Thursday, January 20, 2005

A Day To Celebrate Freedom

Here is the he President's entire inaugural address.

I don't ever remember a time in my life when one person condensed and crystalized the deepest feelings and values I possess into one short talk. I was always impressed with Ronald Reagan, and he came extremely close sometimes, but his very actor's glibness never struck as deep a chord as the earnest, honest, and simple words of George W. Bush.

When Bush speaks, flaws and all, he stirs my soul so profoundly that I cannot even type this without tears streaming down my face. I have thought long and hard why this should be, and I think it is because for the first time in my life, I see this country living up to its full potential; totally embracing the value of Freedom and dedicating itself to bringing that Freedom to all people on Earth. Grandiose? Yes, indeed it is. But there is nothing wrong with that grand dream. It is, perhaps the expression of the deepest longing of the human soul. It is what I have always felt America stood for--from the frounding of our nation, to the Civil War, to days of civil rights ; to today. As freedom sweeps across the globe, I feel that it is the natural extension of those miraculous days when America came forth into the world--a beacon of Liberty in the darkness of tyranny.

I am so proud and so lucky to have been born in America. Not a day goes by that I don't thank whatever fate or destiny led me to this happy circumstance. All I know is that in George W. Bush, I have found a leader who truly represents what I believe America should stand for. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. These words have stirred me since I was a child, and they remains my most sacred values; for without them, no other values are possible.

Here is several excerpts from the President's address today that most moved me:

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.
....
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.
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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.
....
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.

Believe the evidence of your own eyes. Freedom is finally sweeping the world. It will push evil from its path and crush it. Freedom will triumph.

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