名人演讲:Renew Our Nation 重塑我们的国家[乔治沃克·布什]
Renew Our Nation 重塑我们的国家
—— George Walker Bush 乔治沃克·布什
[00:07.06]distinguished guests
[00:08.70]and my fellow citizens,
[00:12.85]The peaceful transfer of authority
[00:14.61]is rare in history,
[00:17.24]yet common in our country.
[00:19.83]With a simple oath,
[00:20.86]we affirm old traditions
[00:22.12]and make new beginnings.
[00:24.65]As I begin,
[00:26.74]I thank President Clinton
[00:28.20]for his service to our nation.
[00:39.35]And I thank Vice President Gore
[00:41.08]for a contest conducted with spirit
[00:43.88]and ended with grace.
[00:52.57]I am honored and humbled
[00:53.59]to stand here,
[00:54.51]where so many of America's leaders
[00:57.35]have come before me,
[00:59.47]and so many will follow.
[01:02.36]We have a place,
[01:03.47]all of us,
[01:04.75]in a long story.
[01:06.88]A story we continue,
[01:09.17]but whose end we will not see.
[01:12.51]It is the story of a new world
[01:14.38]that became a friend
[01:15.29]and liberator of the old,
[01:17.64]a story of a slave-holding society
[01:21.03]that became a servant of freedom,
[01:23.91]the story of a power
[01:25.08]that went into the world
[01:26.41]to protect but not possess,
[01:28.93]to defend but not to conquer.
[01:32.99]It is the American story.
[01:35.74]A story of flawed
[01:36.95]and fallible people,
[01:38.84]united across the generations
[01:40.64]by grand and enduring ideals.
[01:44.59]The grandest of these ideals
[01:46.30]is an unfolding American promise
[01:49.80] that everyone belongs,
[01:52.18]that everyone deserves a chance,
[01:55.26]that no insignificant person
[01:57.66]was ever born.
[02:00.34]Americans are called
[02:01.77]to enact this promise in our lives
[02:04.75]and in our laws;
[02:07.49]and though our nation has sometimes halted,
[02:10.73]and sometimes delayed,
[02:13.32]we must follow no other course.
[02:16.56]Through much of the last century,
[02:17.99]America's faith in freedom
[02:19.79]and democracy was a rock
[02:22.16]in a raging sea.
[02:24.95]Now it is a seed upon the wind,
[02:27.68]taking root in many nations.
[02:30.81]Our democratic faith
[02:32.59]is more than the creed of our country,
[02:35.88]it is the inborn hope of our humanity,
[02:39.11]an ideal we carry but do not own,
[02:42.66]a trust we bear
[02:44.73]and pass along;
[02:47.31]and even after
[02:48.53]nearly 225 years,
[02:51.48]we have a long way
[02:52.43]yet to travel.
[02:54.76]While many of our citizens prosper,
[02:57.97]others doubt the promise,
[03:00.37]even the justice,
[03:02.30]of our own country.
[03:04.59]The ambitions
[03:05.64]of some Americans
[03:06.42]are limited by failing schools
[03:08.45]and hidden prejudice
[03:09.92]and the circumstances of their birth.
[03:13.28]And sometimes our differences run so deep,
[03:16.15]it seems we share a continent,
[03:18.79]but not a country.
[03:21.42]We do not accept this,
[03:23.97]and we will not allow it.
[03:26.40]Our unity,
[03:28.12]our union,
[03:29.58]is the serious work of leaders
[03:31.34]and citizens in every generation.
[03:35.05]And this is my solemn pledge,
[03:37.83]I will work to build a single nation
[03:40.25]of justice and opportunity.
[03:52.56]I know this is in our reach
[03:55.23]because we are guided
[03:56.10]by a power larger than ourselves
[03:59.40]who creates us equal in His image.
[04:03.57]And we are confident in principles
[04:05.34]that unite and lead us onward.
[04:08.57]America has never been united
[04:10.80]by blood or birth or soil.
[04:14.50]We are bound by ideals
[04:15.42]that move us beyond our backgrounds,
[04:18.05]lift us above our interests
[04:21.07]and teach us
[04:22.09]what it means to be citizens.
[04:24.41]Every child must
[04:25.28]be taught these principles.
[04:27.48]Every citizen must uphold them.
[04:30.58]And every immigrant,
[04:31.55]by embracing these ideals,
[04:33.16]makes our country more,
[04:35.20]not less, American.
[04:38.18]Today,
[04:46.40]we affirm a new commitment
[04:47.92]to live out our nation's promise
[04:50.67]through civility, courage,
[04:53.51]compassion and character.
[04:57.36]America, at its best,
[04:59.38]matches a commitment to principle
[05:02.16]with a concern for civility.
[05:04.89]A civil society demands
[05:06.27]from each of us good will
[05:07.49]and respect, fair dealing
[05:09.01]and forgiveness.
[05:12.46]Some seem to believe
[05:14.43]that our politics
[05:16.20]can afford to be petty
[05:18.59]because, in a time of peace,
[05:20.21]the stakes of our debates
[05:21.42]appear small.
[05:23.61]But the stakes for America
[05:25.86]are never small.
[05:28.10]If our country does not lead
[05:29.63]the cause of freedom,
[05:30.69]it will not be led.
[05:32.73]If we do not turn the hearts of children
[05:34.76]toward knowledge and character,
[05:36.99]we will lose their gifts
[05:38.26]and undermine their idealism.
[05:40.93]If we permit our economy
[05:42.38]to drift and decline,
[05:44.20]the vulnerable will suffer most.
[05:48.06]We must live up to
[05:48.93]the calling we share.
[05:51.30]Civility is not a tactic
[05:53.78]or a sentiment.
[05:55.72]It is the determined choice
[05:56.90]of trust over cynicism,
[05:59.38]of community over chaos.
[06:03.14]And this commitment,
[06:03.79]if we keep it,
[06:05.27]is a way to shared accomplishment.
[06:09.31]America, at its best, is also courageous.
[06:12.71]Our national courage
[06:13.89]has been clear in times
[06:15.21]of depression and war,
[06:17.08]when defending common dangers
[06:18.55]defined our common good.
[06:21.28]Now we must choose
[06:22.41]if the example of our fathers and mothers
[06:25.39]will inspire us or condemn us.
[06:29.64]We must show courage
[06:30.67]in a time of blessing
[06:32.61]by confronting problems instead of
[06:34.24]passing them on to future generations.
[06:44.66]Together, we will reclaim America's schools,
[06:47.51]before ignorance and apathy claim
[06:49.43]more young lives.
[06:51.82]We will reform Social Security and Medicare,
[06:54.65]sparing our children
[06:56.32]from struggles we have the power
[06:57.60]to prevent.
[06:59.37]And we will reduce taxes,
[07:01.26]to recover the momentum
[07:02.42]of our economy
[07:04.04]and reward the effort
[07:04.90]and enterprise of working Americans.
[07:10.36]We will build our defenses beyond challenge,
[07:13.90]lest weakness invite challenge.
[07:21.80]We will confront weapons of mass destruction,
[07:24.67]so that a new century is spared new horrors.
[07:28.72]The enemies of liberty
[07:29.69]and our country
[07:30.52]should make no mistake
[07:32.49]America remains engaged
[07:33.92]in the world
[07:35.19]by history and by choice,
[07:38.03]shaping a balance of power
[07:40.37]that favors freedom.
[07:42.82]We will defend our allies
[07:44.28]and our interests.
[07:45.64]We will show purpose
[07:46.95]without arrogance.
[07:48.68]We will meet aggression
[07:49.64]and bad faith
[07:50.80]with resolve and strength.
[07:53.43]And to all nations,
[07:55.40]we will speak for the values
[07:57.68]that gave our nation birth.
[08:07.98]America, at its best,
[08:10.28]is compassionate.
[08:12.30]In the quiet of American conscience,
[08:15.15]we know that deep,
[08:16.20]persistent poverty
[08:18.39]is unworthy of our nation's promise.
[08:21.63]And whatever our views of its cause,
[08:24.30]we can agree that children at risk
[08:27.04]are not at fault.
[08:29.26]Abandonment and abuse
[08:30.67]are not acts of God,
[08:33.00]they are failures of love.
[08:41.90]The proliferation of prisons,
[08:43.41]however necessary,
[08:45.40]is no substitute for hope
[08:47.53]and order in our souls.
[08:50.77]Where there is suffering,
[08:51.84]there is duty.
[08:53.56]Americans in need are not strangers,
[08:56.84]they are citizens,
[08:58.73]not problems, but priorities.
[09:02.57]And all of us are diminished
[09:03.94]when any are hopeless.
[09:12.48]Government has great responsibilities
[09:14.96]for public safety and public health,
[09:17.54]for civil rights
[09:18.75]and common schools.
[09:21.25]Yet compassion is the work of a nation,
[09:24.28]not just a government.
[09:26.61]Some needs and hurts are so deep
[09:29.39]they will only respond to a mentor's touch
[09:32.62]or a pastor's prayer.
[09:34.95]Church and charity,
[09:36.82]synagogue and mosque
[09:38.64]lend our communities their humanity,
[09:41.49]and they will have an honored place
[09:42.90]in our plans and in our laws.
[09:52.91]Many in our country do not know
[09:54.39]the pain of poverty,
[09:57.06]but we can listen to those who do.
[09:58.48]I can pledge our nation to a goal:
[10:02.82]When we see that wounded traveler
[10:04.75]on the road to Jericho,
[10:07.59]we will not pass to the other side.
[10:17.00]America, at its best,
[10:18.06]is a place where personal responsibility
[10:20.89]is valued and expected.
[10:24.02]Encouraging responsibility
[10:25.34]is not a search for scapegoats,
[10:27.81]it is a call to conscience.
[10:30.54]Though it requires saCRIfice,
[10:33.12]it brings a deeper fulfillment.
[10:36.10]We find the fullness of life
[10:38.58]not only in options,
[10:40.26]but in commitments.
[10:41.82]We find that children
[10:43.04]and community
[10:44.46]are the commitments
[10:46.10]that set us free.
[10:48.55]Our public interest
[10:49.52]depends on private character,
[10:52.04]on civic duty
[10:53.22]and family bonds
[10:54.03]and basic fairness,
[10:57.16]on uncounted,
[10:59.03]unhonored acts of decency
[11:01.35]which give direction to our freedom.
[11:04.80]Sometimes in life we are called
[11:06.06]to do great things.
[11:08.50]But as a saint of our times has said,
[11:11.09]every day we are called
[11:12.15]to do small things with great love.
[11:17.41]The most important tasks
[11:19.02]of a democracy
[11:20.85]are done by everyone.
[11:23.39]I will live and lead by these principles:
[11:26.38]to advance my convictions
[11:27.85]with civility,
[11:29.98]to pursue the public interest
[11:31.44]with courage,
[11:33.28]to speak for greater justice
[11:34.59]and compassion,
[11:36.31]to call for responsibility
[11:38.79]and try to live it as well.
[11:41.23]In all of these ways,
[11:43.15]I will bring the values of our history
[11:46.28]to the care of our times.
[11:49.77]What you do is as important
[11:51.55]as anything government does.
[11:54.18]I ask you to seek a common good
[11:55.74]beyond your comfort;
[11:57.47]to defend needed reforms
[11:58.90]against easy attacks;
[12:01.32]to serve your nation,
[12:02.64]beginning with your neighbor.
[12:05.11]I ask you to be citizens:
[12:07.38]citizens, not spectators;
[12:09.66]citizens, not subjects;
[12:12.09]responsible citizens,
[12:14.07]building communities of service
[12:16.55]and a nation of character.
[12:27.52]Americans are generous
[12:28.73]and strong and decent,
[12:30.00]not because we believe in ourselves,
[12:32.87]but because we hold beliefs
[12:34.65]beyond ourselves.
[12:37.33]When this spirit of citizenship is missing,
[12:39.87]no government program can replace it.
[12:43.25]When this spirit is present,
[12:45.68]no wrong can stand against it.
[12:55.60]After The Declaration of Independence
[12:57.07]was signed,
[12:58.73]Virginia statesman John Page
[13:00.31]wrote to Thomas Jefferson,
[13:02.93]We know the race is not to the swift
[13:05.35]nor the battle to the strong.
[13:07.94]Do you not think an angel rides
[13:09.46]in the whirlwind
[13:11.04]and directs this storm
[13:13.57]Much time has passed
[13:14.69]since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration.
[13:17.92]The years and changes accumulate,
[13:20.84]but the themes of this day
[13:22.72]he would know:
[13:24.38]our nation's grand story of courage
[13:27.27]and its simple dream of dignity.
[13:30.25]We are not this story's author,
[13:32.33]who fills time and eternity
[13:33.90]with His purpose.
[13:35.57]Yet His purpose is achieved in our duty,
[13:38.30]and our duty is fulfilled
[13:39.73]in service to one another.
[13:42.40]Never tiring,
[13:44.27]never yielding,
[13:45.90]never finishing,
[13:47.86]we renew that purpose today,
[13:49.79]to make our country more just
[13:51.71]and generous,
[13:52.97]to affirm the dignity
[13:54.34]of our lives and every life.
[13:57.99]This work continues.
[13:59.97]This story goes on.
[14:02.44]And an angel still rides in the whirlwind
[14:05.32]and directs this storm.
[14:07.75]God bless you all,
[14:09.27]and God bless America.
