'It Is Time to Reach for the Next Dream'

Well, I'm here to say tonight: Your family's health care is just as important as any politician's in Washington, D.C.

And when I am president, we will stop being the only advanced nation in the world which fails to understand that health care is not a privilege for the wealthy, and the connected and the elected; it is a right for all Americans.

And we will make it so.

We value an America that controls its own destiny because it's finally and forever independent of Mideast oil. What does it mean for our economy and our national security when we have only 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, yet we rely on foreign countries for 53 percent of what we consume?

I want an America that relies on its ingenuity and innovation, not the Saudi royal family.

And our energy plan for a stronger America -- our energy plan will invest in new technologies and alternative fuels and the cars of the future, so that no young American in uniform will ever be held hostage to our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

I've told you about our plans for the economy, for education, for health care, for energy independence. I want you to know more about them.

So now I'm going to say something that Franklin Roosevelt could never have said in his acceptance speech: Go to JohnKerry.com.

I want to address these next words directly to President George W. Bush.

In the weeks ahead, let's be optimists, not just opponents. Let's build unity in the American family, not angry division. Let's honor this nation's diversity. Let's respect one another. And let's never misuse for political purposes the most precious document in American history, the Constitution of the United States.

My friends, the high road may be harder, but it leads to a better place.

And that's why Republicans and Democrats must make this election a contest of big ideas, not small-minded attacks.

This is our time to reject the kind of politics calculated to divide race from race, region from region, group from group.

Maybe some just see us divided into those red states and blue states, but I see us as one America: red, white and blue.

And when I am president, the government I lead will enlist people of talent, Republicans as well as Democrats, to find the common ground, so that no one who has something to contribute to our nation will be left on the sidelines.

And let me say it plainly: In that cause, and in this campaign, we welcome people of faith. America is not us and them.

I think of what Ron Reagan said of his father a few weeks ago, and I want to say this to you tonight: I don't wear my religion on my sleeve, but faith has given me values and hope to live by, from Vietnam to this day, from Sunday to Sunday.

I don't want to claim that God is on our side.

As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side.

And whatever our faith, one belief should bind us all: The measure of our character is our willingness to give of ourselves for others and for our country.

These aren't Democratic values. These aren't Republican values. They're American values. We believe in them. They're who we are. And if we honor them, if we believe in ourselves, we can build an America that is stronger at home and respected in the world.

So much promise stretches before us. Americans have always reached for the impossible, looked to the next horizon and asked, "What if?"

Two young bicycle mechanics from Dayton asked, "What if this airplane could take off at Kitty Hawk?" It did that, and it changed the world forever.

A young president asked, "What if we could go to the moon in 10 years?" And now we're exploring the stars and the solar systems themselves.

A young generation of entrepreneurs asked, "What if we could take all the information in a library and put it on a chip the size of a fingernail?" We did, and that, too, changed the world.

And now it's our time to ask, "What if?"

What if we find a breakthrough to cure Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's and AIDS?

What if we have a president who believes in science, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem cell research and treat illness for millions of lives?

What if we do what adults should do, and make sure that all of our children are safe in the afternoons after school?

What if we have a leadership that's as good as the American dream, so that bigotry and hatred never again steal the hope or future of any American?

I learned a lot about these values on that gunboat patrolling the Mekong Delta with Americans -- you saw them -- who come from places as different as Iowa and Oregon, Arkansas, Florida, California.

No one cared where we went to school. No one cared about our race or our backgrounds. We were literally all in the same boat. We looked out, one for the other, and we still do.

That is the kind of America that I will lead as president: an America where we are all in the same boat.

Never has there been a moment more urgent for Americans to step up and define ourselves. I will work my heart out. But, my fellow citizens, the outcome is in your hands more than mine.

It is time to reach for the next dream. It is time to look to the next horizon. For America, the hope is there. The sun is rising. Our best days are still to come.

Thank you. Good night. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.