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There\u2019s a quote often attributed to Winston Churchill, the former British premier: \u201cDemocracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried.\u201d<\/p>\n
Churchill\u2019s tongue-in-cheek defense of democracy came just two years after the end of World War II. Totalitarian forces had vied for their chance to lead the world, but democratic powers in Europe and the United States ushered in decades of peace and prosperity instead.<\/p>\n
The British leader\u2019s quote came to mind as I listened to President Joe Biden address Congress on Wednesday night on his first 100 days in office, because it was the same kind of full-throated defense of democracy that Churchill made. At a time when democracy around the world is under siege and authoritarian powers like China are on the rise, Biden made it clear that he wants to use his time in the Oval Office to prove democracy right.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to prove democracy still works. That our government still works \u2014 and can deliver for the people,\u201d he said during his address on Capitol Hill. \u201cIn our first 100 days together, we have acted to restore the people\u2019s faith in our democracy to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who believe American democracy won\u2019t prevail \u201care wrong, and we have to prove them wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a theme Biden has returned to often. During his first press conference in March, the president said \u201cIt is clear, absolutely clear … that this is a battle between the utility of democracies in the 21st century and autocracies.\u201d <\/p>\n
And just hours before his Wednesday evening address, Biden told CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper and other television presenters that historians would write about \u201cwhether or not democracy can function in the 21st century. … The question is: In a democracy that\u2019s such a genius as ours, can you get consensus in the timeframe that can compete with autocracy?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s this idea that seems to animate everything Biden does. Whether it\u2019s pushing trillion-dollar economic and infrastructure plans at home or especially working to outcompete Beijing abroad, the president\u2019s main theme is that democracy is the best form of government, despite all the others.<\/p>\n
For some experts, it\u2019s the right note to strike. <\/p>\n
\u201cChina is arguing that their brand of authoritarian capitalism is predictable and produces prosperity, whereas the American model is socially divisive, politically unpredictable, and economically reckless,\u201d Kori Schake, the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, told me. \u201cHe\u2019s right\u201d to keep bringing the issue up, she added.<\/p>\n
Indeed, it makes sense for Biden to rally around this idea. Former President Trump attacked American democracy and often sided with foreign dictators, so championing democracy conveniently allows for a political separation between the two. Instead of appealing to rationality in an irrational and polarized time, the notion of boosting America\u2019s democracy might calm partisan passions. And at a fundamental level, a functioning US is good for its international standing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe American government and American society have to work if the US wants to retain its preeminent international position,\u201d said Justin Logan, a US foreign policy expert at the Cato Institute think tank in Washington, DC. \u201cIt may not be able to keep that position, but in the short term, it shouldn\u2019t set its reputation for basic competence on fire, either.\u201d<\/p>\n
But beyond being politically expedient, it appears Biden truly believes in his mission. The president, after all, was 3 years old when World War II ended. Biden grew up in a world where democracy was on the rise and bettered millions of lives (some more than others, of course). To lose the world that shaped him \u2014 on his watch, no less \u2014 is unthinkable, unacceptable, and unwelcome.<\/p>\n
Yes, his first congressional address was a boilerplate political speech. It was full of the usual platitudes and won\u2019t change many minds. <\/p>\n