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And America means opportunity. The chance for our children and their children to have a good education and a good job.

All my life I've stood for those values, and I've never seen them more under attack than they are today. I wish you could travel with me to see what I see. I've traveled hundreds of thousands of miles all over this country, often door-to-door. I talk to people in their homes and listen to their concerns.

I've heard their message. And it's not the message you hear coming from the White House.

Ronald Reagan thinks Americans are lazy and don't really want to work. Ronald Reagan thinks the poor want only the next government handout. Ronald Reagan thinks Blacks, women, environmentalist and human rights advocates have gone too far.

Ronald Reagan is dead wrong. He does not understand America. He does not understand how the vast majority of Americans live day-to-day. He does not understand the distinction between the vital, assisting role of government and the areas where the government should stay out.

Of course, no President nor government can do everything. But with a clear understanding of America's values and the wisdom of experience, the President of the United States can make a real difference.

Here are the three central goals which I propose as an alternative future for America. One which I believe we must accomplish together in the years ahead.

I. Stop This Reckless Arms Race and Move Us Toward a Safer World

Unless we act immediately, the Reagan Administration's foreign policy will lead us into a terrible war in which everyone will be losers. And the pace is accelerating. Tragically, the United States is quickening that pace instead of acting as an agent of peace.

While negotiating arms control is not easy, nor accomplished overnight, here is what we can and must do today:

...Stop the massive weapons buildup (MX, B-1, poison nerve gas), and ease the tension by getting the President and Soviet leaders together for annual summit meetings. Ratify the Salt II Treaty, pursue an immediate nuclear arms freeze and begin urgent discussions with every nuclear power about how we an avoid an accidental nuclear holocaust; and,

...Stop the reckless foreign adventurism in Lebanon, Central America and the other areas where the call to use force may seem seductive but is contrary to international law or inconsistent with America's vital long-term interests.

II. Stop the Runaway Federal Deficits and Restore America's Economic Competitiveness

Of course, our economic problems are complex and not easily solved, but Ronald Reagan's policies are compounding these problems at a rapid pace.

We must begin moving in the right direction today. We must undo the damage of Reaganomics—which is rapidly mortgaging our future with massive federal debt—and set a long-term economic policy that is efficient and compassionate.

We must curb Reagan's wasteful and excessive defense spending and close the tax loopholes which are hemorrhaging revenue.

For America to compete as successfully in world markets as we have in the past, we must undertake major changes in our industries. We must make an enormous investment in modernizing plants, retraining workers and expanding research and development. We must learn the languages of our customers and pursue their markets more aggressively.

Government can help bring management and labor together to make American products more competitive. And it can provide incentives for the huge private investment in research and development that the fast moving future demands. Our goal must be nothing short of a national commitment to jobs, economic growth and industrial renewal. 

The final step in restoring our nation's long-term economic health and competitiveness is to renew our educational system.

The quality of education in American has declined because we let education drop down the list of our national priorities. This was a tragic mistake.

This must stop. We must reinvest.

Our country's most valuable natural resource is not oil or minerals, it is our children. And their education ensures the future quality of our health care, our technology, our national security and much, much more.

In the next four to eight years, we can raise test scores, rekindle student and teachers excitement and bolster the central areas of reading, math an science. We must focus renewed time and attention on the quality of education and the educational standards we set.

But it will be expensive. There is no shortcut here. No simple "incentive plan."

In the next few years, we can see major improvements in educational standards and student test scores if we are willing to make the necessary investment of time and money.

III. Restore America's Commitment to Social Justice

Ronald Reagan thinks we have gone too far with civil rights and civil liberties and he is determined to reverse that trend. This is a tragedy.

America's mission is to advance human rights tirelessly and give the rest of the world a mark to reach for.

We won many major civil rights battles in the sixties and seventies. But these victories will mean little if we do not enforce them. This must be priority #1 for the Justice Department.

And there is still enormous discrimination in American life today. We cannot tolerate it. We must continue to root out discrimination i the areas of housing, education, pay and employment. We must recover America's passionate commitment to fairness which Ronald Reagan has cast aside.

And when I am sworn in for my second term and pledge to defend the U.S. Constitution, I want the Constitution to include the Equal Rights Amendment for women!

These three national goals represent what I believe is a far better plan for America's future. I believe they represent a future more in keeping with American values—a future worthy of hope and confidence. There is certainly much more that needs to be accomplished. But these three goals are central and urgent.

These three tasks are enormous. To achieve them will require renewing our sense of national purpose. And they will [[sic]]reqire experienced leadership which commands a wide breadth of public support and is true to American values and individual Americans.

I realize this is a complex message to convey to millions of our citizens whose lives are filled with their own burdens. But we simply cannot afford to continue down the path set by the Reagan Administration.

Each day decisions are made in the White House which bring us closer to war and farther away from a society we all want. I know these facts and that is why I have committed the past two years to defeating Ronald Reagan and setting America back on track. Now I need your help.

I understand what government can do, and what it should not try. I know how a President can pull us together and move us forward, or divide us and drive us backward.

I know our allies, and I am on to our adversaries. I know how America works and why Washington often does not. I will not fool myself nor try to fool you.

I have spent many long hours traveling America, talking to Americans. I know where we need to go. I am ready to help take us there.

I need your help to win the Presidency, and I do not hesitate to ask you for it.

I ask you to join my campaign for President by making as generous a contribution as you can, today.

And I ask you to put aside your skepticism about politics. To look up from the day-to-day demands of rearing a family and earning a living. To set aside, for now, that single concern that seems so important.

Please, join with me today, in a new national commitment to work together for America—for our families, for our neighbors and for our country. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Walter F. Mondale

P.S. Ronald Reagan's political strategists are worried. Their polls show me in a dead heat with the President. And they know I am now in a position to blow the whistle on the real impact of Reagan's radical policies. In the weeks ahead and you will see them use the political power of incumbency with great skill to mask their real plans for using military power abroad and slashing social programs at home. You and I must expose those plans and deny them four more years to implement them.

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