Speaker unverified: belief

Transcript context

…Like a monarch. Yeah. Outside of a handful of Greek city states back in the day, democracy was a new idea and was an experiment. For the first time ever, we placed the sovereignty of the individual at the center of society. The Government's job, if you go back to the founding, was basically to protect the rights of the individual. The individual was sovereign, the government was beholden to the individual. That's a beautiful, beautiful and powerful idea. By the way, we don't just believe that for people inside our own country. The belief is that all people have dignity, all people have these rights. As a result, we need to lead with those values globally. If you believe that, then of course, you have self government, of course, you have a democracy. You wouldn't have an arbitrary monarch ruling over you because the people are sovereign. From that, we've created more wealth, more prosperity, lifted more people out of poverty, freed more people, and oversaw the longest sustainable peace in world history. That's not to say we're perfect. Again, of course, we're not. Of course, the founding was imperfect where the truth is compromised. I think it's the original sin of the country. A whole host of things that we've gotten wrong, but compare that to the alternative, which is authoritarianism, Chinese communism, and the sort of divides there. I think it's a pretty clear answer as to what the right path forward is. When I see people tear down our democracy, whether it's again, right or left, I think that's a dead giveaway to China. It emboldened the Russias and the Chinas of the world, and you hear it in their rhetoric. You see it from their propaganda arms. All it does is cheapen democracy and our leadership in the world, globally. To me, that's the real divide. Faith in democracy isn't given, it's earned. People in positions like mine need to do a much better job of fighting for things that are relevant for our people, ignoring the most extreme voices, and take the necessary political risks to bring us back. It's also not just on us. The beauty but also the burden of democracy is it's a participation and support. You actually have to show up as an American. You have to vote and not just once every four years. Right. Not only do I have the right to vote, but I kind of should know what I'm voting on. I kind of need to do some work to make informed choices.…

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