Redstate

By Robert A. Hahn Posted in History — Comments (32) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Senator Hatfield, Mr.
Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Vice President
Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my
fellow citizens: To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most
momentous occasion; and yet, in the history of our Nation, it is a
commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called
for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two
centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the
eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as
normal is nothing less than a miracle.

Mr. President, I want our
fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition.
By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown
a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a
political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater
degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your
help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our
Republic.

The business of our
nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an
economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest
and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It
distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the
struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to
shatter the lives of millions of our people.

Idle industries have cast
workers into unemployment, causing human misery and personal
indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor
by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us
from maintaining full productivity.

But great as our tax
burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades, we
have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our
children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To
continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural,
political, and economic upheavals.

You and I, as
individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a
limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively,
as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?

We must act today in
order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding--we
are going to begin to act, beginning today.

The economic ills we
suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away
in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away
because we, as Americans, have the capacity now, as we have had in the
past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and
greatest bastion of freedom.

In this present crisis,
government is not the solution to our problem.

From time to time, we
have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be
managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to
government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is
capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to
govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government,
must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no
one group singled out to pay a higher price.

We hear much of special
interest groups. Our concern must be for a special interest group that
has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or
ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It
is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets,
man our mines and our factories, teach our children, keep our homes,
and heal us when we are sick--professionals, industrialists,
shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truckdrivers. They are, in short,
"We the people," this breed called Americans.

Well, this
administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing
economy that provides equal opportunity for all Americans, with no
barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to
work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means
freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All
must share in the productive work of this "new beginning"
and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. With the
idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our
strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America at peace with
itself and the world.

So, as we begin, let us
take inventory. We are a nation that has a government--not the other
way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth.
Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It
is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows
signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

It is my intention to
curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand
recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the
Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people.
All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not
create the States; the States created the Federal Government.

Now, so there will be no
misunderstanding, it is not my intention to do away with government.
It is, rather, to make it work--work with us, not over us; to stand by
our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide
opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

If we look to the answer
as to why, for so many years, we achieved so much, prospered as no
other people on Earth, it was because here, in this land, we unleashed
the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has
ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have
been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth.
The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never
been unwilling to pay that price.

It is no coincidence that
our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the
intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary
and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that
we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are
not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I
do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I
do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with
all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of
national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our
strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.

We have every right to
dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we are in a time when there
are no heroes just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every
day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number,
produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You
meet heroes across a counter--and they are on both sides of that
counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in
an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They are
individuals and families whose taxes support the Government and whose
voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education.
Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values sustain our national
life.

I have used the words
"they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes. I
could say "you" and "your" because I am addressing
the heroes of whom I speak--you, the citizens of this blessed land.
Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the
hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.

We shall reflect the
compassion that is so much a part of your makeup. How can we love our
country and not love our countrymen, and loving them, reach out a hand
when they fall, heal them when they are sick, and provide
opportunities to make them self-sufficient so they will be equal in
fact and not just in theory?

Can we solve the problems
confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic
"yes." To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the
oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the
dissolution of the world's strongest economy.

In the days ahead I will
propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and
reduced productivity. Steps will be taken aimed at restoring the
balance between the various levels of government. Progress may be
slow--measured in inches and feet, not miles--but we will progress. Is
it time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back
within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these
will be our first priorities, and on these principles, there will be
no compromise.

On the eve of our
struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the
greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, President of
the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, "Our
country is in danger, but not to be despaired of.... On you depend the
fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon
which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act
worthy of yourselves."

Well, I believe we, the
Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do
what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our
children and our children's children.

And as we renew ourselves
here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength
throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a
beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.

To those neighbors and
allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and
assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty
with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We
will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our
own sovereignty is not for sale.

As for the enemies of
freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded
that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will
negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it--now
or ever.

Our forbearance should
never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be
misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve
our national security, we will act. We will maintain sufficient
strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the
best chance of never having to use that strength.

Above all, we must
realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is
so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It
is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a
weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those
who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.

I am told that tens of
thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that
I am deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God
intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if
on each Inauguration Day in future years it should be declared a day
of prayer.

This is the first time in
history that this ceremony has been held, as you have been told, on
this West Front of the Capitol. Standing here, one faces a magnificent
vista, opening up on this city's special beauty and history. At the
end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose
shoulders we stand.

Directly in front of me,
the monument to a monumental man: George Washington, Father of our
country. A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. He led
America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. Off to
one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of
Independence flames with his eloquence.

And then beyond the
Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever
would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in
the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Beyond those monuments to
heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills
of Arlington National Cemetery with its row on row of simple white
markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny
fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.

Each one of those markers
is a monument to the kinds of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives
ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno
and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill,
the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a
place called Vietnam.

Under one such marker
lies a young man--Martin Treptow--who left his job in a small town
barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division.
There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message
between battalions under heavy artillery fire.

We are told that on his
body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, "My
Pledge," he had written these words: "America must win this
war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will
endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of
the whole struggle depended on me alone."

The crisis we are facing
today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow
and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does
require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in
ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to
believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the
problems which now confront us.

And, after all, why
shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. God bless you, and thank
you.