Elected parliaments do not own our liberties.

Our freedoms are their tools.

We should be uncompromising, therefore, in our defense of civil liberties.

We must fight terrorism wherever it exists, because terrorism anywhere threatens democracy everywhere.

It is the context in which we find our liberties safeguarded or destroyed.

Of course, the logic behind calls to restrict our freedoms has a simplistic appeal extremists use our freedoms to commit their crimes, so preventing the abuse of freedom requires curtailing freedom s scope.

My fellow Americans, the Founders had the wisdom to guarantee our freedoms in many ways.

As long as this is so, the US, as primus inter pares , can still be looked up to as the defender of our freedoms.

Each new terror alert or high tech innovation, it seems, makes new demands on our liberty in the name of security.

Checks on security measures that curtail the freedoms that give our lives dignity are as imperative as protection.

My fellow Americans, the Founders had the wisdom to guarantee our freedoms in many ways. They could not guarantee our souls.

But they cannot destroy an open society. Only those who govern our democracies can do that, by shrinking our freedoms in freedom's name.

The address also embraced social welfare ( The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us ) and the idea of fraternité ( preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action ).

Obama s election has demonstrated that things are still achievable in the US that remain unthinkable elsewhere. As long as this is so, the US, as primus inter pares , can still be looked up to as the defender of our freedoms.