Saying the world is at an inflection point, President Joe Biden kicked off the virtual Summit for Democracy on Thursday by calling on world leaders to commit to strengthening their democracies.
What You Need To Know
- Saying the world is at an inflection point, President Joe Biden kicked off the virtual Summit for Democracy on Thursday by calling on world leaders to commit to strengthening their democracies
- Biden convened officials from more than 100 governments for the three-day summit, being hosted by the U.S. State Department
- Biden said the United States is trying to lead by example, touted his own legislative accomplishments and discussed other proposals his administration is working to pass
- Biden did not explicitly mention the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol or the wave of voting reforms passed by Republican state legislatures, but Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking later Thursday, did address both topics
“Democracy doesn’t happen by accident,” Biden said. “We have to renew it with each generation. And this is an urgent matter, on all our parts in my view, because the data we’re seeing is largely pointing in the wrong direction.”
The president cited studies from Freedom House that found global freedom was in decline for the 15th consecutive year in 2020 and from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance that concluded that more than half of all democracies have experienced at least some democratic erosion over the past 10 years.
Biden convened officials from more than 100 governments for the two-day summit, being hosted by the U.S. State Department. Other invitees included activists, trade unionists, researchers and representatives from the business community.
“This gathering has been on my mind for a long time for a simple reason: In the face of sustained and alarming challenges to democracy (and) universal human rights … all around the world, democracy needs champions,” the president said.
Biden said the choices world leaders make now will define the course of democracies over the next several decades. The president condemned autocrats for seeking to advance their own power and expand their repressive policies while they fan the flames of social division and political polarization.
“Will we allow the backward slide of rights and democracy to continue unchecked?” Biden asked. “Or will we together — together — have … the vision and courage to once more lead the march of human progress and human freedom forward?”
Biden said the United States is trying to lead by example. He touted his own legislative accomplishments — a COVID-19 relief package and an infrastructure and jobs package — for stimulating the U.S. economy and putting more people back to work. Good paying, union jobs “will translate to lives of opportunity and dignity for working people with better access to the tools and resources they need to thrive,” he said.
The president said he hopes Congress will pass his $1.85 trillion Build Back Better proposal, which wold make further investments in American workers.
Biden also said he continues to fight for two pieces of voting rights legislation — the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act — that have so far faced uphill climbs in Congress.
“We should be make it easier for people to vote, not harder,” he said.
Biden said the U.S. also is doubling down on its efforts to support other democracies around the world.
He announced Thursday the creation of the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, a set of policy and foreign assistance measures aimed at bolstering democracy and defending human rights globally. The U.S. will work with Congress to provide up to $424.4 million toward causes such as supporting free and independent media and democratic reformers, fighting corruption, advancing technology for democracy, and defending free and fair elections.
On Monday, the Biden administration announced a national strategy on combating corruption worldwide.
Biden did not explicitly mention the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, carried out by supporters of former President Donald Trump in hopes of halting certification of Biden’s election victory, or the wave of voting reforms passed in the months since by Republican state legislatures, spurred by Trump’s false allegations of widespread voter fraud. Democrats charge that the new laws will make it more difficult for many people, particularly minorities, to vote.
However, speaking at the summit later in the day, Vice President Kamala Harris did address both topics.
“Here in the United States, we know that our democracy is not immune from threats,” she said. “Jan. 6 looms large in our collective conscience. And the anti-voter laws that many states have passed are part of an intentional effort to exclude Americans from participating in our democracy. In our democracy, in every democracy, a representative government is foundational, and the right to vote is fundamental. And so ensuring every eligible American can access that right is a top priority for our administration, and an effort that I am proud to lead.”
And describing human rights and democracy as being “inextricably linked,” the vice president said the U.S. must protect the rights of people with disabilities, people of color, indigenous people, the LGBTQ community and women.
Harris, the first woman and the first person of color to serve as U.S. vice president, pointed to the Biden administration’s decision to have the U.S. rejoin the United Nations Human Rights Council and to launch a national strategy on gender equity and equality.
“We must all remember that democracy is neither an abstract concept nor a static state,” Harris said. “Democracy lives in the people. Democracy is the people. And democracy is our best hope.”
