Address by A Future President of The United States. July 2024

My fellow Americans, 
I stand before you as a future president of the United States. Let me say that again. The United States. In our brief 200 year history we have together achieved many splendid things. I personally can recall MGM films, the Ford Mustang, Gibson Guitars, Benny Goodman, Miles Davies, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Holiday, The Doors, Bruce Springsteen and Chief Wilma Mankiller. I’m sure you have your own list. Not only that, but we have been generous in sharing these things with the world. 

Where are we now? Are we really saying that what represents the best of America is chlorinated chicken? Are we really trying to sell this to the world in 2020? And that’s my point. Things have changed. If we really want to be great again, we must change. 
So fellow Americans, I have decided to offer you a vision. It is a vision of the future where we reach the next level. The place where we can set aside the old American Dream and replace it with the Future American Dream. A World where America leads us all to a bright new future. Not just great again, but Better Than Ever. 

To do this we must first stop. Yes, stop and think. What do we want for all our people? What things would make all our lives better? Let us identify what improves us, and discard that which destroys the very thing we all hold so dear: America. 

First up, we have to make sure all our people get good food. And I mean good nutritious food, not foods that make us overweight, sluggish and susceptible to disease. In my first term in office I intend to outlaw bad food, and subsidise good food. 
Second up is education. Far too many Americans do not get a good education. Do you know that literacy rates in Costa Rica far exceed our rates in the United States? How can it be that the richest country in the world has worse literacy than a small Central American country? I intend in my first term to radically alter the education system to make sure every single child has the opportunity to reach college education and beyond. And I can see some of you looking down - how are we gonna pay for it? I’ll tell you how. 

Up to now many of our big corporations have earned huge fortunes from Americans who work for them and buy from them. What has happened to these fortunes? Have they been invested in America? They have not. Instead we find vast reserves of dollars invested in dubious funds in other countries. Not Invested in America. Yes, I’m gonna be tough, and this is what I’m gonna do. I will make it illegal for any company to take profits made in America out of America. I’m gonna make it illegal for any company that has offices in America to shed its tax liability in other territories. And if they do, I’m gonna throw the directors in jail and confiscate their personal funds. 

But we are going to play fair. Any American corporation that makes money in other countries will now pay tax on their earning in that country. No more will US companies undermine our reputation across the globe by avoiding tax in other countries. Sure, you can make a vast fortune undermining the social systems of Europe, Africa, Asia and even Russia. But at what cost? Instead of exporting a vision of the future to the world we are the ones ensuring others live in poverty while we hoard up wealth for ourselves. And these things come back to haunt us. If we destroy the tax base of other countries, then we generate more poverty, more strife and more corruption. Is that what we want? Is that the vision we have for our great country? 

There are many Americans who have stored up huge pots of gold. They are wealthy people who think that this is the point of their lives. Wealth is not the only goal. For if wealth is our only goal then we create another that goes alongside it. Poverty: Just so a few of us can be rich, we consign a vast section of our people to the gutter. Is that what we want? 

We must all pay more for our society, so we can have good food, good health and good education, and the rich must pay a lot lot more. Get used to it, because it will make all our lives better. But how will we live? What about jobs? I tell you this. Everyone in America will have a job. You think we need to wait for some upturn in the world to get people to work? No! Look out beyond the simple idea that we are still in the era of coal mines and steel mills. We are not. Soon Artificial Intelligence will take over many of our mundane tasks. So what jobs will we do? I’ll tell you. We need to repair our country. It’s falling apart after years of neglect. Roads, railways, bridges and buildings are in need to repair. Our land needs tender care to bring it back to healthy life, so that we can provide the good food we need. Our wind and solar farms need to expand, and our world of arts and culture needs to be enlivened by new ideas. We’ve sold jazz and rock and rap music to the world, but what else have we got? There are too many silos in America where only a small elite ever get the chance to make music, or write a book or create works of art. I will tear down these silos. There will be no unemployment in America. 

In my last few years I have watched as malicious and wrong headed people have attacked Americans. Here in America mass shootings and killings are too familiar. Next door In Canada, there are very few mass shootings. The Difference? There is no right to bear arms in Canada. Hence I will be banning the holding of all guns by private individuals in America. This will be implemented within 100 days of taking office. It will be a felony to be in possession of firearms after that date. In order to ensure the smooth transition to this our police will continue to bear arms until we are sure private individuals have been disarmed. Then they too will disarm. 

It is also clear to me that the drug taking epidemic in the United States - yes it is an epidemic, is driven by the illegal status of the substances - and the associated culture of misplaced notions of freedom that this generates. I intend to make all drug dependancy a health issue to be dealt with by health professionals. All drugs will be legal in the USA and our health system will be expanded to deal with those who become addicted to any drug, including alcohol. All drugs will be taxed in the same way as alcohol and tobacco, and crucially it will not be an offence to posses drugs. But, It will still be an offence to supply drugs outside the official health monitored provision. To tackle drugs we must also ask why so many Americans take them. And I don’t just mean illegal drugs. I mean all the uppers and downers that are prescribed by our health system, sometimes through fear of being sued if they are not provided. We will review all cases of law suits pertaining to health and change these to protect doctors from pressure 
to prescribe. And we will together discover why we want these drugs, and then take steps to help us give them up. We can only end the cocaine gangs supply from South America when we stop buying it. No matter how many police officers we employ, there will never be enough to stop this trade. 

Which, my fellow Americans, brings me to health: It is completely unacceptable that over 130,000 Americans have died in the Covid pandemic. We lead the world with deaths, whereas we should be leading the world with technologies and treatments and expertise that helps save our own people and helps other countries around the world. I look out towards the Atlantic and I see Cuba: Cuba, a country minuscule in comparison to the United States. Yet it is they who sent medical teams to Italy when they were in the middle of their crisis. China also sent equipment and experts. What did we do? Cower in our homes because we did not trust our government or because we could not afford health care? Is that the vision of America we want? It is not. So I will also ensure that our health systems will be available to all, and remember everyone will have a job, so everyone will pay taxes to support that system. Some of you may think this is just Obamacare again. I assure you it will be much more than that. 

You know, as I look across the Hudson River and see the statue of liberty, with her arm outstretched to the world, I ask myself, what does this mean? We have created the greatest country on Earth, because of what liberty means. People have come here from all corners of the globe to make new lives, and join our society. We cannot now say to these people that liberty is only for one group. We cannot frame our laws to disadvantage those who are the descendants of those we may have brought here as slaves. Nor those who were here before we arrived. Liberty applies to everyone. But know this. Liberty is not the same as freedom to do whatever you wish. Liberty requires responsibility. Responsibility to all our citizens, regardless of colour, creed or belief. So yes, I will ensure we, you, me will have liberty and responsibility. In equal measure. 

And finally my fellow Americans, we must consider our role in the world. We share this planet with 7 billion other people and if there is one thing the covid 19 pandemic has taught us, it’s that there is nowhere to hide. We must all decide what we want to do to contribute to this world. It is no longer acceptable to simply deploy our American military personnel on the basis of economic interests. We must assume a greater vision and act to enhance and support other peoples and countries less fortunate than ourselves. When people say to me we must make America Great again I say yes, I agree with you. We have always been a great nation, and we have never been greater than when we came to the aid of others. So as your president I will be moving the focus of our military away from planning nuclear wars, or preparing for more conflicts with more and more weaponry. Instead our military will become a force to rescue people, including our own, when disaster or tragedy strikes. We will use our expertise and know-how to make this planet a better place to live for everyone. 

It is not enough to say, let’s make America great again. Instead we must say, let’s make America greater than it has ever been. 
Thank you for your time and attention. I know many of you will not be voting for me in 2020. But one day, you will. 

John Fitzsimons, lead singer with The Papers. 
www.thepapersmusic.co.uk