 It's and the vice president of the United States. Thank you very much. Thank you Well, I know I speak for vice president Bush when I Say that we're delighted to help you all here and Delighted to welcome you, but I'm very much aware that in your case that word delight does not really nearly suffice I Look at you, and I know I'm looking at people who Have seen and suffered the full gamut of totalitarian terror Some of you lost friends and loved ones in your struggles and Some of you risk your lives and all your earthly belongings And you will bear scars for the rest of your life Your men and women of courage Heroes who have devoted a lifetime to struggle for God's greatest gift for freedom and for that I can only say I'm honored to Be here with you today, and I'll be proud to stand by you always You understand that the struggle for freedom is the preeminent struggle of our time one of the great tragedies of our age is that Ugly sinister walls continue to deny for the millions trapped behind them the most basic yearnings of the human spirit and Let us make it plain that we must and will condemn all tyrants who deny their citizens human rights Whether they be dictators of the left or the right, you know, I've I've often thought to myself. In fact, I've mentioned a few times. I don't think there is a left or right Because if you follow that far enough either way, you suddenly find they've come together and They all have the same characteristics. I think we ought to start talking about an up or down Up to the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with an orderly society or down through Statism until you arrive at totalitarianism but For the sake of our security and for the sake of our freedom Let us understand the nature of this single greatest challenge to human rights in the world today It's the challenge of one system that puts itself above God That demands control over people's lives and that defines its very existence By the relentless drive to conquer more and more lands and that system is today communist totalitarianism Look at the lesson of history Many Tays nations today have been conquered by force not by moral force Not by persuasion and certainly not with the tides of history Now they were seized by forces of violence by tanks and guns in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia by bombs chemical poisons and forced starvation in Afghanistan Vietnam and Kampuchea and Everywhere by the forces of persecution against innocent people People whose only crime might have been a simple faith a love of their God Alonging to worship as Muslims Buddhists Jews or followers of Jesus Christ They were taken captives by force and they remain captives by force The citizens of Nicaragua Are the latest to join this unhappy lot Victims of the campaign of persecution against liberty and faith that follows every communist takeover the Archbishop of Minagua Miguel or Banda we Bravo and The members of his flock have recently been singled out as enemies by the Sandinista regime Last week the Archbishop said we're in the presence of a Marxist Leninist government that cannot accept an independent church The government's goal he said is to eliminate the church to eliminate priests who are loyal to the Pope and to the church hierarchy And Pope John Paul II said I express my firm disapproval and my intimate participation in the suffering of the church in Nicaragua And I know I speak for millions of Americans who join the Pope in saying We too disapprove and yes people of Nicaragua. We too suffer with you Democracy is far from perfect But democracy does not wage war on its neighbors Doesn't build walls to keep its people in and it doesn't organize armies of secret police to spy on them and keep them quiet Democracy reflects all the mistakes all the frailties, but also all the deepest hopes and dreams of the human spirit and Democracy rests upon a noble principle That has and always will make tyrants tremble Government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed That is why people with their innate good sense have never chosen of their own free will to live as slaves But millions have risked their lives to escape the darkness of oppression and to live in the sunlight of freedom And that's why we can say here today with certain knowledge that our path is the right and good path and that yes Democracy is the way of the future To all those trapped in tyranny Wherever they may be Let us speak with one voice not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans Saying you are not alone your dreams are not in vain Hold on to your dreams because the tide of the future is a freedom tide and totalitarianism cannot hold it back We're peaceful people we occupy no countries. We seek no confrontation with any nation As I've said repeatedly, there's nothing we want more Nothing we're trying harder to achieve than to bring about a more peaceful world Peace is our highest aspiration. We're prepared for peace and prepared to persist for peace James Russell Lowell wrote endurance is the crowning quality and patience all the passion of great hearts One day with life and heart is more than enough to find a world We will always summon our freedom to work another day to make this world a safer place But as we go forward in this worthy endeavor, let us also remember who we are and what we stand for We're a nation under God and his divine spirit of truth and love must guide and always remain central to our existence Yes, we stand for peace but we stand for peace with freedom and For peace with dignity and when we speak of the dignity of the individual nothing could be more tragic Than the fate of the Nobel Prize winner dr. Andres Sakharov and his wife Elina Bonner We're currently suffering Severe persecution and are cut off from the rest of humanity The world demands to know the fate of these two good and courageous people So to those who believe our policy must always be willful ignorance of ugly truths must be silence in the face of persecution and appeasement or surrender to aggression I Say no that price is far too steep and we dare not and will never pay it If our observance of captive nations weak is to have meaning Then it must be observed in word and indeed Today, I'm calling on people everywhere who enjoy the blessings of liberty To join with us in helping the freedom fighters in Afghanistan Because they need our support. They want our support and they deserve our support The cause of peace is not served by a conquering force of more than a hundred thousand Soviet troops The cause of peace will only be served when those troops are out and Afghanistan belongs again to the Afghan people And today I'm appealing to those who refused to help the freedom fighters in Nicaragua Refused to assist their courageous struggle for democracy for freedom of the press and for freedom of assembly and worship in their homeland I urge you to ponder long and hard To reflect on the fatal consequences of complacency and isolationism and above all to understand that freedom is Never more than one generation away from extinction It's vital for the sake of our own future that the Congress and the American people respond to the democratic aspirations of the Nicaraguan people Freedom's greatest shield is a shield of truth and our shield is stronger today than ever before I'm proud to tell you that we've begun an initiative that will bring words of Truth and a message of hope to millions of imprisoned people throughout the world The construction budget of the voice of America was only two point six million dollars in 1981 So our administration has developed a six-year one billion dollar program to modernize the voice of America And I'm pleased to report that the Congress has voted to provide nearly a hundred million dollars for 1985 We We are also committed to expanding significantly the ability of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty to communicate with the peoples of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and We're pleased that the Congress has authorized the establishment of Radio Marti Which will broadcast the truth to the people of Cuba there there is cause for hope and promise and So I thank you for your faith for your courage, and I thank you for standing together Because with you by our side We'll keep our sights on the farthest stars. We'll climb higher We will be a shining city on a hill Our time is now and now I'm going to sign the captive nations weak proclamation And thank you very much and God bless you all You see I'm so pleased that you are here