Bush's Inaugural Speech: Freedom is Job 1

I am not one who believes in coincidences. In the sad time after my father's death from brain cancer, I learned that "coincidence" is merely a word for God's perfect timing in his working out of history. And it is a sign of His sense of humor. Therefore, I believe it is no coincidence that the same day that devout Muslim's "stone the devil" on the Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca) is the day George W. Bush is sworn in as President for a second time with a single and strong message for his second term.

There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment and expose the pretensions of tyrants and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant. And that is the force of human freedom. We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world....So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

Of course, I am sure that others will iterpret this "coincidence" differently. They will say the "devil" being stoned is the USA. But I think it is the case that it is tyranny and oppression which are being stoned. And while I do not know if this goal is truly achieveable - after all tyranny has been around far longer than democracy, and appears to be the natural state of Man - it is a goal worth striving for, worth sacrificing for, and even worth dying for.