President Joe Biden used his Memorial Day speech to defend America's ‘imperfect’ democracy, calling for more work to deliver the promise of what he said remained ‘the greatest experiment’ in world history
U.S. President Joe Biden used his Memorial Day speech on Monday to defend America’s “imperfect” democracy, calling for more work to deliver the promise of what he said remained “the greatest experiment” in world history.
In a speech at Arlington National Cemetery touching on voting rights, freedom of speech and efforts to rectify persistent economic and racial disparities, Biden warned that democracy was "in peril" in the United States and around the world in the face of autocratic forces he did not identify. "Democracy is more than a form of government, it's a way of being, a way of seeing the world. Democracy means the rule of the people," Biden said in a speech to honor one million Americans who have lost their lives in military service.
"The struggle for democracy is taking place around the world - democracy and autocracy. The struggle for decency, dignity, just simple decency," he said.U.S. President Joe Biden puts a note with the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan is his pocket as he delivers the Memorial Day speech during the National Memorial Day observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, U.S. May 31, 2021.
As many U.S. states work to pass laws that critics argue are intended to suppress minority voting, Biden also stressed the need for people to have the right to vote "freely and fairly and conveniently" and for the rule of law to apply "equally and fairly to every citizen, regardless of where they come from, what they look like."Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox.
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