ANNOUNCEMENT OF CANDIDACY

My friends: Americans, French, Liberians, friends of Liberia and Africa. My name is Woahtee, and I come before you this evening to declare my candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic of Liberia. I have chosen this path because the Liberian people desperately want and deserve a change, and I represent that change. Liberians want an end of divisions, and a beginning of unity. Liberians want an end of conflict, and a beginning of cooperation. Liberians want an end of violence and fear, and a beginning of peace and hope. Liberians are reaching out to the world, and the world is ready to reach out to Liberia.

The message of my campaign is partnership. I have proposed a new partnership and spirit of volunteerism within the communities of Liberia. I have developed a program to bring student volunteers into the villages, to learn as they help the communities meet the needs of basic health, infrastructure development, and education. As they teach, and learn, they will also develop and spread a shared, renewed sense of Liberian citizenship and community.

Why, you may ask, have I come before this organization, the National Black Chamber of Commerce of the United States, here in Washington, DC, to announce my candidacy for the Presidency of Liberia? I have done so because more than ever before, Liberians must reach out to our friends in the world. The theme of my candidacy is p

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rate citizens for a few months before an election, along with campaign T-shirts and the like, then forgetting about the people as soon as you are elected. For me, what nationalism IS about is the feelings of love for your country. True nationalism is about improving the living conditions of the citizenry. Nationalism is about caring for the nation's elderly, its disabled, and all those in need. Nationalism is about educating the young, the adults, the elderly; about providing universal healthcare; about creating equal opportunity for all, regardless of tribe, religion, or other background. Above all, nationalism, for me, is about developing your country from the village level on up. A wise man has said that where the rule is an eye for an eye, the people end up blind. This is the lesson that a generation of civil strife have taught us in Liberia. I have experienced this tragedy in my own life. A nephew was murdered, and his mother -- my sister was forced to cut up and cook his body for his murderers to eat. These horrors happened within one tribe. A group from another tribe went to my village, dug up my father's casket, and shot at it because they believed that it was full of money. I could go and seek revenge for
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2403
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)