There was a public service ad campaign in the late 1960s or early 1970s in the New York market. It was called "give a damn" and it was focused on the viewers who could actually afford a TV to care about making life better for their fellow Americans.

I that same vein, I want to tell McCain, Clinton and Obama: I want you to give a damn.

I want you to give a damn about the environment. I want you to ignore the pleas of poverty from the top corporations and mult-million-dollar CEOs. I want you to convince them that without addressing the issue of global warming, they can kiss those multi-million-dollar salaries, and the futures of themselves, children and grandchildren, goodbye.
 
I want you to give a damn about the Constitution. I want you to actually believe the oath you will take to "preserve, protect and defend" that specific document, and what it represents to all humanity. For example, freedom of speech and freedom of association are examples of that spirit; the holding of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay forever without true jurisprudence undermines it.

I want you to give a damn enough to actually believe that our society is stronger for a diversity of not personal backgrounds but also the opinions and ideas they engender.
I want you to give a damn about the people you lead enough to give us bad news as well as happy news. That includes bad news That includes bad news on the environment, bad news on the need to raise taxes to support needed government services, bad news about the need to bring back the military draft. Withholding bad news only leads to bad things. Don't believe me? Try it on your family some time. Or ask Eliot Spitzer and Bill Clinton.

I want you to give a damn about children. Not only your children and grandchildren, but also my children. And those of all other parents.

Which means I want you to give a damn about health care. Not only your own, but also mine, and those my loved ones. I want you to give a damn more about the health of my bottom much more than the bottom lines of corporations in the so-called health industry.

Because we're talking about children, I want you to give a damn about education. Head Start works when you include a social work aspect to it, so keep it. Standardized tests only lead teachers to teach to those tests, taking valuable resources of time and energy and funds away from encouraging the child how to best utilize their individual abilities. 

And while we're at it, paying completely for the education of all veterans returning from the hell of war made sense 60 years ago and it makes even more sense today.  

I want you to give a damn about the lives of those you send into battle, as well as the lives of their loved ones. That means no more demanding that wounded vets pay back enlistment bonuses because they can no longer serve. That means streamlining the health care the vets get so the emphasis is once again on those who served, not the system. In the end it means treating with respect those who have shown the most respect to the rest of us.

I want you to give a damn about how government looks to the governed. That means real campaign finance reform. That means reforming our electoral process. That means getting to the bottom of what happened during the presidency of Number 43.

I want you to give a damn about the rule of law. That means prosecuting all those who, as part of the Presidency of Number 43, committed crimes.

I want you to give a damn when a natural disaster strikes, and not just affects the affluent among us. I want you to have people around who actually give a damn enough to do their jobs, not just loosen their ties and take meaningless compliments from the President in public. I want you to give a damn about rebuilding all the small Gulf communities that were also wiped out by Katrina, not just because it makes economic sense, but because it's the right thing to do. 

I want you to give a damn about the least among us: the poor, the sick, the hungry. Contrary to popular beliefs, there were plenty of programs of the Great Society that made sense and actually worked.

I want you to give a damn enough to know that the lives of all are improved when the lives of the least among us are improved.
 
Finally, I want my next President (and accompanying Congress) to give a damn about giving a damn. That means actions, not just empty words. 

After all, whether you give a damn or not will determine whether we remain the Last Best Hope on Earth.