Let Freedom Ring

To restore America's standing today, the country must start standing up for its oldest principle: freedom. The idea of freedom transcends particular presidents, parties and even countries. But it is an idea for which America is truly indispensable. Indeed, if the United States abandons freedom's post, no nation will guard it.

Cynics may roll their eyes when a U.S. president calls for a "crusade for freedom that will engage the faith and fortitude of the next generation," or implores allies to "move toward a world in which all people are free to determine their own destiny." But America's greatness and its standing in the world will ultimately be determined by the extent to which it champions those words and tries to advance them. That is as true today as it was a quarter century ago, when Ronald Reagan uttered them in an address to the British Parliament.

Reagan embraced those principles and made them the guiding themes of his administration. A generation later, President George W. Bush, in his second Inaugural Address, promised all who live in tyranny that "when you stand for liberty, we will stand with you," and pledged the United States to the goal of "ending tyranny in our world." From Beirut to Baghdad to Burma, this rhetoric has lifted the spirits of dissidents and democrats, even as the administration's own policies have sometimes fallen short.

I only hope the next U.S. president, Democrat or Republican, will have the wisdom to embrace a similar vision and work to make it a reality, so that America can once again help hundreds of millions of people around the world gain their freedom and thereby help secure our common future.

Sharansky is a former political prisoner who spent nine years in the gulag for his work on behalf of human rights in the Soviet Union. He is currently the chairman of the Adelson Institute of Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem.

© 2007