A New America

Alexander Yang, Winner
8th Grade
Los Altos

Being Asian American, I was taught at a young age to be thrifty, to repay debts quickly, and to save my money in the piggy bank. In addition, my parents taught me to work hard and tackle big projects by breaking it up into smaller, more manageable chunks, then start with the piece that I was most excited about or interested in order to build up momentum to finish the entire project. Luckily, being born in California means that I can be the first Asian American President of the United States once I satisfy the age requirement.

If I were the first Asian American President of the United States, I would not try to solve all of our nation’s problems, but instead practice what I learned from my parents, break up the nation’s problems into manageable chunks and prioritize them. As president, I would steer our country towards technology and science to end our fossil fuel addiction. I would lead the United States to freedom from both domestic and foreign crude oil, as these resources are not renewable. By following President Kennedy’s space race example, I would set a goal for America to be oil independent before the decade is out and to concentrate the enormous capabilities and ingenuity of the American people to build up an infrastructure of solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energy to supply the energy needs of America.

By eliminating crude oil dependence and generating cheap renewable energy people will have more money in their pockets to help boost the economy. As the first Asian American President, I would take the extra revenue generated by the economy from the jobs created in the renewable energy industry and money saved from the elimination of oil imports to pay off our trillion-dollar debt. By paying down the debt, the savings from paying the interest on the national debt would allow us to fund education and social security fully.

As an Asian American, I have learned to always live within our means, pay off our debts, and to save for a rainy day, and I would bring these Asian values to the Office of the President of the United States. All the great US Presidents that we remember, such as Washington, Lincoln, and Kennedy, are remembered for one major accomplishment during their presidency. Such as Washington, the Revolutionary hero who fought for the birth of the nation, Lincoln, who kept the Union together and resolved the question of slavery that the Founding Fathers could not agree on, and Kennedy,who got the country working together to put a man on the moon. I would want history to remember me not just as the first Asian American President of the United States, but as the President who freed America from her oil dependence and freed her from her debts—the President who brought about a new America.