The terrible news of the past week has shocked and distressed the world. We extend our sympathies to those who lost loved ones. Our Muslim brothers and sisters in New Zealand and Holland, and all of our friends across the globe, need to know that Americans condemn not only those who perpetrated these actions, but anyone who supports or condones them as well. The victims of these attacks were all Muslims, but just as in the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and just in the attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, while the victims were people of one particular faith, but the targets were free people everywhere.
In the coming days, as we try to make sense of these attacks, we must understand that whatever mental or moral or emotional derangement contributed to these deeds, these hateful attacks were not just against particular groups. They were also attacks on liberal democracy, the idea that was first brought to life here in America in 1776. When Thomas Jefferson wrote “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with unalienable unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,’’ he not only encapsulated the ideal which has been the foundation of our nation, he unleashed a vision that has inspired people across the globe. A group of upstart ex-colonists had stood up not only the world’s greatest power, but by extension had also told every other king and chief and czar that people were now the center of authority, and they could think, and speak, and worship, and govern themselves according to their own beliefs. Over the years, and not without struggle, that ideal has flourished around the world.
But today that ideal is under attack from all sides.
Liberal democracy is being assaulted by terrorists espousing any number of causes who would deny even the right to live to people with whom they have differences.
It is also under attacks from authoritarian leaders of every stripe who not only limit the freedoms of their own unfortunate people, but who also seek to undermine liberal democracies abroad. When Russia interferes with elections in America, it’s clear that they mean to damage the legitimacy of our democratically-elected government, and poison the confidence the people have in their leaders.
But our democracy is also threatened when Russia pulls the same trick in the Ukraine, or when Saudi Arabia murders a journalist who is critical of the regime, or when Hungary and Turkey and China repeal liberties and tighten systems of control. America is more secure in the world when democracy is secure in the world, and today hostility to democracy is high.
But perhaps most distressing, America is under attack from within. Our strength is compromised by cynical leaders who seek to divide us in order to attain power, and by weak leaders who condone such divisiveness in order to remain in power. Norms that undergird democracy—respect for one another, for the truth, for the rule of law and the checks and balances of our system—are being disdained and disregarded. Integrity is scarce. The brightest, proudest moments in our history have been those when our leaders acted not in their self-interest, but resolutely and with moral clarity to defend Jefferson’s bold statement. And by the same token, our most shameful moments are all of those when we actively violated those ideals, or even turned a blind eye and pretended that a person’s race, or faith, or gender, or some other element of their humanity was enough of a reason to disqualify their human rights.
This is a dangerous time for our country. In many ways, it resembles the years between the two World Wars. That was a time of great economic anxiety, when racist terrorists like the Ku Klux Klan asserted themselves, when many Americans explored the ideologies of both the left and the right, when American Nazis held large public rallies, even in Madison Square Garden, and when some of our leaders argued that the democratic government was dead. What brought us through those dangers was the same realization that will guide through our current challenges: we are a nation of individuals that is strongest when stand together, and the world is a safer place when we do so. “To some generations much is given,’’ Franklin Roosevelt observed in 1936. “.Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.’’ Like Roosevelt’s listeners, we must ask ourselves: will democracy die on our watch?