Question: Lyn, I'm from the San Leandro office. The question is, what is the mission for the youth? As a member of the youth movement, I've heard different answers from different people, as far as this question goes. It's primarily been to build the Renaissance, which I imagine, to take no less than 25 to 50 years, or more. And, secondly, the answer that I get is, "to get Lyn in the White House." But, I also hear that, this isn't really necessarily the focus. And thirdly, from reading speeches which you gave for cadre schools like this one, I've gotten the notion that it is to inspire the older generation to change their thinking, for the best of their and our future, which, again, I would think would make the focus: to organize the people in public office, and portend a better future relatively soon--more or less, five to ten years, or something like that. But, the reason why I ask this question, is to have more of a clear idea of what I'm actually doing politically, when I'm out in the streets, and to get a sense of what are the actual means to fulfill this end?

LaRouche: [chuckling] Okay, good! I got you.

Well, first of all, running for President generally means, these days, some guy running around in a mental clown suit, saying, "I want to be President. And, I'll make everything funny." Or, we get Bozos, the other type of guy in the clown suit.

And, I'm not running for President in the year 2023. I expect to be President in the year 2023--that's different. I'm running to be, effectively, the President, actively in the wings, the shadow President now. You see, President Bush has a shadow, right now: It's called Dick Cheney, otherwise known as "Dirty Dick" Cheney. He and "Bugsy" Rumsfeld are pretty much running the government. And Bush doesn't know what government is, yet. He knows he's in it, and he thinks he's boss, but he doesn't know what that means.

All right. Now, I'm running as a shadow President. That means that I'm doing the things--I have no powers of the Presidency; I have no particular powers--but I'm moving--you see, I'm travelling in Europe, right now. I'm moving in world affairs, as well as our national affairs, to give direction in the way, by policy enunciation and presenting ideas, to people who are in government, or who have been in government, or who are important political institutions, in various parts of the world. I'm providing leadership, of the type that a President should be providing, for the role of the United States as a nation, and the role of the United States in the world. So, I'm running as President, not just for becoming President.

Also, there are some characteristics of the youth movement, which are quite important for this. Now, the new characteristic of this youth movement, as opposed to those I've known of from before--except the original American Revolution was a youth movement. You look at the age of Alexander Hamilton, at the time he was a leader at Valley Forge and other things--that was a youth movement! This is your age group. They made the American Revolution. Oh, a few older guys, like Benjamin Franklin and so forth, played a role. But it was a youth movement, under the direction of what's called a Junto, led by Benjamin Franklin, which wrote the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson actually did the handwriting, but the Declaration of Independence was authored by Benjamin Franklin, not Jefferson. Jefferson was his clerk. Similarly, it was not John Hancock that actually wrote the Federal Constitution, or the Preamble. Again, this was under the leadership of Benjamin Franklin, who represented some of the finest thinking of Europe.

So, you are a youth movement, in that sense, to me. Now, the difference is--as then: You look at some of Franklin's European sources of ideas of the things he was involved in, he was doing something analogous to what I'm doing. He was the leading scientist of the world, at that time. He played a very important part in the development of the science of electricity, and chemistry! Together with his friends, Priestley, in England, and Lavoisier, in France. He was associated with leading scientists in Sweden, in Germany, and elsewhere. And, the way the American Revolution developed, during the middle of the 18th Century, was around this body of scientific idea, for which he had a whole network of newspapers and other publications, and other devices, for mobilizing the population. So, the population of the United States, at the time of the formation of our nation, had a degree of literacy in the order of 90-plus percent! Whereas, in the United Kingdom, or Britain of that time, the literacy rate was 40%, and it was a very poor 40%. So, we were a  morally, intellectually superior people,  because of the organization of the movement led by Benjamin Franklin, with much help from Europe, from his friends in Europe.

Now, my view today, is today, unlike youth movements I've known historically, in recent times, in the 20th Century, we are different. Because we started from a principle of truth, which is why I emphasize this issue of the Gauss 1799 paper. To make the difference between scientific thinking, actual scientific thinking and truth-seeking, and empiricism, because the people that Gauss attacked--Euler and Lagrange, among others in that paper--were people who were empiricists. And, the greatest cultural and intellectual affliction, of modern European civilization, that is, European extended civilization, is the influence of empiricism and related diseases, like existentialism. And therefore, the important thing, is to have a movement based, not on empiricism, or not on opinions, or reactions to  gut feelings, but a movement of young people, who know that they are committed to truth. That doesn't mean they know all truth, it means they're committed to it.

And therefore, by being committed to truth, they can trust themselves. Because we're in a situation of special quality, in which the preceding generation, the so-called "Now Generation" or Baby-Boomer generation, has lost its historical connection. It gave up, by becoming a "Now Generation," by  becoming a consumer society generation, it gave up its moral connection to earlier and later generations. This is why there's such a conflict, within the Baby-Boomer generation, why they can't seem to find a stable form of marriage. It's why so many young people are not quite sure who their half-brothers and half-sisters are; who have a very poor sense of identity; who have a terrible education in public schools; and very little sense of real opportunity in life any more, especially after the recent years' economic collapse.

So therefore, because of the break in generations, you can not trust the older, Now Generation, as a source of tradition  to guide us in dealing with the present problems. However, if we have an effective youth movement, and that youth movement is committed to the idea of truth, of becoming masters of truth--not knowing everything, but committed to truth, then they will inspire their parents' generation into coming back and rejoining the human race--picking up their abandoned membership card from the human race.

And we see that happen: When youth move, as some of you guys move, you have changed the United States significantly. One of the reasons I'm a leading candidate, and the leading candidate in terms of financial support, popular support, in the United States today, is largely because of you! Yes, it's because of what I've done over years. I used to have as high as 25% voting support, from within the population, back in the 1980s. I'm not exactly a stumble-bum, when it comes to politics; I'm fairly good at it. Better than most of the ones I'm up against, I'm sure of that. But, you guys have changed society, in a certain degree, already, because you, as a youth movement, have stunned the attention of politicians of the older generation. They realize you represent something. And, you have demonstrated to yourselves, in that way, that you can change society, by getting the older generation, in part, to come over to our side, and to get their optimism back. And that's the whole purpose. That's really what we're up to.

Otherwise, consider us an educational movement, and educational movement of truth-seekers. We're just trying to find the truth, and we're talking about the truth with everyone, just like Socrates. We're out on the streets, like Socrates, talking about the truth. And we're talking to everyone. And we're sharing opinions with everyone--always looking for truth. And that's a very healthy way to be; it's a very happy way to be.

I know, a lot of you guys, because of your generation, you have problems. I run into them. They're reported to me. Young people bring them up to me, a lot of them; I understand. But, I understand, that your strength lies, when you are in motion. If you're sitting, one by one, or two by two, on the sidelines of the current politics, you feel impotent, and all the problems inside you, come to the fore. When you find yourself out there, organizing, mobilizing, or in discussion groups, discussing truth, you're a force! You're effective! You're good! And you know it. And, that's what we're about, isn't it?

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