Now, for the third time, a new century is upon us, and another time to choose.  We began the 19th century with a choice, to spread our nation from coast to coast.  We began the 20th century with a choice, to harness the Industrial Revolution to our values of free enterprise, conservation, and human decency.  Those choices made all the difference.  At the dawn of the 21st century a free people must now choose to shape the forces of the Information Age and the global society, to unleash the limitless potential of all our people, and, yes, to form a more perfect union.

When last we gathered, our march to this new future seemed less certain than it does today.  We vowed then to set a clear course to renew our nation.

In these four years, we have been touched by tragedy, exhilarated by challenge, strengthened by achievement.  America stands alone as the world’s indispensable nation.  Once again, our economy is the strongest on Earth.  Once again, we are building stronger families, thriving communities, better educational opportunities, a cleaner environment.  Problems that once seemed destined to deepen now bend to our efforts:  our streets are safer and record numbers of our fellow citizens have moved from welfare to work.

And once again, we have resolved for our time a great debate over the role of government.  Today we can declare:  Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution.  We—­the American people—­we are the solution.  Our founders understood that well and gave us a democracy strong enough to endure for centuries, flexible enough to face our common challenges and advance our common dreams in each new day.

As times change, so government must change.  We need a new government for a new century—­humble enough not to try to solve all our problems for us, but strong enough to give us the tools to solve our problems for ourselves; a government that is smaller, lives within its means, and does more with less.  Yet where it can stand up for our values and interests in the world, and where it can give Americans the power to make a real difference in their everyday lives, government should do more, not less.  The preeminent mission of our new government is to give all Americans an opportunity—­not a guarantee, but a real opportunity—­to build better lives.

Beyond that, my fellow citizens, the future is up to us.  Our founders taught us that the preservation of our liberty and our union depends upon responsible citizenship.  And we need a new sense of responsibility for a new century.  There is work to do, work that government alone cannot do:  teaching children to read; hiring people off welfare rolls; coming out from behind locked doors and shuttered windows to help reclaim our streets from drugs and gangs and crime; taking time out of our own lives to serve others.

Each and every one of us, in our own way, must assume personal responsibility—­not only for ourselves and our families, but for our neighbors and our nation.  Our greatest responsibility is to embrace a new spirit of community for a new century.  For any one of us to succeed, we must succeed as one America.