President Joe Biden delivered a speech at Arlington National Cemetery for Memorial Day. While speaking at the solemn affair, Biden was touting the blessings of ‘democracy,’ when he suddenly tripped up. Watch:
“The rule of law. Free and fair elections. Freedom to speak and write and to assemble. Freedom to worship as one chooses. Freedom of the press. Principals that are essential for a free society,” he said. “You’ve heard this a lot. You’ve heard this a lot over the years.”
“But we’re now reading how real it is around the world in so many countries as I speak,” he went on. “These are the foundations of our great experiment. But they are never guaranteed even here in America. Every generation has to defeat democracy’s mortal foes. And into every generation heros are born willing to shed their blood for that which they and we hold dear.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, today we remember and we reaffirm freedom is worth the sacrifice,” he added. “Democracy is not perfect. It’s never been good — perfect,” he quickly added.
“But it’s worth fighting for. If necessary, worth dying for,” he said. “It’s more than just our form of government. It is part of a the very soul of America. The soul of America.”
“Our democracy is our greatest gift as a nation, made holy by those of what we lost along the way,”he continued. “Our democracy is how we undertake the constant work of perfecting union, and we have not perfected it, but we’ve never stopped trying. Of opening the doors wider from opportunity and prosper by and justice for people everywhere.”
The irony of Biden’s slip-up is that America’s Founders might agree with his ‘mistake’ that democracy has never been good. That is because “democracy” is simply rule by the majority, and that can include “tyranny of the majority.”
Constitutional framer James Madison, writing in Federalist 10, said “the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority” has a destabilizing effect on a government. John Adams defended “a mixed government, consisting of three branches” by arguing against a “tyranny of the majority.”
This is why the Bill of Rights expressly laid out Americans’ rights, which are forbidden from the federal government’s violation. It is thus with no small irony that Biden is touting “democracy” while his administration poses the greatest threat to Americans’ civil liberties in generations.
Whether it is the the First Amendment right to free speech, Second Amendment right to bear arms, and the Fourth Amendment right to freedom of travel, and other sacred rights, the Biden administration has directly assaulted them at every turn. Presidential platitudes cannot change that track record, regardless of whether or not a tyrannical majority agrees with him.
Current Founder, CEO and Chief Editor of Becker News. Former Writer & Associate Producer at Fox News for #1 top-rated prime-time cable news show. Former Director of Viral Media and Senior Managing Editor for award-winning startup website IJReview, which grew to a readership of 20-30 million Americans a month. Led editorial and social media team that was #1 ranked news & politics publisher on Facebook for story engagement. Writer whose thousands of digital articles have been read by over 100 million unique users.