WEST POINT – Former President George W. Bush was honored with the Sylvanus Thayer Award at the United States Military Academy Thursday and he took the occasion to criticize the state of American society today.
“We’ve seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty,” the 43rd President of the United States told the Corps of Cadets. “At times, it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces bringing us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization. Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions. We’ve seen nationalism distorted in nativism, forgetting the dynamism immigration has always brought to America.”
Bush encouraged cadets to be the example, to follow their code of honor and remember the foundation of the country is diversity.
“This means that people of every religion, race and ethnicity can be fully, and equally, American,” said Bush. “It means that bigotry, or white supremacy in any form, is blasphemy against the American creed.”
Bush was honored with the 2017 Thayer Award, an award given to an American each year who the academy’s Association of Graduates believes to embody the characteristics of duty, honor and country, as well as has provided a great service to the nation.
Bush was the 59th recipient of the award, following once again in his
father’s footsteps, George H.W. Bush, who also won the award in
1994.
Bush: “… every religion, race and ethnicity can be fully,
and equally, American”
Bush, accompanied by Superintendent Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen Jr.,
reviews the cadets (USMA photo: Michelle Eberhart)
Bush had visited the academy once before, to address the graduating class of 2002, nine months after the 9/11 attacks.
He said, reminded of his address to the class then, there were many perils facing the country and cadets: terrorism, war, uncertainty, still relevant concerns today; however, in addition to that, he included what he sees as current problems: the uncertainty of the EU, cyber threats, countries wanting to exercise nuclear power against the U.S., young citizen’s loss of faith in democracy and political division, but mostly, division amongst Americans for reasons of ideology, color, ethnicity, or religion.
As Bush had given an address earlier that day on the Bush Institute bullet points for American progress, he left the cadets with his vision for what needs to be done moving forward: harden defenses, show resolve against threats to democracy, maintain the U.S.’s position of protecting freedom and free markets worldwide, strengthen free market enterprise globally, look to all areas of the globe for talent, work to merge the division amongst Americans and strengthen democratic citizenship.
