NO FEAR

July 30, 2004 - We are America and we are not afraid! We are not afraid of tomorrow because the future is ours. We are not afraid of competing with anybody and we ask only that they compete honestly with us in a fair market place. We are not afraid of competition in the market place of ideas. We are proud of our heritage of liberty and our traditions of freedom and we know that those ideals will prevail. When the totalitarians build a wall across a continent we knew that it would crumble and when enemies send terrorists against us in the name of a perverted version of a great faith we know that they will fail.

America is not buildings, though our buildings are grand and soaring. America is not cities though our cities are vital and vibrant. America is not armies though our armies are the mightiest that march. Neither is America just her people though our people are the muscle and sinew of America. America is more than all of that. America is a spirit, a spirit that is strong; that is confident; that is unafraid; and that spirit cannot be defeated. It is a spirit that kneels down to comfort the fallen and reaches up to grasp the stars. That is the spirit is America.

America does not shrink in the shadows of its nightmares; it basks in the brightness of its dreams. America does not quake in terror under attack; she trembles with impatience as she prepares to respond. America is not afraid. Those at home who seek to tap into fear for partisan advantage have tapped an empty barrel. Those abroad who think to quench the flame of America’s spirit by engendering terror have only fueled the fire that will consume them. That is the spirit that is America.

America faces a choice in this elections season. It is a choice between fear and confidence. It is a choice between seeking simple solutions; seeking the weakest foe on the easiest path and meeting danger head on. It is a choice between declaring premature victory leaving the enemy in place and charging in the face of danger to put a final end to the threat. That is the spirit that is America.

America and her spirit are one and when her enemies try to fashion wedges to drive us apart, to weaken our resolve by dividing us one from another; to play upon fear to drive us like lemmings over the precipice they will never prevail. America will never cower in the darkness but will look forward to the dawn. That is the Spirit that is America.