We will add 40,000 active duty troops — not in Iraq, but to strengthen American
forces that are now overstretched, overextended, and under pressure.

We will double our special forces to conduct anti-terrorist operations. We will
provide our troops with the newest weapons and technology to save their lives —
and win the battle. And we will end the backdoor draft of National Guard and
reservists.

To all who serve in our armed forces today, I say, help is on the way.

As President, I will fight a smarter, more effective war on terror. We will deploy
every tool in our arsenal: our economic as well as our military might; our principles
as well as our firepower.

In these dangerous days there is a right way and a wrong way to be strong.

Strength is more than tough words. After decades of experience in national security,
I know the reach of our power and I know the power of our ideals.

We need to make America once again a beacon in the world. We need to be looked
up to and not just feared.

We need to lead a global effort against nuclear proliferation — to keep the most
dangerous weapons in the world out of the most dangerous hands in the world.

We need a strong military and we need to lead strong alliances. And then, with
confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the terrorists: You will lose and
we will win. The future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs to freedom.

And the front lines of this battle are not just far away — they're right here on our
shores, at our airports, and potentially in any town or city.

Today, our national security begins with homeland security. The 9-11 Commission
has given us a path to follow, endorsed by Democrats, Republicans, and the 9-11
families. As President, I will not evade or equivocate; I will immediately implement
the recommendations of that commission. We shouldn't be letting ninety-five
percent of container ships come into our ports without ever being physically
inspected. We shouldn't be leaving our nuclear and chemical plants without enough
protection. And we shouldn't be opening firehouses in Baghdad and closing them
down in the United States of America.

And tonight, we have an important message for those who question the patriotism of
Americans who offer a better direction for our country. Before wrapping themselves
in the flag and shutting their eyes and ears to the truth, they should remember what
America is really all about. They should remember the great idea of freedom for
which so many have given their lives. Our purpose now is to reclaim democracy
itself. We are here to affirm that when Americans stand up and speak their minds
and say America can do better, that is not a challenge to patriotism; it is the heart
and soul of patriotism.

You see that flag up there. We call her Old Glory. The stars and stripes forever. I
fought under that flag, as did so many of you here and all across our country. That
flag flew from the gun turret right behind my head. It was shot through and through
and tattered, but it never ceased to wave in the wind. It draped the caskets of men I
served with and friends I grew up with.

For us, that flag is the most powerful symbol of who we are and what we believe in.
Our strength. Our diversity. Our love of country. All that makes America both great
and good.

That flag doesn't belong to any president. It doesn't belong to any ideology and it
doesn't belong to any political party. It belongs to all the American people.

My fellow citizens, elections are about choices. And choices are about values. In
the end, it's not just policies and programs that matter; the president who sits at that
desk must be guided by principle.

For four years, we've heard a lot of talk about values. But values spoken without
actions taken are just slogans. Values are not just words. They're what we live by.
They're about the causes we champion and the people we fight for. And it is time for
those who talk about family values to start valuing families.

You don't value families by kicking kids out of after school programs and taking
cops off our streets, so that Enron can get another tax break.

We believe in the family value of caring for our children and protecting the
neighborhoods where they walk and play.

And that is the choice in this election.

You don't value families by denying real prescription drug coverage to seniors, so
big drug companies can get another windfall.

We believe in the family value expressed in one of the oldest Commandments:
"Honor thy father and thy mother." As President, I will not privatize Social Security. I
will not cut benefits. And together, we will make sure that senior citizens never have
to cut their pills in half because they can't afford life-saving medicine.

And that is the choice in this election.

You don't value families if you force them to take up a collection to buy body armor
for a son or daughter in the service, if you deny veterans health care, or if you tell
middle class families to wait for a tax cut, so that the wealthiest among us can get
even more.

We believe in the value of doing what's right for everyone in the American family.

And that is the choice in this election.

We believe that what matters most is not narrow appeals masquerading as values,
but the shared values that show the true face of America. Not narrow appeals that
divide us, but shared values that unite us. Family and faith.

Hard work and responsibility. Opportunity for all — so that every child, every parent,
every worker has an equal shot at living up to their God-given potential.

What does it mean in America today when Dave McCune, a steel worker I met in
Canton, Ohio, saw his job sent overseas and the equipment in his factory literally
unbolted, crated up, and shipped thousands of miles away along with that job?
What does it mean when workers I've met had to train their foreign replacements?
America can do better. So tonight we say: help is on the way.

What does it mean when Mary Ann Knowles, a woman with breast cancer I met in
New Hampshire, had to keep working day after day right through her chemotherapy,
no matter how sick she felt, because she was terrified of losing her family's health
insurance.

America can do better. And help is on the way.

What does it mean when Deborah Kromins from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania works
and saves all her life only to find out that her pension has disappeared into thin air
— and the executive who looted it has bailed out on a golden parachute? America
can do better. And help is on the way.

What does it mean when twenty five percent of the children in Harlem have asthma
because of air pollution? America can do better. And help is on the way.

What does it mean when people are huddled in blankets in the cold, sleeping in
Lafayette Park on the doorstep of the White House itself — and the number of
families living in poverty has risen by three million in the last four years? America
can do better. And help is on the way.

And so we come here tonight to ask: Where is the conscience of our country? I'll tell
you where it is: it's in rural and small town America; it's in urban neighborhoods and
suburban main streets; it's alive in the people I've met in every part of this land. It's
bursting in the hearts of Americans who are determined to give our country back its
values and its truth.

We value jobs that pay you more not less than you earned before. We value jobs
where, when you put in a week's work, you can actually pay your bills, provide for
your children, and lift up the quality of your life. We value an America where the
middle class is not being squeezed, but doing better.

So here is our economic plan to build a stronger America: First, new incentives to
revitalize manufacturing.

Second, investment in technology and innovation that will create the good- paying
jobs of the future.

Third, close the tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping our jobs
overseas. Instead, we will reward companies that create and keep good paying jobs
where they belong — in the good old U.S.A.

We value an America that exports products, not jobs — and we believe American
workers should never have to subsidize the loss of their own job.

Next, we will trade and compete in the world. But our plan calls for a fair playing
field — because if you give the American worker a fair playing field, there's nobody
in the world the American worker can't compete against.

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