A year to the day after kicking off his re-election campaign at Ohio State University, President Barack Obama returned to the college campus and told graduates that only through vigorous participation in their \u201cdemocracy\u201d can they right an ill-functioning government and break through relentless cynicism about the nation\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI dare you, Class of 2013, to do better. I dare you to do better,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n
In a sunbaked stadium filled with more than 57,000 students, friends and relatives, Obama lamented an American political system that gets consumed by \u201csmall things\u201d and works for the benefit of society\u2019s elite. He called graduates to duty to \u201caccomplish great things,\u201d like rebuilding a still-feeble economy and fighting poverty and climate change.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly you can ultimately break that cycle. Only you can make sure the democracy you inherit is as good as we know it can be,\u201d the president told more than 10,000 cap-and-gown-clad graduates. \u201cBut it requires your dedicated, informed and engaged citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama also urged the students to \u201creject these voices\u201d that warn of the evils of government, saying:<\/p>\n
\u201cStill, you\u2019ll hear voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that\u2019s the root of all our problems, even as they do their best to gum up the works; or that tyranny always lurks just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave, creative, unique experiment in self-rule is just a sham with which we can\u2019t be trusted.\u201d<\/p>\n