Governor Michael O. Leavitt

Mr. Chief Justice, President Beattie, Speaker of the House Brown, fellow Utahns:

I begin with gratitude. The opportunity to serve as governor of Utah is a privilege. I can, without equivocation, report that the last four years my energies have been devoted entirely to the fulfillment of the stewardship with which you, the citizens, have entrusted me. My hand raised today in oath is a renewal of my solemn pledge to honor this stewardship; my promise to continue to deserve your trust.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the first party of pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley. On their second morning in the valley, ten settlers rode to the foot of a dome-shaped peak just behind where the Capitol is today. With field glasses they surveyed the valley. One of them recorded in his journal: "On the west glistened a large lake. Streams flowing from the eastern canyons looked like ribbons of willow, and emptied into a river." They climbed, that morning, to gain perspective on this valley. From there they had a clearer view of both the challenges ahead, and their opportunities. Tradition has it they raised a humble banner as an ensign to the world.

On Saturday last, I left the Capitol and hiked to that same peak, now known as Ensign Peak. One still sees the glimmering lake, and the streams that flow. Valleys, then barren, are now very much alive.

From that same peak, there now winds a black ribbon of asphalt from every direction, automobiles carrying people into a stream of vitality that now is the state of Utah. Airplanes slide from earth to air, bound for distant parts of a smaller world. Trees, homes, businesses and schools, hospitals, churches and parks fill the valley, surrounded by the ageless mountains.

As I stood, gazing down into the Salt Lake Valley, I felt I had clearer view of our greatest challenge and opportunity: growth. Like the settlers of 150 year years ago, I wanted to take a moment or two to think about how far we had come and to consider the challenges that lie ahead. Not so far from where I stood, I could see the hospital where six months ago, I held a newborn girl in my arms. Charity was her name, and little Charity was Utah's two millionth citizen. Two million citizens from every corner of the globe, citizens from every walk of life, from every race and religion, from every part of the political spectrum. Two million citizens, each of them contributing the rich and valuable talents that make Utah strong.

Standing on Ensign Peak, remembering Charity, I recognized that our biggest challenge was to create a safe and prosperous environment for the children of the next century, to keep the faith with Charity and all the children of coming generations during this time of unparalleled growth.

It took more than a hundred years from the time those settlers stood on Ensign Peak for Utah to have one million citizens. It took only thirty years for the second million; it will take only 20 years for the third million. When my six-year-old son is 50, the state of Utah will have more than 4.5 million people. Washington County will have more than 300,000 residents; Cache County 175,000; Utah County, three-quarters of a million citizens.

As I, and many others in this audience will attest, forty-five years goes by very, very quickly. This is going to happen.

Some may begin to feel like building a fence at our borders. Even if that were possible, it would not measurably change the outcome. Our growth will be our children and their children.

Standing on Ensign Peak I thought of my great, great grandparents. Each entered Utah a short time after that first party of settlers. They were sent to different parts of southern Utah. They faced daunting challenges, but they saw them as opportunities. They planted crops where none had grown before. They scratched out a civilization under conditions of unrelenting hardship. Each generation since has done its part, met its challenge, kept its stewardship.

And we must keep ours.

We will build roads statewide. Intelligent highways of the 21st century.

We will teach our children that water has a sacred life-giving quality and look for better ways to use the spring bounty of our mountains.

We will keep our stewardship to the land. We will set aside those parts that are untrammeled by man and use as our guide commonsense principles that are not grounded in the romance of the past, or the greed of the present, but in a shining hope for future generations.

Those 10 pioneers stood at the edge of civilization. We stand at the edge of a new millennium, full of high-tech wonders.

From that spot on Ensign Peak, one can now see tall towers of communications that send pictures, words and sounds around the world in the time it took those ten to take two steps. Invisible from the peak are miles and miles of underground fiberoptic cable that carry whole libraries of information into homes, schools, and businesses all over Utah. Anything we need to know is a web site away. While those first brave settlers had to travel across the country to build a community of people who shared their values, we can chat with people all over the world on any subject we choose from computers everywhere.

Utah is bringing the wonders of technology to our schools. We are building a high tech university that will expose every student to the best classes from all over the West. We know that knowledge is not bound by place or space. For 2,500 years people have gone to where the knowledge was. In the Information Age knowledge will flow to where the people are. We can learn anywhere the lessons mankind has needed for centuries. We are preparing our children to compete in the world.

The pioneers worked in an environment made harsh by the elements. Our task is made complex by the pace and magnitude of change.

The pioneers' challenge was to plow and plant. Ours is to plan, prepare and preserve.

The emergence of this state is a fulfillment of their faith, and should stand as an affirmation of ours.

Let their ensign, raised 150 years ago, be an emblem of our clear view into the next century. Let us resolve that this generation will sustain and enhance the quality of our inheritance that it may also be our legacy.

In 14 days I will deliver the State of the State Address. That is an occasion to propose specific plans to build highways, improve schools and discuss day-to-day affairs of state government. But today, I am privileged to deliver an Inaugural Address, an opportunity that comes only once in a term. I have spoken already of the gratitude I feel. I have also come to feel a deep affection for this state and its people. The experience has taught me to appreciate democracy and to understand why it is so demanding. One of the remarkable blessings of this office is the unmatched opportunity to learn. In equal measure, the intensity of the demands and the breadth of the subjects have expanded my view and deepened my understanding. I have developed a clearer view.

I have gained deep respect for the principle that guided the signers of the Declaration of Independence — a recognition of God as the force of greater good and the source of a constant moral standard.

The United States of America is a country born of a revolutionary idea. The founders proclaimed to the world that the people were endowed with inalienable rights by their Creator by God — not by King George or any other earthly sovereign. The power of government belongs to the people. Individual freedom belongs to the people. Personal responsibility belongs to the people. There has never been a more crucial public policy decision.

Our Founding Fathers were men of different religions and creeds. But they shared a common belief that a changing world needs a foundation of moral stability. And while they prohibited government from being a venue of religion, they looked to God as the source of their values.

They knew from history and their own experience that without a belief in a supreme being, people will always redefine morality to their convenience. That's what civilizations without a divine standard have always done. The founders believed that a nation based on divinely-ordained values could endure. That is the reason every time we pledge allegiance to the flag, we say together, "one nation under God." That is the reason that every coin in our pockets is stamped conspicuously, "In God we Trust."

But it is not enough to have it written on our coins. It must also be emblazoned in our hearts. For there is another word on our coins; liberty, which includes the ability for society to define morality any way its members choose. Interesting thing about liberty; it means every generation must revisit the question, "Do we trust in God?"

Our society has developed a misplaced politeness which says we shouldn't talk about God because it might offend someone.

Heaven save the society that's too polite to speak about God.

Some may ask what business society has in the private behavior of its citizens. Government is charged with the responsibility of spending a sizeable chunk of the money we earn, and we expect government to maintain an orderly and safe society. Nurturing proven values is treating causes rather than the effects of our biggest problems in government. It is working on prevention, not just symptoms.

The last four years have given me a clearer view that an absolute and direct correlation exists between the need for government spending and the values of our people. A very high percent of tax dollars spent for welfare would not be necessary if our citizens would assume responsibility to pay their legally-required child support. Our prison population is exploding. Put current trends on your pocket calculator and run them out 10 years. It will scare you to death. What's the price in tax dollars of crime, child neglect, substance abuse or just plain dishonesty? The tax cost is exceeded only by the price in human misery; the injuries of crushed confidence, the broken hearts from broken homes.

I find great optimism in the resurgence of the discussion of values among political, religious and community leaders. I was pleased to see a few days ago that the president said it is wrong to be pregnant or father a child unless you are married and ready to take on the responsibilities of parenthood.

We need more straight talk about the value of marriage. There is a reason society licenses marriages. It is the means of entering into a three-way agreement: a man, a woman, and society. Society has an undeniable stake in successful marriage. Couples bring children into the world. Each new life requires care, feeding, teaching and protection. If the couple breaks apart, or if there is no marriage in the first place, the state often ends up as the children's caretaker. As hard as the state might try, it can never do the job as well as two loving parents. The personal, social and financial impacts expand geometrically for generations.

Fostering self reliance is another critical value that we must discuss and address. Four years ago I spoke of fostering self-reliance as one of my primary objectives. To do that, I knew we had to return power to control these programs back to the states.

For decades the national government has dictated to local communities how they would spend their money and the values that would be reflected in that approach. Washington has pretended it could solve every problem through entitlement programs. It succeeded only in entrapping generations in an endless cycle of dependence and creating massive federal debt. It was well intended, but it failed our most needy citizens. Government cannot guarantee our happiness; it can only be the guardian of our search for happiness.

Utah is engaged in the most sweeping reform of human services in our history. Already we have helped thousands of people move from public welfare rolls to private pay rolls. Rather than giving people welfare we are giving them help. Help with job training, help with child care, help with housing. We're helping people get back on their feet.

I'm pleased to report that an appetite is growing nationally to move government closer to home. This subject defines much of the debate in Washington today. In time it could revitalize confidence and reengage participation in the American democracy. Four years ago, on this same occasion, I said power and money must be pushed away from Washington and back to the states I committed to be a force in that movement. And I have kept that commitment. If governors and other state leaders had not stepped forward on welfare reform, it would not have happened.

But welfare reform is just one part of the shift that must take place. Major course corrections take time in a democracy. This movement is still in its early and formative stage. I want you to know that I intend to remain a soldier in this fight.

Even limited and localized government stumbles in trying to resolve society's most difficult human problems. A successful state is built upon a sound physical infrastructure of highways, bridges, water systems and schools. That is government's role. But just as important is a solid moral infrastructure, the required foundation of individual goodness. That is each citizen's role. It is individuals with willing hearts and helping hands that ultimately make Utah a safe and great place to live. Government can't change hearts. We can lock up criminals, but we struggle to rehabilitate them. We can take children from abusive parents, but we can't bind up their broken hearts. In the realm of human character, government tries hard, but flounders.

So if we want to change the world, we must start with ourselves, then our families, then our neighborhoods, and then our communities. Utah is nothing more than the totality of its communities. And communities are made up of neighborhoods. And neighborhoods of families, and families of individuals. So we must first look to ourselves. Do we have the courage to change our hearts? The answer lies within each one of us, and can only be answered by ourselves.

Changed hearts create loving and unified families . . . which strengthen and revitalize neighborhoods . . . which translate into peaceful and safe communities . . . which make the state of Utah a place where the embers of values glow brightly.

One-hundred fifty years ago, those 10 pioneers paused on a peak to get a clearer view, to contemplate the challenges and opportunities in the vast valley that was their new home. Their ensign was a symbol of faith that despite the apparent difficulties, they could create here a place to which would flow diverse people from many nations.

And they came. They came from a hundred nations. And they are still coming.

As we conclude this century and prepare for a new millennium, we live in an exhilarating time filled with opportunity. I feel confident and optimistic that we can fulfill our stewardship, that we can make Utah a state where work and integrity are reenthroned, where fathers and mothers are loyal to each other and love and cherish their children, where crime is an aberration and self-reliance is a way of life.

And what will it take? Those pioneers left the heights of Ensign Peak that day with the clearer view of their duty riveted in their hearts. And then, what did they do? They rode back into the valley, got off their horses, and they plowed and planted, cut timber, hauled rock, dug ditches. They went to work.

Let us follow their example, keeping that clearer view burned in our minds and hearts, and then let us get to work. Thank you.