You have been there trying to serve because you have believed both that it wasthe right thing to do and because it gave something back to you.You have dared to care.
Well，dare to care to fight for equal justice for all，for equal pay for women，against hate crimes and bigotry.Dare to care about public schools without qualified teachers or adequate resources.Dare to care about protecting our environment.Dare to care about the 10million children in our country who lack health insurance.Dare to care about the one and a half million children who have a parent in jail.The seven million Deople who suffer from HIV／AIDS.And thank you for caring enough to demand that our nation do more to help those that are suffering throughout this world with HIV／AIDS，to prevent this pandemic from spreading even further.
And I"ll also add，dare enough to care about our political process.You know，as I go and speak with students I"m impressed so much，not only in formal settings，on campuses，but with my daughter and her friends，about how much you care，about how willing you are to volunteer and serve.You may have missed the last wave of me dot.com revolution，but you"ve understood that the dot.community revolution is there for you every single day.And you"ve been willing to be part ofremaking lives in our community.
And yet，there is a real resistance，a tumirlg away from the political process.I hope that some of you will bepublic servants and will even run for office yourself，not to win a position to make animpression on your friends at your 20th reunion，but because you understand how important it is for each ofus as citizens to make a commitment to our democracy.
Your generation，the first one born afterthe social upheavals of the 60"s and 70"s，in the midst of the technologicaladvances of the 80"s and 90"s，are inheriting an economy，a society and a government that has yet to understand fully，or even come to grips with，our rapidly changing world.And so bring your values and experiences and insights into politics.Dare to help make，not just a difference in politics，but create a different politics.Some have called you the generation of choice.You"ve been raised with multiple choice tests，multiple channels，multiple websites and multiple lifestyles.You"ve grown up choosing among altematives that were either not imagined，created or available to people in prior generations.You"ve been invested with far more personal power to customize your life，to make more free choices about how to live than was ever thought possible.And I think as I look at all the surveys and research that is done，your choices reflect not only freedom，but personal responsibility.
The social indicators，not the headlines，the social indicators tell a positive story：drug use and cheating and arrests being down，been pregnancy and suicides，drunk driving deaths being down.Community service and religious involvement being up.But if you look at the area of voting among 18to 29year olds，the numbers tell a far more troubling tale.Many of you I know believe that service and community volunteerism is a better way of solving the issues facing our country than political engagement，because you believe-choose one of the following multiples or choose them all-government either can"t understand or won"t make the right choicesbecause of political pressures， inefficiency，incompetence or big money influence.
Well，I admit there is enough truth in that critique to justify feeling disconnected and alienated.But at bottom，that"s a personal cop -out and a national peril.Political conditions maximize the conditionsfor individual opporttmity and responsibility as well as community.Americorps and the Peace Corps exist because ofpolitical decisions.Our air，water，land and food will be clean and safe because of political choices.Our ability to cure disease or log onto the Iutemet have been advanced because of politically determined investments.Ethnic cleansing in Kosovo ended because of political leadership.Your parents and granaparents traveled here by means of government built and subsidized transportation systems.Many used GI Bills or government loans，as I did，to attend college.
Now，I could，as you might guess，go on and on，but the point is to remind us all that government is us and each generation has to stake its claim.And，as stakeholders，you will have to decide whether or not to make the choice to participate.It is hard and it is，bringing change in a democracy，particularly now.There"s so much about our modem times that conspire to lower our sights，to weaken our vision-as individuals and communities and even nations.
It is not the vast conspiracy you may have heard about；rather it"s a silent conspiracy of cynicism and indifference and alienation that we see every day，in our popular culture and in our prodigious consumerism.
But as many have said before and as Vaclav Havel has said so memorably，"It cannot suffice just to invent new machines，new regulations and new institutions.It is necessary to understanddifferently and more per fectly the true purpose of our existence on this Earth and ofour deeds."And I think we are called on to reject，in this time of blessings that we enjoy，those who will tear us apart and tear us down and instead to liberate our God-given spirit，by being willing to dare to dream of a better world.
