Let us speak of our deepest longing for the future:  to leave our children a land that is free and just and a world at peace.  It is my hope that our fireside summit in Geneva and Mr. Gorbachev’s upcoming visit to America can lead to a more stable relationship.  Surely no people on Earth hate war or love peace more than we Americans.  But we cannot stroll into the future with childlike faith.  Our differences with a system that openly proclaims and practices an alleged right to command people’s lives and to export its ideology by force are deep and abiding.  Logic and history compel us to accept that our relationship be guided by realism—­rock-hard, cleareyed, steady, and sure.  Our negotiators in Geneva have proposed a radical cut in offensive forces by each side with no cheating.  They have made clear that Soviet compliance with the letter and spirit of agreements is essential.  If the Soviet Government wants an agreement that truly reduces nuclear arms, there will be such an agreement.

But arms control is no substitute for peace.  We know that peace follows in freedom’s path and conflicts erupt when the will of the people is denied.  So, we must prepare for peace not only by reducing weapons but by bolstering prosperity, liberty, and democracy however and wherever we can.  We advance the promise of opportunity every time we speak out on behalf of lower tax rates, freer markets, sound currencies around the world.  We strengthen the family of freedom every time we work with allies and come to the aid of friends under siege.  And we can enlarge the family of free nations if we will defend the unalienable rights of all God’s children to follow their dreams.

To those imprisoned in regimes held captive, to those beaten for daring to fight for freedom and democracy—­for their right to worship, to speak, to live, and to prosper in the family of free nations—­we say to you tonight:  You are not alone, freedom fighters.  America will support with moral and material assistance your right not just to fight and die for freedom but to fight and win freedom—­to win freedom in Afghanistan, in Angola, in Cambodia, and in Nicaragua.  This is a great moral challenge for the entire free world.

Surely no issue is more important for peace in our own hemisphere, for the security of our frontiers, for the protection of our vital interests, than to achieve democracy in Nicaragua and to protect Nicaragua’s democratic neighbors.  This year I will be asking Congress for the means to do what must be done for that great and good cause.  As (former Senator Henry M.)Scoop Jackson, the inspiration for our Bipartisan Commission on Central America, once said, “In matters of national security, the best politics is no politics.”