The Patriot Post® · Elections, Veterans, and 'Democracy'

This is a big week — midterm elections on Tuesday, and then Veterans Day on Friday. Both have a real bearing on American democracy, a topic very much on Americans’ minds these days.

A theme most frequently articulated by President Joe Biden — and enthusiastically reinforced by Democrat notables Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and others — is that American democracy is in immediate peril.

For clarity in discussing this issue, keep in mind that our form of government is actually a democratic republic, not a pure democracy. That means that we achieve our democratic ideals — described by Abraham Lincoln as government of the people, by the people, and for the people — through democratically elected representatives working on our behalf.

Even using “democracy” as shorthand for all of this, the short answer is NO, American democracy is not in peril. In this week’s elections, voters chose a wide-ranging cast of Democrats and Republicans for positions in federal, state, and local government — in each case the ones they considered best able to represent them. What matters most is that those choices were made by the electorate, not the government. That’s republican government in action, precisely as our Founders intended.

Nevertheless, the specter of endangered democracy remains a nagging public concern. Let’s take a closer look.

In a televised speech to the nation just last week, the president presented a relentlessly bleak picture, characterizing his political opponents as irredeemably evil, violent, driven by greed, intent on voter suppression, and posing an unprecedented threat to the nation. In my view, the Biden speech was less of a warning to Americans and more of a last-ditch appeal for votes. And he was wrong on nearly all points.

Yes, Biden is correct about the never-ending need to nurture and protect our precious freedoms. If you’re not sure, ask any veteran; we honor their sacrifices this week. Our men and women in uniform regularly put their lives on the line in service to that mission.

The Biden hysteria over election deniers is overblown and disingenuous. Sincerely held skepticism about election results is not poisonous to political service — and if it were, that would disqualify not just Republicans but scores of Democrats (remember 2000 and 2016?) from holding political office.

On the contrary, it’s the American way. Patrick Henry and Sam Adams did not meekly accept the official pronouncements; nor did Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King and scores of other American Patriots over the years. Stifling disagreement is far more dangerous to the Republic than contentious debate.

Biden argues correctly that autocracy is anathema to democracy, and he reflexively points an accusing finger to his predecessor as the poster child for autocratic behavior. But he should look closer to home for examples.

Here are a few: Joe Biden decided to spend upwards of half a trillion dollars of taxpayer money on student loan forgiveness, absent any authority to do so and completely ignoring the U.S. Congress. Barack Obama negotiated a massive nuclear deal with Iran, with national security and tons of money in the balance — but rather than call it a treaty and subject it to Senate approval, he committed the nation on his own. And both Biden and Obama pledged American fortune and jeopardized our energy security in support of ill-conceived, high-cost global climate change schemes.

Biden properly expresses concern about political violence and the angry rhetoric that spawns it, although he does not acknowledge that his own rhetoric is part of the problem. Moreover, political violence is nothing new — our nation has endured periods of political assassination, kidnappings, burning cities, and the like. And after each rough patch, it has been democracy — citizenry coming to its senses — that restored a measure of domestic tranquility.

Here too we can take the lead from our veterans. I served as a U.S. Navy submariner in the late ‘60s, a time every bit as tumultuous as today, one fueled by an awakening (dare I say “woke”?) new generation, racial unrest, angry divisions among Americans about the Vietnam War, and other issues. My shipmates held political views as diverse as those in the public at large. I remember vigorous arguments — but we always managed to work together as one, cohesive unit.

We Americans are a strong, resilient people, committed to fierce protection of our nation’s freedoms. We can count on our Armed Forces to be our bulwark against external threats. Internally, the way to preserve our constitutional government is to use it, at every opportunity, just as we did this week.

For now, the voters have adjusted our nation’s course — and in two years, the decision will be in our hands again. That’s what folks call democracy.

Stop worrying about “democracy.” It’s fine. And thank a vet. God bless America.