Biden wants no new cold wars, Democracy crusades

“What is America’s mission?” is a question that has been debated since George Washington’s Farewell Address in 1797.

At last week’s Munich Security Conference, President Joe Biden laid out his vision as to what is America’s mission. And the contrast with the mission enunciated by George W. Bush in his second inaugural could not have been more defining or dramatic.

Here is Bush, Jan. 20, 2005:

“From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth...

“Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation... Now it is... the calling of our time.”

“So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”

America’s mission is “ending tyranny in our world,” said Bush.

Biden’s declared mission is far less ambitious.

“We are in the midst of a fundamental debate about the future and direction of our world. We’re at an inflection point between those who argue that... autocracy is the best way forward... and those who understand that democracy is essential.”

“Historians are going to... write about this moment as an inflection point... And I believe that — every ounce of my being — that democracy will and must prevail. We must demonstrate that democracies can still deliver for our people in this changed world. That, in my view, is our galvanizing mission.

“Democracy doesn’t happen by accident. We have to defend it, fight for it, strengthen it, renew it. We have to prove that our model isn’t a relic of our history.”

So, we have to “demonstrate that democracies can still deliver for our people,” and prove that our democracy is not “a relic”? Nothing here about the worldwide triumph of freedom or “ending tyranny in our world.”

Intending no disrespect, this is scarcely “galvanizing,” like, say, JFK’s inaugural:

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

Biden reassured Moscow and Beijing that the last thing we want is a new Cold War like the one that ended in America’s victory over communism, the Soviet Empire and the USSR.

Biden seems to be calling for “peaceful existence” between the democracies and the autocrats. His remarks also reveal the dichotomy that exists between what is on the minds of his countrymen, and what is on the minds of our Beltway elites, who want the U.S. to lead a global campaign to force the Burmese generals to surrender power, which they just seized from the civilians.

What are the American people, most of whom could probably not find Burma on a map, most concerned about?

The half a million Americans dead in the COVID19 pandemic. That so many of the schools have failed to reopen. They are aware of the crisis on the Southern border. And everyone knows about the loss of heat, light, power and water in Texas from the worst winter storm in decades.

About new crusades for democracy, Americans don’t care much.

They do care, deeply, about what is happening to their own country.