We the People . . .

We the people of the United States . . .

President Reagan has chosen the words “we the people” from the preamble to the U.S. Constitution to be the theme of his inauguration. We the people, more than 235 million of us, wish him well. Nothing less is at stake than the future of all of us. Many voted for someone else, but he is the President of all the people. The strength of the nation is in its diversity as well as its unity so long as we remember Thomas Jefferson’s words: “Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.”

In order to form a more perfect union . . .

The President’s approach at the outset of his first term was that the federal government was an ill to be cured or a problem to be solved. Smaller was better. Congress blunted some of Reagan’s more excessive attempts to eliminate programs that truly contribute to the national good or that are more fairly administered from Washington than from 50 state capitals. In the second term perhaps the President will work more constructively with Congress and the governors on the subject of federal-state relations.

Establish justice . . .

Too often the Administration has taken the position that justice is the will of the majority, something to be achieved through tougher laws or survival of the fittest. Not often enough do we hear of justice for minorities, immigrants, the poor, the disabled and the left out. Last year Reagan expressed a wish for a government that provided “the utmost, the ultimate in individual freedom.” The ultimate of individual freedom is no government at all, but anarchy. In this term we hope that the Administration heeds the words of James Madison: “Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.”

Insure domestic tranquility . . .

It has been, generally, a tranquil nation in the past four years. We gloried in the Olympics and expressed our new-found pride in America with chants of “U.S.A., U.S.A.” Rather than rioting on campuses, we indulged in food processors, video recorders, BMWs and diets for winning. America is back--standing tall, the President said. Yet bombings of abortion clinics and family-planning centers tell us that tranquility on the surface can mask dangerous currents in the darker depths of society.

Provide for the common defense . . .

The people have provided, provided and provided--more than $250 billion this year. And still the defense secretary wants 10% growth in military spending while domestic programs are frozen or cut back. We need a constructive national debate on how much is enough. Progress toward arms negotiations is encouraging. America will truly stand tall when it can do so without standing in the shadow of a nuclear arsenal.

Promote the general welfare . . .

The question is not whether an individual is better off than four years ago, but whether we are stronger as a nation and a people. We are not that when economic and social policies favor some segments of society and neglect others. We quibble at times over a percentage point in the level of poverty in America when millions live in hunger, cold, fear, loneliness and despair.

And secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity . . .

The greatest fear of the Founders in establishing the Republic was the tyranny of the majority. In its quest to right perceived wrongs of previous governments, the Administration has trod too closely at times to the fine line between stability of the state and individual liberties, particularly in regard to freedom of information. We hope in the coming four years that members of the Administration will be more inclined to think of government as ours--all of us, we the people--rather than theirs.

. . . Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Let all Americans join the President as he takes his oath to preserve the Constitution, to protect it and to defend it.

And Godspeed, Mr. President.