But I think you know that to really solve this problem, we’ll all have to put our heads together, leave our ideological armor aside, and find some new ideas to do even more.

The Role Of Government

And let’s be honest, we all know something else, too.  Our problems go way beyond the reach of government.  They’re rooted in the loss of values and the disappearance of work and the breakdown of our families and our communities.  My fellow Americans, we can cut the deficit, create jobs, promote democracy around the world, pass welfare reform and health care, pass the toughest crime bill in history and still leave too many of our people behind.

The American people have got to want to change from within if we’re going to bring back work and family and community.  We cannot renew our country when, within a decade, more than half of the children will be born into families where there has been no marriage.  We cannot renew this country when 13-year-old boys get semi-automatic weapons to shoot 9 year olds for kicks.  We can’t renew our country when children are having children and the fathers walk away as if the kids don’t amount to anything.  We can’t renew the country when our businesses eagerly look for new investments and new customers abroad but ignore those people right here at home who’d give anything to have their jobs and would gladly buy their products if they had the money to do it.

We can’t renew our country unless more of us—­I mean all of us—­are willing to join the churches and the other good citizens, people like all the black ministers I’ve worked with over the years or the priests and the nuns I met at Our Lady of Help in East Los Angeles or my good friend Tony Campolo in Philadelphia, unless we’re willing to work with people like that, people who are saving kids, adopting schools, making streets safer.  All of us can do that.

We can’t renew our country until we realize that governments don’t raise children; parents do.  Parents who know their children’s teachers and turn off the television and help with the homework and teach their kids right from wrong—­those kind of parents can make all the difference.  I know.  I had one.  And I’m telling you we have got to stop pointing our fingers at these kids who have no future and reach our hands out to them.  Our country needs it.  We need it.  And they deserve it.

And so I say to you tonight let’s give our children a future.  Let us take away their guns and give them books.  Let us overcome their despair and replace it with hope.  Let us, by our example, teach them to obey the law, respect our neighbors, and cherish our values.  Let us weave these sturdy threads into a new American community that once more stand strong against the forces of despair and evil because everybody has a chance to walk into a better tomorrow.

Oh, there will be naysayers who fear that we won’t be equal to the challenges of this time, but they misread our history, our heritage, even today’s headlines.  All those things tell us we can and we will overcome any challenge.