President Obama delivers his second inaugural address (Photo: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY)
As prepared for delivery:
Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:
Each
time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the
enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our
democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the
colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our
names. What makes us exceptional - what makes us American - is our
allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two
centuries ago:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the
pursuit of Happiness."
Today we continue a never-ending journey,
to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time.
For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they
have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God,
it must be secured by His people here on Earth. The patriots of 1776
did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a
few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of,
and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our
founding creed.
For more than two hundred years, we have.
Through
blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union
founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive
half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move
forward together.
Together, we determined that a modern economy
requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools
and colleges to train our workers.
Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.
Together,
we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and
protect its people from life's worst hazards and misfortune.
Through
it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority,
nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society's ills can be
cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and
enterprise; our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, are
constants in our character.
But we have always understood that
when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles
requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual
freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American
people can no more meet the demands of today's world by acting alone
than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism
with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and
science teachers we'll need to equip our children for the future, or
build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs
and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these
things together, as one nation, and one people.
This generation
of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and
proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic
recovery has begun. America's possibilities are limitless, for we
possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands:
youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk
and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this
moment, and we will seize it - so long as we seize it together.
For
we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a
shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. We
believe that America's prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a
rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person
can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest
labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our
creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she
has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an
American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but
also in our own.
We understand that outworn programs are
inadequate to the needs of our time. We must harness new ideas and
technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our
schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work
harder, learn more, and reach higher. But while the means will change,
our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination
of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is
what will give real meaning to our creed.
We, the people, still
believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and
dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health
care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America
must choose between caring for the generation that built this country
and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we
remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in
poverty, and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn.
We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the
lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how
responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a
job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm.
The commitments we make to each other - through Medicare, and Medicaid,
and Social Security - these things do not sap our initiative; they
strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to
take the risks that make this country great.
We, the people,
still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to
ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of
climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our
children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming
judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging
fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path
towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult.
But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot
cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new
industries - we must claim its promise. That is how we will maintain
our economic vitality and our national treasure - our forests and
waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will
preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That's what will
lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.
We, the
people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not
require perpetual war. Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by
the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage. Our citizens,
seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price
that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us
forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are also
heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn
enemies into the surest of friends, and we must carry those lessons into
this time as well.
We will defend our people and uphold our
values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the
courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully
- not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because
engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. America will
remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe; and
we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage
crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than
its most powerful nation. We will support democracy from Asia to
Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and
our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom.
And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the
marginalized, the victims of prejudice - not out of mere charity, but
because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those
principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity;
human dignity and justice.
We, the people, declare today that
the most evident of truths - that all of us are created equal - is the
star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through
Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men
and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall,
to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King
proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the
freedom of every soul on Earth.
It is now our generation's task
to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete
until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to
their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and
sisters are treated like anyone else under the law - for if we are truly
created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be
equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced
to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not
complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful
immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright
young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than
expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our
children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the
quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and
always safe from harm.
That is our generation's task - to make
these words, these rights, these values - of Life, and Liberty, and the
Pursuit of Happiness - real for every American. Being true to our
founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of
life; it does not mean we will all define liberty in exactly the same
way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not
compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government
for all time - but it does require us to act in our time.
For
now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay. We cannot
mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics,
or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. We must act, knowing that our
work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today's victories
will be only partial, and that it will be up to those who stand here in
four years, and forty years, and four hundred years hence to advance the
timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.
My
fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one
recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and
country, not party or faction - and we must faithfully execute that
pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today
are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier
signs up for duty, or an immigrant realizes her dream. My oath is not
so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above
and that fills our hearts with pride.
They are the words of citizens, and they represent our greatest hope.
You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country's course.
You
and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our
time - not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in
defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.
Let each
of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our
lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion
and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an
uncertain future that precious light of freedom.
Thank you, God Bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America.
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