President Bush's Second Inaugural Address

The following is the text of President George W. Bush's second inaugural address, as prepared for delivery.


Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter,
President Bush, President Clinton, reverend clergy, distinguished guests,
fellow citizens:


On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the
durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that
unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of
the consequential times in which we live, and determined to fulfill the
oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.


At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the
words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half century,
America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders.
After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of
repose, years of sabbatical – and then there came a day of fire.


We have seen our vulnerability – and we have seen its deepest
source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and
tyranny – prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder –
violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most
defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of
history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the
pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant,
and that is the force of human freedom.


We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The
survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of
liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the
expansion of freedom in all the world.


America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one.
From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman
on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they
bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we
have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to
be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is
the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of
our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security,
and the calling of our time.


So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support
the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and
culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.


This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and
our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must
be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and
the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally
speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very
different from our own. America will not impose our own style of
government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their
own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.


The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work
of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it.
America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed,
America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in
freedom's cause.


My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people
against further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to
test America's resolve, and have found it firm.


We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every
nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and
freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed
dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and
servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.


We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear
that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their
own people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies, yet
rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are
secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long
run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights
without human liberty.


Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty –
though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance
of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people,
should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call
of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the
existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of
permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it.


Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world:


All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will
not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for
your liberty, we will stand with you.


Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can
know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free
country.


The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as
Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for
themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."


The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to
know: To serve your people you must learn to trust them. Start on this
journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.


And all the allies of the United States can know: we honor your
friendship, we rely on your counsel, and we depend on your help. Division
among free nations is a primary goal of freedom's enemies. The concerted
effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies'
defeat.


Today, I also speak anew to my fellow citizens:


From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of
securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has
accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be
dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating
tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom.
And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we
have lit a fire as well – a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who
feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this
untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.


A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause – in the
quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy … the idealistic work of helping
raise up free governments … the dangerous and necessary work of fighting
our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that
honored their whole lives – and we will always honor their names and their
sacrifice.


All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the
first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your
eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our
soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and
courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your
wants, larger than yourself – and in your days you will add not just to the
wealth of our country, but to its character.


America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at
home – the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward
liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.


In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and
security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of
subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the
Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G.I. Bill of Rights. And
now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the
needs of our time. To give every American a stake in the promise and
future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools,
and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and
businesses, retirement savings and health insurance – preparing our people
for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an
agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater
freedom from want and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just
and equal.
In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on
private character – on integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the rule
of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the
governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families,
supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life
by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran,
and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every
generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before –
ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and
forever.

In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by
service, and mercy, and a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not
mean independence from one another. Our nation relies on men and women who
look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love. Americans, at our
best, value the life we see in one another, and must always remember that
even the unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the habits
of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage
of bigotry at the same time.


From the perspective of a single day, including this day of dedication, the
issues and questions before our country are many. From the viewpoint of
centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few. Did our
generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring
credit to that cause?


These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans
of every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth, are bound
to one another in the cause of freedom. We have known divisions, which
must be healed to move forward in great purposes – and I will strive in
good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America. We
felt the unity and fellowship of our nation when freedom came under attack,
and our response came like a single hand over a single heart. And we can
feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good, and the
victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and
the captives are set free.


We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom.
Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human
choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen
nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because
freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the
longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages;
when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty; when
citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner "Freedom Now" – they
were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has
an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set
by liberty and the Author of Liberty.


When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public
and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang
as if it meant something." In our time it means something still. America,
in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to
all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength – tested, but not
weary – we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of
freedom.


May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of America.

Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/a...er=emailarticle