ent 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: "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?"

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's grand story of courage and its simple dream of dignity.

We are not this story'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.

* * * * *

GEORGE W. BUSH, SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2005

Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President
Bush, President Clinton, 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 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 sabbatica