -- that will take the care and concern of citizens like you. (Applause.)
To build better roads and airports and faster Internet, and to advance the kinds of basic research and technology that’s always kept America ahead of everybody else -- that will take the grit and fortitude of citizens.
To confront the threat of climate change before it’s too late -- that requires the idealism and the initiative of citizens.
To protect more of our kids from the horrors of gun violence -- that requires the unwavering passion, the untiring resolve of citizens. (Applause.) It will require you.
Fifty years ago, President Kennedy told the class of 1963 that “our problems are manmade -- therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants.” We’re blessed to live in the greatest nation on Earth. But we can always be greater. We can always aspire to something more. That doesn’t depend on who you elect to office. It depends on you, as citizens, how big you want us to be, how badly you want to see these changes for the better.
And look at all that America has already accomplished. Look at how big we’ve been. I dare you, Class of 2013, to do better. I dare you to dream bigger.
And from what I’ve seen of your generation, I'm confident that you will. And so I wish you courage, and compassion, and all the strength that you will need for that tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.
Thank you. God bless you, and God bless these United States of America. (Applause.)
