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-- Bush's Inaugural address
Bush's Inaugural address
argh and eww
"Transcript: Bush's inaugural address
The New York Times
Friday, January 21, 2005
Following is the text of President George W. Bush's inaugural address, as recorded by The New York Times:
Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton, members of the United States Congress, 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 a 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 from 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."
INAUGURAL CONTRIBUTORS
"January 19, 2005 | Donors had contributed $24.9 million as of Friday for this week's inaugural festivities, but that's a fraction of the more than $100 million their affiliated organizations contributed for last year's federal elections.
All told, the donors listed on the Presidential Inaugural Committee Web site as of Jan. 14 represent organizations whose employees and political action committees contributed nearly $106 million to federal candidates and political parties for the 2004 elections. Nearly $71 million of the total went to Republicans, including $7.8 million to the Bush campaign.
Contributions to federal candidates and parties are capped by law, and are prohibited from corporations and labor unions. By contrast, inaugural donations may be given in unlimited amounts from any source except a foreign national or entity.
President Bush's inaugural committee, which has a fundraising goal reported to be $40 million, decided to cap donations at $250,000 per donor. More than 50 donors have contributed that amount, earning them status as "underwriters." More than 90 donors have contributed $100,000, the amount needed to become one of the "sponsors."
Among those on the inaugural donor list are some of the biggest contributors in politics. Goldman Sachs, which contributed $100,000 to the inaugural committee, sent more than $2.6 million through its employees and PAC to Republicans during the 2004 election cycle, the most of any inaugural donor, and $386,100 to the Bush campaign. The securities giant's employees and PAC actually gave more to Democrats -- more than $3.4 million -- than to Republicans during the cycle.
The National Association of Realtors donated $50,000 for the inauguration. Its PAC, which gave more than any other political action committee last cycle, and employees contributed $2.3 million to Republicans for the 2004 elections, good enough for second on the inaugural donor list. Nearly $2 million went to Democrats.
United Parcel Service, which gave $250,000 to the inaugural committee, accounted for $2.2 million in contributions to Republicans for last year's elections, third on the list. UPS's employees and PAC gave just over $900,000 to Democrats.
The inaugural contributor whose employees and PAC gave the most to the Bush campaign is Morgan Stanley. The investment company, which gave $100,000 for the inauguration, was Bush's biggest campaign donor overall, with $599,280 in individual contributions.
The financial sector is represented the most, by far, among inaugural donors. Sixty-eight donors to the inauguration represent finance, insurance or real estate interests. Forty-four inaugural donors fall in the category of miscellaneous business, 43 donors represent ideological or single-issue interests, 23 are from the communications and electronics sector and 20 belong to the energy and natural resources sector.
Research by Doug Weber and Sheila Krumholz."
http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=152
The donor list:
http://www.capitaleye.org/InaugDonors.12.22.04.asp
He didnt mention the words...Terror...Terrorist...Terrorism...once in his speech..kinda strange imo
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| Originally posted by zig He didnt mention the words...Terror...Terrorist...Terrorism...once in his speech..kinda strange imo |
I wonder, when he was reading this speach - did he cringe even once? the hypocrocy liberally smeared all over this trash made me nauseous.
I need some fresh air after absorbing so much bull$hit.
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| Originally posted by zig He didnt mention the words...Terror...Terrorist...Terrorism...once in his speech..kinda strange imo |
The reason for this sudden change in Dubya's use of words (well, at least in my opinion) has definately got something to do with the Republican plans for the next few years.
The hype of 911 has somewhat died down, and the excuse of "terrorism" has already been used to death in Afghanistan and Iraq.. it seems to be getting a little old, and perhaps less relevant.
With all this talk about Iran being the next target of american forces the word terrorism definately seems less relevant, in the fact that Iran wasnt involved in 911 or any other terrorist activities of late (if i'm wrong, correct me). Therefore, pushing the point that Irans government is oppresive and resrictive on its inhabitants needs to be belted into the american public by saying such things like "Iran promotes tyranny and restricts freedom and liberty that its people rightly deserve. Democracy needs to be spread in Iran to promote freedom". You know, the same old bullshit.
This process of brainwashing doesnt happen overnight. It takes time and patience to be able to enslave the minds of a nation into taking your words as gospel.
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| Originally posted by Dupz "Liberty" and "Freedom" are Dubya's new buzz words for the day... Oh, and terror -ist -ism has been replaced by the word "tyranny". Fukn tool... |
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| Originally posted by Dupz "Liberty" and "Freedom" are Dubya's new buzz words for the day... Oh, and terror -ist -ism has been replaced by the word "tyranny". Fukn tool... |
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| Originally posted by Q5echo there is a reason why the youth don't run the world. thank God. |
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| Originally posted by Michael19 its a shame they let stupid people run it though |
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| Originally posted by Michael19 its a shame they let stupid people run it though |
Meh, this inauguration address really didn't do much for me. I thought taken as a whole it wasn't too bad, and I really can't personally take the views of some liberal bloggers myself. Do I find their commentary interesting? Oh sure, like this one about Bush and Nihilism which I wasn't aware of:
http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/...gi?ArtNum=82006
And this guy over at coldfury cites that post too, as well as some stuff from Peggy Noonan's commentary (conservative voice on OpinionJournal) and David Horowitz:
http://coldfury.com/reason/index.php?p=113
And I have to admit that I also found this commentary interesting, depicting the many "freedom" citations and equating them more on an economic front:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/01/21/MNG1HAU69V1.DTL
And then of course you have Dave Brock mentioning the Republican commentators highly outnumbering the Democratic commentators in the media:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200501220001
But honestly that doesn't really surprise me nor does it stir up too many feelings of wanting to yell, "BIAS!!!". Not that I don't think that the media listens a great deal more to the Republican Noise Machine or anything - it's just that it was their Party nominee who won, and I believe it is their time to shine in the light. Again I'm not sweatin' it too much, nor do I think too many Dem. supporters should too on that particular point.
But getting back to the coldfury blog, I do think that his last coupla paragraphs in reference to Horowitz are pretty interesting in regards to the neoconservative foreign policy and philosophy. He touched on the fact that there are indeed parts borrowed from the far-left, socialist viewpoint, which I'm sure you'll NEVER ever hear a pro-Bush, neocon supporter ever mumble. Yet the connections in philosophy are pretty revealing.
Thanks for pointing this out, Mr. O!
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| Originally posted by MisterOpus1 But getting back to the coldfury blog, I do think that his last coupla paragraphs in reference to Horowitz are pretty interesting in regards to the neoconservative foreign policy and philosophy. He touched on the fact that there are indeed parts borrowed from the far-left, socialist viewpoint, which I'm sure you'll NEVER ever hear a pro-Bush, neocon supporter ever mumble. Yet the connections in philosophy are pretty revealing. |
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| excerpt: (...) But to create requires more than slogans, and it requires an understanding of history, of culture, and of the complex dynamics which underlie all human societies. Moreover, it demands an acknowledgment that one cannot create �freedom� and �liberty� by means of force and coercion. The end determines the means � and if the means are the antithesis of the stated goal, the goal will be forever unreachable. The great danger that now faces us � and that faces the world � is that Bush�s �revolutionary� program has its own terrible logic. His speech yesterday makes one conclusion starkly and terrifyingly clear: he has learned absolutely nothing from the events of the last few years, and that logic continues to drive him. He and his supporters therefore seek further destruction, on a still wider scale � and they may not be satisfied until a worldwide conflagration finally stops them. Of course, such an outcome would also stop all of us, and would put an end to much of civilization. Not coincidentally, it is this same inner logic that causes the overheated statements of Bush�s supporters to grow ever more desperate: as the consequences of their ideas become more obvious, the fiction that their program is �noble� and �idealistic� becomes more and more difficult to maintain. Another result of this same desperation is the increasingly vicious attacks on anyone who dares to challenge them. But it is not those who decline to join Bush�s program of purifying violence and destruction who are the traitors, or the enemy: Bush�s enemy, and the enemy of those who support him, is reality, which stubbornly refuses to accommodate itself to the self-contradictory and therefore self-destroying nihilistic �ideals� which impel Bush to destroy life and liberty, even while he maintains he is defending both. An additional and similarly disturbing truth is that people like Bush cannot be reasoned with, or talked out of their beliefs. Those beliefs are an essential part of their psychological makeup, and to give up those beliefs would be to give up themselves and their very identity, which they will not do. We can only hope that the amount of death and destruction that this program has already unleashed, and which it will continue to unleash for the foreseeable future, will convince enough people to get off this train � and to realize they desperately need another destination. If we continue along our current route, Bush�s fire will certainly �purify� everything in its path � and destroy so much of life and civilization that there may not be a world left to save. |
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| Originally posted by Q5echo yeah, just like Churchill, Kennedy, Reagan...who's the tool? there is a reason why the youth don't run the world. thank God. |
Nuthin' like a bunch of ol' crazy neocons slappin' their President on the ass for such a great speech. To them it really was one for the record books! I dunno if anyone's read Kristol's commentary in the Weekly Standard, but boy he sure did love that address!:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Conte...3xwdvu.asp?pg=1
Or how 'bout Kristol's commentary on Faux News Jan. 20th?:
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| KRISTOL: So I think it's actually a deep understanding of America's mission. A very eloquent speech, of course. Maybe one of the most powerful speeches, one of the most impressive speeches, I think I've seen an American president give. [...] If I were editing this speech, the only sentence I think maybe I would have changed which was to simply say we are ready to meet, perhaps, the examples of those of our forebears and our forefathers who fought so valiantly in the history of freedom and I think that will play into a sort of sophisticated criticism that "Gee, the president is susceptible to hubris and is too grandiose." But having said that, except for Lincoln, no speech is perfect, and I think he's entitled to a slight slip in one sentence. [...] I've seen Mike Gerson over the past couple of months, and he has been working very hard on this speech. But he has been working with the president on it, and it is a remarkable collaboration. |
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| KRAUTHAMMER: It was a revolutionary speech in that sense [that American freedom is contingent upon the spread of freedom abroad] and the closest echo is to, really, John Kennedy's speech, his inaugural address where he talked about -- in fact, there's a phrase in this inaugural which is an allusion to a famous phrase in Kennedy's. Kennedy spoke of bearing any burden to assure the survival and success of liberty, and President Bush said that in order to ensure the survival of liberty at home, we have to have the success of liberty abroad, which was an interesting allusion to that speech. The idea is the same. Kennedy spoke in the Cold War and said, only if we stand for the liberty that we have at home ... stand for that abroad, will we succeed against communism and secure our liberty at home. And the president is saying in this struggle against another existential enemy, which is radical Islam and terrorism, we have to spread the democracy as the only realistic way of the changing the culture out of which a 9-11 emerged. And that's a very strong theme -- of course it had a lot of opposition at home and abroad. But it is extremely revolutionary. To speak, essentially, about the abolition of tyranny, which has been a constant in human history for thousands of years, can only be spoken of as radical. |
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| The planning of Bush's second inaugural address began a few days after the Nov. 2 election with the president telling advisers he wanted a speech about "freedom" and "liberty." That led to the broadly ambitious speech that has ignited a vigorous debate. The process included consultation with a number of outside experts, Kristol among them. One meeting, arranged by Peter Wehner, director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives, included military historian Victor Davis Hanson, columnist Charles Krauthammer and Yale professor John Lewis Gaddis, according to one Republican close to the White House. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/w...anguage=printer |
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| Originally posted by Trancer-X http://www.comedycentral.com/mp/pla.../jon_10011.html |
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| Originally posted by MisterOpus1 Gimme a fucking break. Fucking neocons. |
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| Originally posted by Shakka Fuckin' tree-huggin, responsibility-avoiding, whiney-assed liberal. |
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| Originally posted by MisterOpus1 Ahh, you're just pissed because your boy Vick got his ass handed to him Sunday. Go Eagles! |
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| Originally posted by Shakka This is true. 2 days later and I'm still seething--even though we all saw it coming. |
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