our democracy. This beautiful capitol, like every capitol since
the dawn of civilization, is often a place of intrigue and calculation.
Powerful people maneuver for position and worry endlessly about who is
IN and who is OUT, who is UP and who is DOWN, forgetting those people
whose toil and sweat sends us here and paves our way.

Americans deserve better, and in this city today there are people
who want to do better, and so I say to all of you here, let us resolve
to reform our politics, so that power and privilege no longer shout down
the voice of the people. Let us put aside personal advantage, so that we
can feel the pain and see the promise of America. Let us resolve to make
our government a place for what Franklin Roosevelt called "bold, persistent
experimentation, a government for our tomorrows, not our yesterdays."
Let us give this capitol back to the people to whom it belongs.

To renew America we must meet challenges abroad, as well as at home. There
is no longer a clear division between what is foreign and what is domestic.
The world economy, the world environment, the world AIDS crisis, the world
arms race: they affect us all. Today as an old order passes, the new world
is more free, but less stable. Communism's collapse has called forth old
animosities, and new dangers. Clearly, America must continue to lead the
world we did so much to make. While America rebuilds at home, we will not
shrink from the challenges nor fail to seize the opportunities of this new
world. Together with our friends and allies, we will work together to shape
change, lest it engulf us. When our vital interests are challenged, or the
will and conscience of the international community is defied, we will act;
with peaceful diplomacy whenever possible, with force when necessary. The
brave Americans serving our nation today in the Persian Gulf, in Somalia,
and wherever else they stand, are testament to our resolve, but our
greatest strength is the power of our ideas, which are still new in many