The Founders of our country believed self-government
was an experiment that would succeed only if certain qualities
were nurtured in the American character. These included self-reliance,
public spiritedness, responsibility, honesty, charity, respect
for the rights of others, and a willingness to comply with the
law.
These virtues have been tested with the rise of
big government in modern times, beginning in the 1930s and accelerating
during the 1960s. Dependence on government made self-reliance
suffer. But the virtues identified by the Founders are still there
to be called upon. They enable us to meet tragic events in extraordinary
times, and in ordinary times, to take back responsibility for
ourselves and for the problems in our communities: drugs, crime,
a faltering education system, family breakdown, a corrosive popular
culture.
In our more recent past, the 1990s brought prosperity,
but amid the stock market frenzy of that decade, corporate ethics
degenerated. Senior company officials cut corners at the expense
of average employees and shareholders. As accounting scandals
and bankruptcy hit some of the biggest U.S. firms at the turn
of the millennium, admirable individuals came forward to call
for reform. Three honest women who stood up for what's right,
even at a personal and professional cost, were chosen as Time
magazine's "Persons of the Year." Texan Sherron Watkins
of Enron, Mississippian Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, and Coleen
Rowley, a courageous FBI agent from Apple Valley, Minnesota were
and remain role models for Americans young and old.
Cynthia Cooper told Time: "There's
a responsibility for all Americans – teachers, mothers,
fathers, college professors, corporate people – to help
and make sure the moral and ethical fabric of the country is strong."
Agent Rowley told the magazine that it was her father who taught
her about strength of character. Orphaned at a young age, he "became
the town's postman and walked 14 miles a day delivering the mail.
You see somebody who didn't have opportunities – and I agree
that being disadvantaged is very difficult – but what do
you do about it? You have to try hard. Even if you can't win,
try hard."
When terrorists attacked us on September 11, American
virtues came to the fore. Unselfishly, firefighters, police, emergency
teams, and ordinary citizens helped people escape the disasters
in lower Manhattan and the Pentagon. The passengers of Flight
93 spontaneously rose up against the terrorists, saving untold
numbers of lives though they lost their own. Wall Street put itself
back into operation just days after the fall of the World Trade
Center towers. Charitable giving soared to aid the victims.
This spirit is evident even when we are compelled
to defend our values abroad. Our soldiers overseas are not only
engaging the enemy in battles, they are helping to rebuild war-torn
Afghanistan and Iraq. One Utah National Guardsman wrote from Baghdad,
on his web log, about giving a toothbrush and some toys to a little
girl. A strong response came from his readers – so strong
that he attracted volunteers to create Operation Give, a Washington,
D.C. charity now shipping donated toys, clothing, and supplies
from America to the children of Iraq.
The year 2005 saw tragedy and disaster around the
globe: the tsunami in South Asia, hurricanes on our own Gulf Coast
and in Central America, and a major earthquake in Pakistan. Americans
gave unstintingly to help the people affected by these events,
and are still doing so. The Washington Post reported little evidence
of the "donor fatigue" that charity and nonprofit officials
had expected. Giving for those who suffered in Hurricanes Katrina,
Rita and Wilma has topped $2.96 billion, according to the Center
on Philanthropy at the University of Indiana. This is believed
to be a record for private philanthropic contributions in the
United States.
Citizen rescuers from all over America went to Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama to help distribute aid and restore basic
functioning to communities after the floods receded. And to assist
those who have left the devastated areas, state governments, educational
institutions, and private individuals have helped resettle hurricane
evacuees by the thousands. In Arizona, everyone from physicians
to newspaper journalists to church members held fund-raisers and
sent the proceeds to the American Red Cross or other organizations
tending to the hurricane victims. Around 700 evacuees arrived
at the Veterans' Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix and the Tucson Convention
Center in September 2005. There they received medical visits,
and advice in finding a job and making a new life in our state.
Not all ended up adopting Arizona as their new home, but many
did.
Such efforts capture what President Bush was talking
about when he reminded us that we are "citizens, not subjects."
Citizenship means doing for ourselves, and doing for others. For,
as he said, "when this spirit of citizenship is missing,
no government program can replace it. When this spirit is present,
no wrong can stand against it."
In this connection, I welcome his creation of an
Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives within his administration.
It seeks to remove the barriers that prevent religious institutions
from contracting with government to provide services to people
in need. I support the concept because many faith-based organizations
deliver charitable services more effectively than government does.
These local programs succeed because they avoid bureaucracy and
establish a personal connection, treating people as spiritual
beings and urging them to improve their behavior.
I support legislation to empower faith-based and
other local efforts that are healing broken families, ending substance
abuse, helping the disadvantaged, and encouraging better citizenship
in towns and cities across the United States.
And we, as a nation, will continue to defend ourselves
at home and abroad against those who would destroy us. In the
months and years ahead, we will work together to protect our way
of life and the lives of innocent people. We will pursue a new
politics of old values, and promote family, work, neighborhoods,
peace, and freedom. We will prove, as the President said, that
no wrong can stand against us.
