Parker: There's a Sick Reality Behind Biden's Upcoming 'Summit for Democracy'
In upcoming days, the Biden administration is hosting a “summit for democracy” in which 110 nations worldwide have been invited to participate.
The State Department noted that the purpose of the virtual event is “setting forth an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal and to tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies through collective action.”
The Biden administration on the White House website lists “restoring America’s global standing” among its priorities.
This summit will accomplish exactly the opposite.
The nations of the world will see on display that those at the helm of leadership in America have barely a clue what their own country is about. And want to impose their fractured understanding of America’s mission on the rest of the world.
The State Department quotes a phrase from the preamble to the Constitution — “to form a more perfect union” — in describing the aims of the summit.
But the nations of the world are not part of a union, as are our states, bound by a constitution. They are autonomous countries, each marching to its own drummer, trying to live and, hopefully, thrive together on one planet.
The State Department could have picked a much more relevant phrase from the preamble: to “secure the blessings of liberty.”
Liberty is the point. And I am sure it is no accident that the Biden administration chooses to focus on democracy instead.
To appreciate the basic difference, we can turn to our Declaration of Independence, which says that among our God-given inalienable rights are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Then, “that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.”
The principles of liberty, on which our great nation was founded, precede government. Men form governments to protect their liberty, not to bestow it or deny it.
But liberals love control. They don’t love liberty. So they want to grow government to impose their values, their worldview, on citizens.
The State Department said the themes of the summit are “first, strengthening democracy and defending against authoritarianism; second, fighting corruption; and third, promoting respect for human rights.”
If authoritarianism is government imposing itself on individuals, what else can we call it when government takes over an increasingly large portion of our economic activity?
In 2000, the U.S. government consumed 17.7 percent of our GDP, according to the Cato Institute. In 2020, it was up to 31 percent.
With the passage of the additional trillions in spending that Democrats are now trying to move into law, the percentage of our economic lives taken over by the government will ratchet up another several points. Coupled with state and local government spending, Americans are now turning over almost half their economic sovereignty to the government.
The fact that the politicians enacting these vast government programs were democratically elected simply means that Americans are choosing authoritarianism; they are voluntarily giving up their liberty.
The Wall Street Journal noted, for example, that the Build Back Better Act just passed in the House contains $555 billion in “grants, credits and deductions” for “green energy” projects.
In order to qualify for these funds, firms must pay “prevailing wages” — meaning union wages. Nonunion and small contractors will be shut out.
Of course, the reason that this can even happen in a nation founded on the principles of human liberty is that, over many years, our courts and unelected judges have undermined and changed our understanding of the Constitution, which was originally written “to secure the blessings of liberty.”
Now, of course, government looms large everywhere. Employers are told whom they can hire and how they must speak and relate to their employees.
No, I am sorry, Mr. Biden. America should be promoting liberty, not government. Our confusion and duplicity will be there for all the world to see.
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