In Speech to Congress, Biden Bets on Democracy

John Micek on Apr 29, 2021

In any other time, an American president would not be required to make such an emotional and urgent appeal for his fellow citizens to rally around, and support, the foundational values of our nation, the ones that we drum into our children’s heads in civics class.

But as the last four years, capped off by the eruption of violence and treason at the Capitol on Jan. 6, have shown, these are not ordinary times. And while Biden evoked the memory of America’s 32nd president to make his case, I’ll evoke the memory of another, the 16th, from whom Republicans, who have wandered so far, to make mine.

Speaking in Gettysburg, Pa. on Nov. 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln exhorted Americans to ” … highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

That’s the debt we owe those we’ve lost during the pandemic; for the American service members who laid down their lives to preserve our democracy. That’s the democracy that Biden bet on Wednesday.

And then, as now, it will take all of us to make sure that American democracy survives.

=========

An award-winning political journalist, John L. Micek is Editor-in-Chief of The Pennsylvania Capital-Star in Harrisburg, Pa. Email him at jmicek@penncapital-star.com and follow him on Twitter @ByJohnLMicek.