George W. Bush
Inaugural Address
Saturday, January 20, 2001

President Clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens, the 
peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our 
country. With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new 
beginnings.

As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our nation.

And I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and 
ended with grace.

I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America&#146;s 
leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.

We have a place, all of us, in a long story - a story we continue, but 
whose end we will not see. It is the story of a new world that became a 
friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society 
that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into 
the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.

It is the American story - a story of flawed and fallible people, 
united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.

The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that 
everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no 
insignificant person was ever born.

Americans are called to enact this promise in our lives and in our 
laws. And though our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes 
delayed, we must follow no other course.

Through much of the last century, America&#146;s faith in freedom and 
democracy was a rock in a raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind, 
taking root in many nations.

Our democratic faith is more than the creed of our country, it is the 
inborn hope of our humanity, an ideal we carry but do not own, a trust 
we bear and pass along. And even after nearly 225 years, we have a long 
way yet to travel.

While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the 
justice, of our own country. The ambitions of some Americans are 
limited by failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances 
of their birth. And sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we 
share a continent, but not a country.

We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. Our unity, our union, 
is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation. And 
this is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of 
justice and opportunity.

I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger 
than ourselves who creates us equal in His image.

And we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.

America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound 
by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our 
interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must 
be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every 
immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, 
American.

Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation&#146;s promise 
through civility, courage, compassion and character.

America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern 
for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and 
respect, fair dealing and forgiveness.

Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, 
in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small.

But the stakes for America are never small. If our country does not 
lead the cause of freedom, it will not be led. If we do not turn the 
hearts of children toward knowledge and character, we will lose their 
gifts and undermine their idealism. If we permit our economy to drift 
and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most.

We must live up to the calling we share. Civility is not a tactic or a 
sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of 
community over chaos. And this commitment, if we keep it, is a way to 
shared accomplishment.

America, at its best, is also courageous.

Our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, 
when defending common dangers defined our common good. Now we must 
choose if the example of our fathers and mothers will inspire us or 
condemn us. We must show courage in a time of blessing by confronting 
problems instead of passing them on to future generations.

Together, we will reclaim America&#146;s schools, before ignorance and 
apathy claim more young lives.

We will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our children from 
struggles we have the power to prevent. And we will reduce taxes, to 
recover the momentum of our economy and reward the effort and 
enterprise of working Americans.

We will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite 
challenge.

We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is 
spared new horrors.

The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake: America 
remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a 
balance of power that favors freedom. We will defend our allies and our 
interests. We will show purpose without arrogance. We will meet 
aggression and bad faith with resolve and strength. And to all nations, 
we will speak for the values that gave our nation birth.

America, at its best, is compassionate. In the quiet of American 
conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our 
nation&#146;s promise.

And whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk 
are not at fault. Abandonment and abuse are not acts of God, they are 
failures of love.

And the proliferation of prisons, however necessary, is no substitute 
for hope and order in our souls.

Where there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in need are not 
strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities. And all of 
us are diminished when any are hopeless.

Government has great responsibilities for public safety and public 
health, for civil rights and common schools. Yet compassion is the work 
of a nation, not just a government.

And some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a 
mentor&#146;s touch or a pastor&#146;s prayer. Church and charity, 
synagogue and mosque lend our communities their humanity, and they will 
have an honored place in our plans and in our laws.

Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen 
to those who do.

And I can pledge our nation to a goal: When we see that wounded 
traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side.

America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is 
valued and expected.

Encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is a call 
to conscience. And though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper 
fulfillment. We find the fullness of life not only in options, but in 
commitments. And we find that children and community are the 
commitments that set us free.

Our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty and 
family bonds and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of 
decency which give direction to our freedom.

Sometimes in life we are called to do great things. But as a saint of 
our times has said, every day we are called to do small things with 
great love. The most important tasks of a democracy are done by 
everyone.

I will live and lead by these principles: to advance my convictions 
with civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for 
greater justice and compassion, to call for responsibility and try to 
live it as well.

In all these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care 
of our times.

What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to 
seek a common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms 
against easy attacks; to serve your nation, beginning with your 
neighbor. I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, 
not subjects; responsible citizens, building communities of service and 
a nation of character.

Americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we believe in 
ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When this 
spirit of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. 
When this spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.

After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman 
John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson: &#147;We know the race is not to 
the swift nor the battle to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides 
in the whirlwind and directs this storm?&#148;

Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration. The 
years and changes accumulate. But the themes of this day he would know: 
our nation&#146;s grand story of courage and its simple dream of 
dignity.

We are not this story&#146;s author, who fills time and eternity with 
his purpose. Yet his purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is 
fulfilled in service to one another.

Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose 
today, to make our country more just and generous, to affirm the 
dignity of our lives and every life.

This work continues. This story goes on. And an angel still rides in 
the whirlwind and directs this storm.

God bless you all, and God bless America.

