Urbana, September 7, 2018 – President Barack Obama told students at the University of Illinois that they need to vote “because our democracy depends on it.”

Mr Obama was at the University to receive the Paul Douglas Award for Ethics in Government, which is named after the state’s former US Senator.

In his remarks, the former president stressed American leadership on the world stage, and how the United States has lead the free world for decades in an effort to maintain the peace, and to spread respect for the elements of democracy, like the rule of law.   He noted the growth of democratic governments and the increased respect for those values that respect human dignity.

These victories he said, “were not won just by some politicians giving speeches”

But he noted, “progress doesn’t just move in a straight line.”   He attacked President Trump as being an example of those who want to fight change”

Mr Obama said the government was working to advance the growing inequality and to further the economic divide, by cutting taxes on the wealthy.

He said his administration worked to end the crisis of 10 years ago when the economy was losing 800,000 jobs a month, and that eventually this turned into a record period of job growth.  “When you hear how great the economy is doing, let’s remember when this recovery started,”  he said.

“So we pulled the economy out of crisis, but to this day, many still feel economic insecurity.”