I wanted to take a second to explain why I’m so passionate about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becoming our next president. I know the news media tries to discount him, but I also know how much your generation cares about our country, so please hear me out.

I have listened to stories about America when you all were younger and it sounds incredible. Sure, there were problems then too, but we were moral leaders in the world and really lived our principles of free speech and democracy. People in their 20s could get steady jobs, buy a house and even start saving money for the future. Neighbors had time for one another and people were healthy.

Many of the younger generation has never gotten to experience that America. And I so badly want them to be able to do so.

My whole life, our leaders have driven us farther and farther into national debt to blow up our shared wealth over foreign battlefields. They’ve made the bankers rich, while so many Americans have had to take second jobs just to afford life’s essentials. They’re even talking about cutting Social Security now to pay their way out of all their spending on bombs. That’s not fair on you. Or me.

Most young Americans cannot afford a home. We’re not even living as long as we have previously. Six in 10 of us have at least one chronic disease. The U.S. spends way more than any other country on our health problems and our life expectancy is still three years lower than other rich nations. Prescription drugs are insanely expensive and if you buy them cheaply on the internet, you risk dying of a fentanyl overdose in your sleep.

I don’t want my children and Gen Alpha to spend the rest of their lives in a violent, poor, divided country in decline. I want to get back to peace, prosperity, and some basic common sense.

Bobby (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) is fighting to take all that excess military spending and use it to safeguard Social Security, build homes and pay for Americans’ child care. He’s going to lay a high-capacity energy grid to harness the power of wind and solar and boost our economy the way the highway system turbocharged commerce. He’s going to secure our border while expanding our legal immigration program. He’s going to create independent commissions to root out corruption in government and study the causes of gun violence and chronic disease.

I really believe these are the kinds of policies that will leave our children and grandchildren a country that your generation can be proud of — not more of the war and bank bailouts that the other two guys keep spending on.

I know he hasn’t been given a fair shake on the news channels, but would you just watch a few of his videos and tell me what you think? They’re all on www.kennedy24.com, along with lots of his policies and priorities.

It would mean so much to me if you would just check out what he has to say and give him a shot in his own words. A great place to begin is watching “Who Is Bobby Kennedy?” (whoisbobbykennedy.com/?).

What do you have to lose? 30 minutes of your life? What can you gain … a bright future for the next generations!

Danielle Dellaquila lives in Holyoke.