Former US presidents urge Americans to defend democracy

Washington: Four former US presidents from both Republican and Democratic administrations marked America’s 250th Independence Day with a shared message that the nation’s democracy remains a work in progress and depends on active citizenship, even as they offered differing assessments of the country’s current political climate.

Former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden each used the occasion to call on Americans to protect democratic values, participate in civic life and continue striving towards what the nation’s founders described as “a more perfect union.”

Obama said, “America is a constant work in progress. Every generation must take up the unfinished work of the last and carry it further—protecting what’s right, fixing what’s wrong, and making our union a little more perfect. 250 years later, that’s more important than ever.”

Biden echoed that sentiment. “There’s nothing guaranteed about our democracy. We have to fight for it, defend it, and earn it. Over and over, year after year. That’s not a burden. That’s what it means to be an American,” he said.

He added that while the United States had not fully lived up to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, “we’ve never walked away from them,” urging Americans to ensure “that we never will.”

Bush focused on civic responsibility and the freedoms he said have defined the United States for generations.

“The next 250 years requires Americans to be citizens, not spectators,” Bush said in a video message. “It requires Americans to take an active interest in the health and welfare of our country and the communities in which they live.”

He also called voting “a powerful freedom which we should honour” and highlighted freedom of worship, freedom of the press and community service as enduring values that continue to unite Americans.

Clinton delivered the most politically charged message of the four, warning that the nation was celebrating its 250th anniversary “amid another period of deep division, renewed questions about America’s future and role in the world, and serious threats to our own institutions and to our democracy itself.”

Without naming President Donald Trump, Clinton accused the current administration of having “weaponised government to settle personal scores, prosecute enemies, stamp out free speech,” while insisting that America’s history showed the country had repeatedly overcome moments of crisis.

“Our Founders were wise when they gave us our mission to form a more perfect union,” Clinton said. “They knew America would never be perfect but could always be better.”

He concluded that “there is still nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what’s right with America,” citing citizens who vote, serve their communities, donate to charities and contribute to the country’s future.

The four former presidents converged on several themes with each describing the American experiment as unfinished. They said that democracy requires the active participation of citizens rather than passive observation, and expressed confidence that the country’s future depends on each generation renewing its commitment to the nation’s founding ideals.

IANS