Biden’s pledge to defend democracy is very timely
In his most stirring speech yet in just under 12 months in office, US President Joe Biden made an impassioned plea in defence of democracy. “I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy,” he thundered in a clear reference to the January 6, 2021, storming of the shining beacon of freedom that is the US Capitol Hill. Choosing the scene of crime against the historical values of a nation with a near 250-year record of liberty, Mr Biden stood amid the gleaming statues of the pioneers of freedom to denounce the insurrection staged by crazed followers of Donald Trump last year.
Mr Biden’s first year in the White House may not have been the forceful, “build back better” start envisaged, punctuated as it was by the very opposite, as in the manifestation of weakness portrayed by the hasty Afghanistan withdrawal. But nothing can be taken away from his defence of democracy and the shared values of a free way of life at a critical time when his maverick predecessor is still the most feared representative of a different type of love for power. As Mr Biden reminded Donald Trump, “You can’t love your country only when you win.” Grace in a loser is much needed if the will of the people is to truly prevail in democracies.
In recalling the terrifying hours when democracy was in peril and US lawmakers, including the ruling Republicans, cowered in fear inside the Capitol, Mr Biden was only stressing the dangers of extreme dissent. The depths of depravity to which the events descended were exemplified in the mock gallows erected to “hang” the then Vice-President Mike Pence who was inside and doing the dignified duty of affirming the election result in Mr Biden’s favour in the House. The message will not percolate to Trumpian Republicans who still believe all the lies he generated about the US presidential election results.
An Associated Press investigation revealed that only 475 cases of voter fraud were detected among 25.5 million ballots cast in six battleground states over which Mr Trump made such a fuss in disputing the people’s verdict. It is a sign of the times that the media — print, online, social media — can play such an outsized role in spreading canards that can lead to stabbing of the very heart of democracy. The Americans stand more polarised than ever before in their history, which is a dire warning on how political divisions can be so exacerbated in today’s world as to threaten the very foundation that makes democracy a shining principle by which people choose who will rule them.
The battles are being fought on the legislature floors too now as the Democrats try to pass election reforms to ensure everyone keeps the right to vote even as Republican ruled states use re-districting and other legal ploys to keep those voters out who are believed to have made the difference in giving the Democrats the edge in 2020. As Barack Obama said, “nothing is more important” on the anniversary of the darkest day than ensuring the right to vote. While the problem is very American, the lessons are worthy of being aired around the free world. Proto-fascists some may become on being voted in, but none should be granted the power to destroy the precious spirit of democracy already extinct outside the free world, and being eroded inside as well.
The battles are being fought on the legislature floors too now as the Democrats try to pass election reforms to ensure everyone keeps the right to vote...