Inaction is NOT an Option

 

In his speech at the Democracy Summit, Biden said, “We should be making it easy for people to vote, not harder.” He went further, “And that’s going to remain a priority for my administration until we get it done. Inaction is not an option.”

There has been a lot of palaver criticizing Biden and the US generally for having the presumed audacity to host a summit on Democracy. The argument supporting this dismissive view runs thusly: The USA has fallen from its perch of moral superiority as a staunch proponent of Democracy in light of the Trump/MAGA-land attempt to negate a free and fair election. The argument normally has included reference to the various Republican-led moves to restrict voting rights and curtail the opportunities to vote by targeted communities. In sum, the US is in no position to lecture the rest of the world on Democracy if they can’t keep their own house in order, as it were.

The purveyors of this silliness ignore the fact that Democracy is always – always – a work in progress. It has always been; as each sub-set of a nation’s population gains recognition and power, that sub-set enters the democratic fray. The more democratic the society, the quicker each sub-set gains the power of its collective voice. That’s how Democracy works. 

The prime model for Democracy, the city state of Athens, did not allow women or slaves, or even the majority of the adult population of the state, to vote.  Nevertheless, Athens is cited as the cradle of Democracy. The USA, as the modern paragon of Democracy, by the aforementioned dismissive argument, did not allow slaves or women to vote until decades after its inception.

The struggle for Democracy is ongoing and perpetual. It is always a work in progress. Unfortunately, there will always some who turn to undemocratic methods, such as fascism, racism ultra-nationalism and autocratic rule to gain power. Those factions must be combated and repressed unceasingly. (Indeed, a great, inherent paradox of Democracy is that such undemocratic sectors must be included in the Democracy.)

They do not have to be tolerated but they must not be repressed, either. Thus, the struggle for maintaining a Democratic state is perpetual. 

Point of opinion; Biden’s duty as a world citizen and his role as President obligated him to call the Democracy Summit to counteract the growing presence and power of undemocratic actors.

“Inaction is not an option.”