U.S. Senator and Vice President Joe Biden, Sr. I'm hoping you will run for U.S. President in 2020 so you can bring back the fine people that worked under President Barack Obama.
2
I respect Joe Biden. His "Respect for the rule of law" comment rings true, but the previous administration failed in that regard, repeatedly. Put the pen and phone away, both parties.
2
The VIce-President writes: "...at a time when democratic values are under siege around the globe — from populist attacks that undermine confidence in democratic institutions to leaders who try to bolster their power by closing the space for civil society and rolling back citizens’ rights — the world cannot afford to have America cede the field to illiberalism and intolerance."
I agree. But I wish Vice-President Biden had acknowledged that one of the issues we face is that one party, working at the state and federal level and through the legislative, executive and judiciary branches at those levels is attacking "civil society and rolling back citizens' rights" in its own country.
And the world is watching.
We cannot advocate for democracy elsewhere in the world unless we have one ourselves. We are losing ours. I wish Mr. Biden had said so.
4
The "problems that plague the Trump administration’s foreign policy" by and large exist due to the abysmal failure that was the Obama administration's foreign policy, or, more accurately, the lack thereof.
But alas, send in Trump to clean up another of Obama's messes, just like with the tax code, Obamacare, a failing Iran "treaty", N. Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Russia, China, trade, NAFTA, DACA, crumbling infrastructure... But hey, at least Obama was a really cool president, right? Gag!
Don't go away mad Joe, just go away.
1
Old Joe wont go away. He wimped out and gave Hillary the nomination. He would have carried Wisconsin, PA Michigan and Ohio. What a wuss.
He lost a child. He's weathered a lot and is hardly a wuss, Steve.
19
Thank you Mr . Biden. Please continue to express your thoughts. We can certainly use a return to Leadership and Morality.
8
Thank you, Mr.Biden. It feels like, under this administration, American values have been relegated to the circular file. I believe there is a real strength in values of equality, diversity, and an embrace of the global community.
We are, after all, interdependent.
America should be a leader in the world, not an example of a withering isolationism.
6
Yes, those democratic values need protecting. Two problems.
ONE: In 2012, the majority of babies born in the United States were non-white. America is becoming a bigger mixture of races and cultures than ever. Fine. Our average skin color will become more brown. No problem. But many people cannot tolerate that and they will need to calm down and some will need control (KKK, white supremacists).
TWO: My county commissioners have place the words "In God We Trust" on the County Courthouse, in bright, large shiny letters. Whose god are they referring to? The Islamic god, the Jewish god? Why can they not trust in themselves, their own abilities and skills and thoughts and philosophy? The have posted THEIR RELIGIOUS VIEWS on the County Courthouse. The US Congress has passed a law for a National Day of Prayer. Prayer is of course a religious concept. And that law violates the constitution. My point Mr. Biden is that we have a very, very long way to go in this country to get the to the point you try to define.
You are correct, you cannot dfine Americans by what they look like or how they worship OR DON'T WORSHIP.
Please help us get where you want to go by telling the various governments of the United States about the separation of church and state and help us keep religion out of politics. Can you do that? Do you have the strength to do that?
2
I am sad to see this essay by Mr. Biden. It sounds very much like Hillary Clinton's "stronger together" campaign theme. Somehow, not knowing much about him really, I had hoped that he was more of a street fighter than a hugger and a preacher. Minds and hearts will not be changed by nice words. The point we are at now is where only power counts. Maybe it has always been so in America. Factory and mine workers had to organize, strike and die to get a bigger piece of the pie, safe workplaces and a 40-hour workweek. And the civil rights movement, although led by an eloquent preacher, was won by boycotts, sit-downs, mass marches, bodily injuries, jail time and sacrifice of lives. Organize, fight and sacrifice for what you want, need and deserve, for dignity and fairness, is the most fundamental American value of all. Become a power to be reckoned with. Do not be intimidated. Stand together for common goals and stay together until the job is done. We are "stronger together" but our actions have to back up those words. I wish Biden had given us some "fighting words" instead of a sermon.
And so the 2020 Presidential Campaign begins. . . . . . .
1
The greatest takeaway for me from the 2016 election is the breadth and depth of Americans who really do have a different view of reality than I do. As a moderate republican growing up in a diverse urban/suburban setting, I was sensitive to discriminatory chatter, believed stories of bad intent in things like voting and gerrymandering, but was around enough people who were not like that and did not support that, perhaps detached from this dark side of Americans who hold the flag up and claim the Constitution protects their rights-yet don't see the "other" as equal.
The ideals and principles of the USA far exceed any current or prior society. The rule of law and the concept of "public service" sounds good as you say the pledge of allegiance at your local Rotary Club. Your bible at your mega church service says something different though, than the bible at the downtown AME church. I thought Obama's talk of clinging to guns and bibles was not appropriate, nor Clinton's deplorables.
Now I know...and Trump does not scare me as much as the thought that there are enough Americans to elect him and continue to believe those who think he is a crook and the embodiment of P.T. Barnum are un-American. My cynicism is so high that even Joe Biden raises my cynic-meter as to what his motivation is for submitting this article. Does he wish to change hearts, or is he starting a run for office? I am not convinced hearts can be changed, until another generation passes.
1
"This statement divides the world into “us” and “them.” No American political figure has so narrowly defined our interests since the period between the world wars."
What? That was the whole Cold War.
"Without the United States standing as a bulwark for global democracy, illiberal powers like Russia will take increasingly aggressive steps to disrupt the international order, bully their neighbors and return to a more divided world."
In fact Biden also here signs on to ideas that amount to a return to that Cold War thinking.
There is a lot of feel good, "we are better than Trump," in this piece. But that is expressed as fluff, not substance that stands up.
We can express that better. It requires opposing return to Cold War. It requires a lot of things that mainstream Democrats are not doing, in their frenzy to bash Trump.
It is fortunate that some others are doing better. Bernie and Warren are showing the way, with specific ideas like Medicare for All. We need less Russia-bashing, and a lot more positive ideas for rebuilding this country.
Challenge Trump to do it right. Don't just declare moral superiority in terms that are flat out false history, and which return to exactly what is denied.
What values? Those in the constitution? Or those made up by progressives or conservatives? My "values" are quite different than say my children's "values". Which are we talking about?
3
A democracy is only as strong as the voters who elect our officials. And those voters must be educated and knowledgeable. However, we now have two polarized media sources, the liberal and the conservative media outlets. These present completely different versions of the truth, the facts. This results in a split population who see the world through completely different lenses. People seem to live in very different universes.
What to do? If I could I would require that every citizen listen to and/or read the opposition's opinions and interpretations of news-worthy events.
1
This man, Joe Biden is the only possible contender to heal the country. The rest on BOTH sides of the isle are just posers and leeches.
2
Another younger Delawarean Sen Chris Coons is a good bet! Small Delaware has good choices. The First State has what it takes for 2020.
3
While reading this eloquently worded essay by Joe Biden, I couldn't help but reflect on all we have lost since our 2016 election. Vice President Biden and, of course, President Obama reflect what is required to lead this nation. I say this not because I share the same Democratic philosophy as the above. Rather, it is about having leaders who are not only experienced and intelligent, but also have a moral compass, souls which dictate ethical and just behavior. I know these people are still out there, to carry on legacies of value, justice, and stability. We need these folks to step up to the plate now. Don't hesitate, please.
18
KL: "I know these people are still out there, to carry on legacies of value, justice, and stability."
Biden never uses the words "justice" or "stability", so you appear to be putting words in his mouth. Biden does refer to "values" throughout his OpEd, but your phrase, "legacies of value", makes no sense to me, so I can't tell if you are referring to the same thing or not.
KIY, my comment was more about reflecting on what WAS compared to what IS now, and how I hope we can get people like both Biden and Obama to be leaders again. I was not putting words in his mouth. Instead, I was reminiscing of his character and abilities. When I submit comments, I often do not take the piece per se. Rather I look at the writer and relate how his words impressed me, or in some cases, did not. A bit esoteric, I guess!
4
Thank you Joe.
2
Finally an adult speaking.
8
Biden. Needs to explain his financial situation. How did a senator and kid-doc make enough $$$ to enjoy their current life style?
1
Thanks, Joe Biden, for your inspiring words. If only our current administration lived by them. You're a great citizen and statesman, and I wish you had run for president instead.
2
Awwww, who"s sorry now, Democrats? All of you folks crying for Biden should have spoken up while Hillary was elbowing him aside. No comment while she was torpedoing Sanders' candidacy? Too bad!
3
Biden chose not to run after his son's death. It was his decision, no one stopped him from running.
As for Sanders, there was a lot of protesting from the progressives about Hillary. Which didn't help her in the general election.
5
Both the Dem and Repub parties are finished.
What Mr. Biden is saying to America is, "Hey Boomer dude, counting from 1945, you hit puberty in the '60s and rebelled, got through it and reached peak productivity in the '80s and '90s, and that horrible uncertainty you feel in the pit of your stomach is not really out there, it is in you, it is called Low-T. You will soon adjust to it and it will all be fine. The rages, the emotional tirades, the rash decision-making, the yelling at the very people who are trying to help you, all of that will pass and a comfortable calm and confidence will set in. So switch off Fox News and spend more time taking a walk or playing with your grandkids and dogs. It is just Low-T, you will be fine. No need to tear up the country over it. As for the rest, this too shall pass, just keep on keepin' on and be more thoughtful next election. Oh, and remember to watch only 30 minutes of news, and only 30 minutes of news on the internet. Anything more is simply unnatural, and un-American."
6
JOE BIDEN Is a great American. He has shown remarkably positive energy, determination and good will throughout the long years he has served the nation. Joe embraces what is best about the US and strives to bring people back to a place where kindness, sincerity and empathy are valued above all else. The difference between the caring administration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden and the venal, despicable hatred being spewed by the current thugo-kleptocracy is shocking. But will yearning for the good years and the need to return to our basic values be strong enough to counter the current evil that is swamping our nation? I fervently hope that we will find a way to rejoin the community of nations in seeking to uphold and expand human rights and dignity globally. Trump and his thugs may have shown themselves for the vile, evil persons they are. But we must move away from their filth to strive for a more perfect union so that the government of the people, by the people and for the people will not perish from the Earth.
12
admit it: we let the foxes into the henhouse. Trump & Co. are only a symptom of what's ailing America.
1
Joe is right. Unfortunately, the train called "American democratic values" left the station long ago. I doubt we can ever catch it.
6
Beautifully written Vice President Biden. You did omit an important piece when you stated, "You cannot define Americans by what they look like, where they come from, whom they love or how they worship" While your statement is accurate, some Americans actually believe that money defines us as well. So far from the truth....
5
Oh, if only Joe Biden had been the 2016 Democratic Party candidate instead of Hillary Clinton! He probably would have won over Trump, and we'd be living in a much better country then we do now!
20
Why do you think Mr. Biden would have won? Can you provide any evidence at all? Vice President Biden's policies and values are virtually identical to Secretary Clinton's. We know now what the principal motivations of Mr. Trump's voters were, e.g., racial resentment. Are you suggesting that Biden would not have asked his voters to relinquish their racism, or that Biden would have won merely because he was male? The former would never have happened, and the latter should never happen.
Donald Seekins wrote:
"Oh, if only Joe Biden had been the 2016 Democratic Party candidate instead of Hillary Clinton! He probably would have won over Trump, and we'd be living in a much better country then we do now!"
1
Apparently Biden is deluded by many westerns and gangster movies, or perhaps the by now 'normal' rigging and thieving antics of his 1% friends into believing that "America's values" include having a national organized crime enterprise centered on 11 million illegal immigrants and their criminal employment by his campaign contributors. And the killing of American workers' wages, according to economic theory, the predictable effect of flooding the US labor market with 1-2 million legal and illegal immigrants a year. Who the democratic majority in this nation have repeatedly not asked for, approved of, rather have repeatedly stated they want our immigration laws efficiently enforced, immigration reduced. Then there is the elite treason of sending 11 million manufacturing jobs to our enemy China and hyper corrupt failed states like Mexico and other 3rd world countries that kills wages for the few manufacturing jobs that remain here. People choose to move to, live in, pay their taxes, fight in the military to defend the United States precisely because they expect America be different, to not join with all the 80% of the rest of the world's hyper violent, no rights, top to bottom corrupt societies. We need to isolate ourselves, particularly us common citizens without armed security guards, from the rest of the world. Again the masses of foreigners that want to invade us want to come precisely because the US is superior and we need to keep it so via enforcement of our laws.
2
While borders shouldn't be able to be crossed without controls, protectionism is never a valid solution for steel, tires, plywood, oranges OR LABOR. Markets seek efficiency and wages need to reflect the true value of a task being performed, not the results of a purposely restricted labor market.
2
Efficiency is a code word for pauperizing workers, not a goal to be striven for.
3
then the money pushers of Wall Street ought to earn less than schoolteachers.
if not thieves themselves, they are enablers of thieves. blaming poor immigrants or anyone else you don't like is merely an excuse: the problem has been the financial sector overwhelming everything else.
2
What if Mr. Biden had been nominated instead of Hilary?
2
After reading this piece, I reached the conclusion that Biden would have been not much better than Hillary at communicating a cohesive, stimulating message which strikes at voters' visceral level.
American values? Freedom and democracy--for who? When has America not acted to protect its own interests, even in the process of ostensibly helping other countries--help provided to protect America's long-range interests?
This sounds like a speech aimed at my father's WWII/Korean War generation; that is, people who understood personal and family and national sacrifice. Those people are gone. But then, we have to remember that Biden, who was a good and faithful servant as a senator and vice-president, is past it. He is 74, born in 1942. My generation (I am 61), the Baby Boomers, were not called on to sacrifice anything for our country or put our shoulders to the wheel to accomplish a great national endeavor--except for some in the front end of the generation who served in Vietnam, which was not a unifying experience.
3
If anyone is apt to speak as a voice of authority on the state of American values, its former Vice President Joe Biden. Having served in national politics since 1973, Mr. Biden has worked alongside his fair share of presidencies. Due to this, he seems to be a bit perplexed in this article as to how this historical standard of American values has been radically distorted in such a short period of time under the Trump presidency.
Mr. Biden makes a handful of strong and inspiring claims throughout this piece, notably with the line “Reclaiming our values starts with standing up for them at home — inclusivity, tolerance, diversity, respect for the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of the press.” However, I’m concerned that this vision is falling upon a blind and apathetic country. These values to be protected at home that Biden speaks of are the exact antithesis of those propagated by the Trump agenda — xenophobia, animosity, prejudice, cruelty — and the past year has shown that his supporters are all-too-eager to stand by them.
So believers in Joe Biden’s view of America’s moral hold the burden of reaching out to the other half of this divided country in order to reclaim our definitive democratic values. Finding ways to express this vision effectively is a challenge that Democrats must meet as they search for a comprehensible platform in the upcoming election cycle.
4
The idea that "democracy is rooted in the belief that every man, woman and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity" is by no means unique to America. It is something that is held in virtually every country that has a democratic system of western style democracy. It is something that is most certainly held by all western European countries,in addition to democracies from Israel to Japan, not to mention Australia, New Zealand or some other country like, say, the Czech Republic, among many others.
Yet Biden mentions this most basic condition of a democracy as being a result of American exceptionalism. And this is pretty similar to the way many Americans say they are lucky to live in America where they are free to say whatever they want, because in "other" countries speaking ones mind can land them in huge trouble. And this belief too, that America is special in some way because people may speak their minds, is also rooted in ignorance of the fact that there are many other democracies and free countries on earth.
And this is in addition to the fact that unlike the way Biden presents it, that all those other countries that have democratic values took their values from America, those other countries, say France for example, hold those values dear and true because they came to these values on their own.
Perhaps the main thing that is exceptional about America is the idea that America has special freedoms that other countries picked up only be copying America.
2
It doesn't strike you as a weakness in your argument that without the US, not a single nation in Western Europe would exist today as a democracy, nor would Japan, nor any of the struggling democracies in the former Eastern Bloc?
Of course I know that the USSR kept far more German divisions busy in the east than we took on in the west. Their losses were staggering. But look what they did next. After the war we rebuilt the West with the Marshall Plan then protected it with our nuclear umbrella so they could spend all the money they did on social welfare and our boys could spend their paychecks there too. We basically did the same thing in Japan, and elsewhere.
Face it. The history of the US is far from perfect but just because we've done a lot of bad things doesn't mean we haven't also done a lot of good. Britain nearly threw in with the Confederacy in our Civil War! France helped us in the Revolution but out of no less self-interest than when we helped them in WWII and later took Vietnam off their hands.
Sorry, but I'm going to go ahead and agree with my old friend Abe Lincoln when it comes to the experiment that is the US. In his time no other nation on earth was more democratic than we were and many were far, far less so. Most were positioning for empire or being positioned. Two World Wars resulted. Those colonies who liberated themselves in various ways after WWII have all failed miserably to be lights on hills too. No ethnic cleansing going on here at least. Yet.
3
Joe Biden’s message of inclusion and upholding our values is one that I think our current administration needs to start listening to. What stood out to me the most in this piece was Biden’s last paragraph in which he wrote, “You cannot define Americans by what they look like, where they come from, whom they love or how they worship. Only our democratic values define us. And if we lose sight of this in our conduct at home or abroad, we jeopardize the respect that has made the United States the greatest nation on earth.” The Trump administration needs to stop focusing on all of our differences and needs to start focusing on a common goal - making America a place where all can feel safe. Dividing our country does not make us stronger, it makes us weaker, something Biden eluded to when mentioning respect.
If we wish to leave this world a better place for our children than we found it, we need to follow Biden’s idea that, “Reclaiming our values starts with standing up for them at home — inclusivity, tolerance, diversity, respect for the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of the press. If these are the democratic principles we wish to see around the world, America must be the first to model them.”
7
I respect Joe Biden and do believe that had he run for president, he would NOW be the President.
However, Mr. Biden is also blinded by the mythical white narrative of American supremacy, primarily perpetuated by American white men.
Mr. Biden states, “…we jeopardize the respect that has made the United States the greatest nation on earth.” I ask, as compared to what?
This blindness undergirds the arrogant and racist narrative that refuses to admit or acknowledge that the American creation is rooted in the annihilation of Native civilizations that existed thousands of years before the Europeans arrived and the brutal centuries long enslavement of Africans in America.
It is an arrogant narrative that ignores that America is built on so many lies, that it is almost impossible for it to find its way; its very foundation is murder and theft It is an arrogant narrative that is measured by creed, who has the most materialism, the most toys, and the biggest guns.
It is an arrogant narrative that believes, as Dr King stated, “that America believes that she has nothing to learn from the rest of the world.”
America, as the iconic W.E.B DuBois wrote, is the “land of the thief and home of the slave” and has as its core value, not greatness, but hypocrisy.
5
Mr. Biden states, “…we jeopardize the respect that has made the United States the greatest nation on earth.” I ask, as compared to what?
Actually in terms of wealth, social justice, literature, arts, music, etc... the United States is easily at the top of the heap in all of history. The Romans had slaves, so did the Greeks, there was a lot more injustice and cruelty in all of European, Asian, African cultures. Maybe the Polynesians were nicer, but the native tribes of the Americas were no saints either.
So just in terms of vaccination programs, global stability since 1945, Satellite TV, Internet, GPS, EKG, CT, MRI, etc... America easily beats everyone else.
You are welcome to recognize the flaws of the US and be passionate in your expression, but it is quite facile to question "compared to what?" Dr. King and DuBois were talking about specific things, and rightly so. But when you take the grand scheme of things, add the pluses and subtract out the minuses, you have a pretty decent record compared to any other society. And all of this under 300 years, not bad. Now, let us keep things in perspective and not let our personal grievances destroy all of that which has been built so far. None of those folks was perfect, not a one. But none of us are either, always remember that. Modesty and humility is not just for those dead souls, it is especially important for us living souls. Cheers.
2
High-sounding words but what do we come away with?
The word 'values' is an abstraction.
More than a touch of flattery of America here.
Bernie Sanders lacks wide appeal & Elizabeth Warren is almost too forceful but they grapple! And that's what we need.
2
There is a reason that Bernie Sanders lacks wide appeal and why you think Elizabeth Warren is too forceful.
I'm sure you are right, Mary.
And while I return to express my agreement, let me add a hunch about Biden's reason for not running last time. It wasn't his son's upsetting death -- the very son who had urged him to run. It was his sense that he couldn't beat Hillary for the nomination (as I believe.)
Russia may be "illiberal" and non-conforming to America's notions of how nations should behave but Russian's share the core values of our civilization.
Far more insidious than (limited) Russian irredentism are theocratic monarchies spreading maniacal monotheism and nuclear armed hereditary tyrannies.
VP Biden rattles the saber at the wrong adversary.
2
We live in a society that has been coarsened by the greed and individualism of extreme capitalism. We used to define our American society as one based on our constitutional notions of liberty, equal justice under rule of law, the pursuit of happiness, etc. No longer. Now it's all about what shareholders want to increase their profits and to minimize their contributions the common good through taxes. Some of this decline was started by the person who proclaimed that government was not the answer to our problems but rather that government was the problem. How patriotic. The notion of the common good has been corrupted and has declined under every one of his successors. Frankly, it appears that it is too late to turn this decline around. One of the reasons it is too late is because there has been a simultaneous decline in respect for sound reason through study and analysis. We are an anti-intellectual culture of barbaric proportions.
5
The common good is a wonderful ideal but when we have millions spending generations on the dole, when after spending trillions to fight poverty it has only fallen two percentage points, when 47% of Americans pay no federal income tax yet cast votes for avowed socialists, the pendulum was swung too far.
Those americans don't pay taxes because in spite of working hard, their wages remain extremely low, while the rich enjoy a huge increase in wealth. And all that wealth came from the poor.
And we are not socialists, people like you don't understand the terms they throw around.
While the country has been working on poverty, the rich have fought to ensure great poverty. You cannot have the amount of wealth going to the rich (1%) w/o there being those in poverty. In the 80s', the bottom 80% of americans had over 15% of the total wealth. That has dropped to under 12% now. With a larger population. The amount of wealth going to the bottom has decreased, which ensures that there will be poverty.
Until people are paid fair wages they can live on, we will continue to have many in poverty. But the laws are written by the rich, for the rich to make sure that wealth goes to the richest. And that means that the rich will make sure we have great poverty.
2
Wonderful sentiment, but far from reality. The bottom line for U.S. foreign policy has always agreed with the bottom line of our wealthiest citizens, and we have never failed to prop up a dictator who would provide cheap labor and weak environmental protections for our corporate interests. A democratically elected leader that threatens to disrupt that arrangement? Send in the CIA to back a coup!
4
OUR freedom is largely dependent upon our financial strength so yes, it is sometimes (often ?) in our national interest.
1
It has been in our best interest to enslave others in many countries throughout our history. It certainly is not in the best interest of those we enslave.
So you get your freedom at the expense of someone else losing theirs. That is not a fair tradeoff. We shouldn't be indulging in making people slaves.
One look at the world and how expensive it is to fight all these wars because of our love of slavery shows how those people are fighting back against our theft. The middle east is a prime example of how putting dictators into power and keeping them in power has not worked well for us. ISIS, Al Quada, and others are a response against our slavery.
1
Well, well, a whole lot of people don't agree with Joe Biden. After reading a lot of comments, two things occur to me. First, Joe is out of touch with modern America. His article would have gone off much better in 1957 than 60 years later. Then most people generally believed the government and "authorities" blindly. Not now.
Second, many commenters point to America's actual behavior rather than the ideals Joe is espousing. They are the not same. Joe seems to believe they are a lot closer than many people think.
I have one final comment even though it is negative. I've never had patience with the "America is the greatest country on earth" rhetoric. We have far too many flaws to be shouting that. It's nonsensical jingoism pure and simple. Besides, who says there has be be a greatest country? And, by the way, my view does not mean whatsoever that I'm not patriotic. The patriotic way is to see what's wrong and try to fix it.
4
"America is the greatest country on earth" rhetoric means different things depending on who is saying it and when. You seem to be referring to the chauvinistic, even jingoistic use of that phrase. But that is not what Mr. Biden is going for.
In this instance it leads to Kennedy's adaptation of a line from the Bible, "For of those to whom much is given, much is required." Surely you can agree with that sentiment.
3
I believe the values in this article are what is called "American Exceptionalism". Past administrations have paid lip service to this value, while promoting American corporate interests in fact. Donald Trump is not so different in this regard.
4
Ron, you can find people in the poorest regions of Africa and Asia having access to GPS and the internet. These were invented using US taxpayer money and then handed over for free to the world's citizens. American movies, technology and gung-ho attitude do have a positive effect on most of the world, and while it is not as pure as some on the right insist, it is still a very very very good thing.
2
If our county is so bad today, why are people still coming here to live. They have come legally and illegally to escape poverty, dictatorships and terrorism in their own countries. People who have been marginalized in their countries love it here. It is a far cry from those countries they fled like Venezuela, Mexico and Syria. They would mostly disagree with this assessment of America. I recently met a couple from Venezuela and they were thrilled to reside in this great country. They felt so blessed.
3
Because as bad as things are here, conditions around the world are worse.
1
I mean yeah couldn't agree more VP Biden ( must admit I still can't say the words President Trump together) but sadly it's the old saying it is what it is. Night is day. Day is night. Guess that's what our fellow Americans wanted. Only hoping come 2020 earth is still standing. If so it will be good Presidency.
2
The respect of the world is no longer in jeopardy. It is gone. It will take us generations to recover from trump. Vlad got what he paid for.
7
Time is money. Money is power. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I am fond of Joe Biden. But it's interesting that nowhere in this article did he mention the transformation of the US since WWII into a nation of consumption addicted "spenders". I grew up in a different world in the 60s due to the lag time resulting from living in a small town with a vibrant Main Street, no fast food other than drive in restaurants, and an immature consumerism. For instance, my late parents died in a house with most of the same furniture, appliances, dishes, and other material goods that were there in my earliest memories-- not because they had to, but because they were morally horrified by the idea of spending money replacing things to keep up with the Joneses when what they already had worked just fine.
The rest of the country was moving far ahead of this thinking. Watching Mad Men was fascinating to me, to see the differences between "the vanguard" consumers and those of us just buying practical food, clothing, transportation, and shelter.
The love of money is the root of all evil. If Marx lived today he would not have said religion is the opiate of the masses, but that consumerism is the opiate of the masses (I guess it's the crack or crank of the rich-- I see Britney Spears went through 11 million last year alone). We are in decline because of self-interested greed and rampant individualism which have killed social consciousness. Trump is the tip of the iceberg.
10
The bottom of the iceberg is also the biggest part, only a small portion is above water.
2
The American Values Biden talks about are largely of, for and by domestic America; those who have experienced America overseas know that the values projected there are largely those which benefit various XXX - Industrial Complexes and Big-YYYs in its political economy: much more than "working with those we find distasteful."
1
If Democrats want to win back the White House they need to reclaim the mantle as the party of labor; the party of the working class. The loftiest progressive ideas are not enough when working people of all races and religions are consumed with worry over their survival and their children's futures. Donald Trump became President because of the empty promises he made to this vital segment of the electorate. Now, because of his winning, there is no power of America's example and no unity as a nation and even the hard won progress made in American society has begun to slip.
3
Nonsense. Mr. Trump won because he pandered to his voters' racial resentment. His voters were relatively wealthy, and not consumed by economic anxiety.
Jerry Meadows wrote:
"Donald Trump became President because of the empty promises he made to this vital segment [working people] ..."
2
I appreciate Mr. Biden's opinion expressed here, however, I must respectfully disagree that "the good news is that the United States remains better positioned than any other country to shape the direction of the 21st century". I know he is trying to inject a positive note, but the US needs to collectively find a lot more humility and accept that we are veering down a dangerously downward course ethically in this country. We need to look at ourselves critically from the point of view of how the rest of the world sees us. To put it mildly, we are not living up to our national potential. In these increasingly difficult times in a post industrial world, we are wallowing in outdated delusions of lifestyle grandeur in unsustainable conspicuous consumption, engaging in lazy and short term thinking (or not thinking at all), and a whole segment of the population is indulging in mean spirited fantasies of racial and gender superiority over others, usually those lower on the socioeconomic ladder than themselves. We need to get over ourselves, and do it quickly, as we have ceded our preeminent role in the world to other countries who are behaving much more responsibly than we are. We will have to earn back our good standing among the other countries of the world.
4
Ayn Rand was a selfish greedy person. And christians are suppose to find altruism good. One can be independent and altruistic at the same time.
Ayn Rand was not independent at all, she needed the society that she denigrated. She also supported the idea of slavery for everyone but the Galts, everybody worked for Galt and got little pay while he got rich. Funny how libertarians think that they will be the rich ones when history shows only a few people ever get rich in such circumstances.
1
Absolutely right on. "Around the world, other nations follow our lead because they know that America does not simply protect its own interests, but tries to advance the aspirations of all." America standing up for ALL people, that is what makes this country great.
13
How, pray tell, does one enforce a right to “dignity” (whatever that means)?
Is it not ironic that the American left, which spent a century cuddling up to Moscow, suddenly considers Russia problematic?
DT didn’t defend Nazis or white supremacists; that’s a lie. It is, however, perfectly true that the “mainstream” left refuses to condemn violent communists, anarchists (strange bedfellows if ever a strange couple existed) and the rhetoric which gets police officers murdered. (This paper being a prime example, with its op-ed accusing the cops of engaging in “an undeclared war on blackness” on the day someone who took that sentiment seriously murdered five Dallas cops.)
And if the administration of which the author was part hadn’t simply ignored the immigration laws, and unconstitutionally legislated an amnesty program, we would not be having this discussion on immigration now.
“Diversity” is not an American value; it’s the exact opposite. Our motto “e pluribus unum” makes unity an American value. “Respect for the rule of law”, right after a defense of DACA? Really? “Freedom of speech”? Take that up on any college campus with your leftist pals.
Americans are defined by their devotion to the principles set forth in the Declaration – written by the guy whose statue campus hooligans just shrouded.
If you want to preach about “diversity” and “tolerance”, fine. But it is precisely those who shout the loudest about those principles who refuse to tolerate diversity of opinion.
9
Donald Trump most certainly did defend Nazis and white supremacists. He brought American Nazis, aka the "alt-right", into his administration. You call that a lie but don't even try to explain why you think that to be true.
10
You are wrong. Trump did stand up for Nazis/White Supremacists (and these types have been in the Republican base for a long time -- this is nothing new). He called them very fine people. If that isn't standing up for them, I don't know what is. And don't paint all Democrats with the same brush. Just because some kids on college campuses are struggling with how to tolerate speech they don't agree with -- that does not mean that all Democrats are against free speech.
8
Isn't it the right of any American to oppose another's view if that view espouses the virtual elimination of certain ethnic groups from America society? Yes, using violence to do that is unacceptable but you know as well as I do that the left regularly condemns the violence used by its most extreme members, just as the right condemns people on their extreme fringe like Nazis and white supremacists. What do you mean the left cozied up to Moscow for decades? Even if you could convince me of that, is it not still the right of any American to view what Russia did during the election as a hostile action that can't be tolerated? And diversity is the opposite of our values? Tolerance for all religious beliefs is the embodiment of diversity. I'm tired of people on the right always trying to depict liberals as somehow unAmerican and unpatriotic. It's that us against them mentality that is tearing America apart.
3
The US's foremost responsibility, as a polity, is to its own citizens. Check the Declaration and Constitution.
After that responsibility to its citizens, the USA can consider helping other democracies stay democratic. Those are NOT countries, LIKE Egypt, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania, and Ukraine, whose FORMS of government look democratic. We should consider helping only countries where democracy has a reasonable chance.
Unhappily three countries named got into NATO. US leaders cannot get emotional and risk wars whenever such countries' emotional rioters, cabals, and politicians decide to try what they vaguely imagine as and wrongly label democratic. Translate what they want as meaning they want a government change and expect the US to help make it happen.
Mr Biden should recall Geo. Washington's advice against entangling alliances. Pres Washington was wiser than he knew and certainly wiser than many US politicians now.
The Statue of Liberty was not meant to invite all people of all other countries to 'come on down!' It was France's thank you to the US for showing France the way to freedom. France threw off the Bourbons. In that the US had no key role. France's path to freedom was led by a brief dictatorship in a reign of terror, far bloodier and more violent than our Revolution.
I threw in the Statue of Liberty should it tempt any to cite it as PROVING what the US owes others.
6
You're making too much sense! The ex-VP and many people here rely on slogans and ideology; don't confuse them with the truth! That being said, after reading his nonsense on the statue of Liberty, I'm almost surprised he didn't try to make us believe Emma Lazarus' poem is in fact our Constitution...
2
With all due respect Mr. Vice President, there is tremendous difference between American stated values and what is depicting practically in Foreign policy. Certainly American interests muat be protected, but at what cost ? National interest or narrow based interest? US invaded Iraq and Afghanistan in the well decorated disguise of restoring democarcy, stability and building institutions, wining hearts and minds of Iraqis and Afghanis, what are ground realities, we all well aware, while spending more than 3 Trillions of hard earned money of American Tax payers, it will be healthy debate that how such tremendous money can bring change not only in America but around the globe. Mr. vice President Afghanistan is the top producer of opium in the world , the drug that distribute around the world, most probably we agree , should not be American value.
2
As I recall, the Bush Administration, following 9/11, almost immediately sent troops into Afghanistan in December 2011. But its focus quickly changed to Iraq and Hussein. Mistake and we're still paying for it.
5
MM: "US invaded Iraq and Afghanistan in the well decorated disguise of restoring democarcy, stability and building institutions, wining hearts and minds of Iraqis and Afghanis, ..."
False in both cases, but you are in Pakistan, so I will remind you that the Taliban was harboring Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Further, the military operations in Afghanistan have always been *international*.
And I will remind you that Pakistan was harboring Osama bin Laden, but Pakistan did nothing about it. If you want to be truly paranoid, you should worrying about whether or not the US is going to invade Pakistan to "restore democracy", etc.
2017-09-14 23:27:02 UTC
We are living up to our ideals in the founding documents. The founding document is the declaration of independence which states that all men are created equal. It doesn't say all people are created equal - although it could have. It says only that all men are created equal. Who were the men this document refers to? Mostly white men lived in the colonies at that time along with a smaller number of black men. So, indeed we have lived up to this ideal - we have had numerous white male presidents from varying backgrounds along with a single black male president. The declaration is now obsolete - it lived up to it's ideal. We now need a new idea - one that states that all people are created equal - women, children, men, all races, all genders. Unless we are able to discard or update this obsolete document there will never be a woman president or a president of any race except those to whom the document refers - mostly white men. The native americans were also present at the time this document was written of course but they have always had their own nations and still do - the document does not refer to them. Never doubt the power of a single word.
2
For better or worse, it was white males that brought Western Civ, including this form of governance to the world. It should be no surprise that something designed by a certain group would favor the behaviors of that group. No conspiracy is required to create that result.
Now we're trying to figure out how to share it without destroying it. Sure, it can change some, but turning it on its ear in the name of diversity is dangerous, so it's no surprise that it is going slowly. It's a delicate system and if you change it too drastically, it could easily morph into something you don't recognize.
Meanwhile, here's a challenge. Find one large country anywhere in the world where the largest or most dominant group does not exploit the others. We're working towards that end, but I can't find an example to work from. Sure, we keep moving forward, but we keep one foot near the brake in case the corners look too sharp. Once it goes off the rails, it's gone.
We've got a long way to go. And yes, leadership is the defining challenge of civilization.
5
The context of the times when the Declaration was penned cannot be ignored. Women were unable to own property, to vote, considered chattel in some nations and cultures--and those constraints still exist in some countries. But at the same time, our presidential election in November revealed the fewer women voted for Hillary that expected and the high-end jobs still have a quite small percentage of women, And further, it wasn't until the late 80s that the Supreme Court appointed its first woman justice, still a minority number with three. And only very recently did we admit women into our military overcoming mostly specious arguments. Teaching is still the safe profession for women. And with some, like our misogynist president and his ilk, "barefoot and pregnant" is the most suitable role for a woman and that goes beyond educational levels.
2
I would venture to say that you are the most trusted voice in America right now, not just among Dems, and it is hoped that you will continue to speak out on the issues because you connect on a very personal level with just about everyone. Whether you run or not - and I hope you do - your views and opinions carry a great deal of weight.
28
Craig of Santa Barbara, there is no "trusted voice" in America right now--anywhere. Joe is a nice guy, but he isn't that "trusted".
1
"American democracy is rooted in the belief that every man, woman and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity."
I am sorry, but American democracy has it's root in the blood of slavery. The Constitution was constructed so that states that had slavery and those that did not could coexist in a political union. The Civil War (or War of Northern Aggression) demonstrated the failure of that document. The death of Reconstruction and the start of the Jim Crow era showed the lack of commitment to equal rights to freedom and dignity. The Jim Crow laws and the values they represented did influence others nations (See "Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law" by James Q. Whitman.)
It was only 50 years ago that this nation seriously moved forward to address the stain of slavery. And when that happened, Nixon's "Southern strategy" caused the Republican Party to embrace white supremacy as one element in their political strategy.
The struggle today is not about reclaiming mythical American values which in the past were and even now are denied to too many. It is about creating a society in which every man, woman and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity.
5
I disagree with your statement that "American democracy has it's root in the blood of slavery. The Constitution..." I think that our democracy's main taproot was the Declaration of Independence which indeed was looking for "equal rights to freedom and dignity." The Constitution was a laboriously crafted compromise between the ideals of freedom & dignity and 13 very feisty state governments.
2
Eloquence and honor, something we haven't heard from the White House since Obama.
19
Trump and his administration see everything as a zero-sum game. Trump loves to talk about "winners" and "losers." He won the election, Hillary lost. If immigrants are working, they must have taken those jobs from Americans. When have you ever heard him propose a solution to anything where everybody wins? That doesn't fit his personal narrative--he can't be a winner unless someone else is a loser.
13
The "everybody wins" concept is a typically Liberal construct usually used to fool kids (with the help of "Participation Trophies'), not literate grownups. Seldom does the concept apply to real life, and it certainly doesn't in the cases mentioned.
For all those who have questioned America's greatness based on any criteria in the "Comments" section, know this ...
... The fact that you can voice your opinion, without fear of reprisal, from other individuals or more so from anyone in position of authority, is the single most reason which makes America great.
Indeed, we have problems; some more serious than others. However, none of those can outweigh individual liberties and freedom that the US constitution guarantees to people who live here.
14
I agree, with a personal caveat. More than once I have been rescued from my own "political passion" on these pages by a more level-headed censor (be it machine or human). That alone has spared me from a modicum of regret and paranoia.
1
I hear you but, you seem to forget that a lot of countries have freedom of speech and press.
If you are curious, you can easily find that the USA is ranked 43 in the world for Press Freedom
Nothing exceptional or so great about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index
1
It's time the Democrats got it straight. The most desired and appreciated values are those that help keep the body and soul together. If you will, a classroom paraphrasing of 'it's the economy, stupid.'
Mr Biden,
If you seriously want to run for the presidency, talk in straight, common man's terms:
Talk about jobs with living wages and reasonable security. If Germany can do it, so can we.
Talk of healthcare for everyone, like medicare. There's no need anymore to fudge this message.
Talk of free or subsized college education for at least first 2 years.
Place needs of those left behind before the greed of the few. That means a better income parity between the workers' and managers' incomes, even at the cost of higher taxes for the affluent.
Hum tunes like that and you'd be the pied piper of 2020. The spell that the con man has cast would pierce sooner than we think. The question then would be: Are the Dems ready to step in, to take up the challenge?
7
I'd love to believe that Joe Biden's view of the United States having exceptional values, is true, because I love my country, but his story of us is full of plot holes: American troops have been involved in unnecessary wars for corporate America for sixty years, and not to safeguard democracy; our CIA has done wicked things all over the world, for similar bad reasons. We are not loved and looked up to as we were after WWII, as our behavior changed; rather than saviors, we became arrogant victors. Endless war is nothing to be proud of.
12
The us-them principle is not only faulty but highly selective and hypocritical. The exceptional importance of values and principles is well stated in Mr. Biden's article. Acceptance on the world stage and ability to form cooperative agreements in this overpopulated world is utterly dependent on them.
If you reduce the question to business and economics, one finds that Mr. Trump himself is the most hypocritical of them all. He imports products from China and defends that practice. He has hotels and golf courses all over the world and receives substantial income from them. So Trump is willing to shut out cooperation with the rest of the world when the story fits the front he presents to his political base. But he expects open arms when he wants to put in a hotel or obtain a loan from a foreign country or business.
14
Joe, you were around when we propped up the Shah, backed Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran, meddled in Nicaragua and in general backed authoritarian leaders when we thought it strengthened our hand in world affairs. Unfortunately, Rex Tillerson spoke an uncomfortable truth. We want our values to invest our policies, but too often that's not the case. Why don't you run for President and make that your slogan: "Our Values ARE Our Policies."
10
Thank you, Joe Biden, for eloquently expressing real American values. Peggy Neville
6
Hi Joe.
Great op-ed.
I was completely with you until you finished without once mentioning climate change.
Our values have no value, if we destroy the planet, by going, as we are headed, to 8,100 gigatons of carbon dioxide pollution.
I'll bet you a penny, that If I reread your piece, I could insert the words, "and mitigate the causes of climate change," without changing the rest of your message, even if we have to take out the same number of characters.
David blogs at InconvenientNews.wordpress.com
9
That was a great comment.
3
Joe you got my vote.
One small issue. I think Tillerson, unknowingly, hit a nail on the head with his policy versus values comment. Thats how Ive been viewing the last 40 plus years regarding our foreign policies, our exporting American culture and trade.
Trade policies are sold back home as means to further sell our goods, and also our values, but - BUT - we dont export democracy at the same time. Our Corporate representatives dont do the right things for the locals where they move their facilities. Its been a constant game of catch-up after its found out some huge US company is paying for what has amounted to slave labor overseas.
We complain about graft in foreign markets, but we've been sustaining those markets for decades...we bribe, and reward despots. We seem to eager to demonize a random few nations (like Cuba) but then we cuddle up to places doing way more harm to their peoples, and the environment then 20 Cuba's!
How long before we truly put more pressure on Saudi Arabia? And thats one example. Obama had them shook up, but Trump cuddled up, not because its great policy, but to only go in an opposite direction then his predecessor. We sell them more arms to kill more people in Yemen. ???
I agree with what Mr Biden says, but he has to realize how much work we need to do to right the many wrongs the US has allowed to fester, by not being more resolute on nations and their leaders when it comes to democratic policy.
Tillerson was right for the wrong reasons.
7
President Trump sits in the White House while Joe Biden never even got the nomination. Why? Mr. Biden was not a good candidate and the voters knew this. He was rejected for good reason. They did not want him plain and simple.
President Trump has been outstanding in his governing in my opinion. He has tried to bridge the divide between Democrats and Republicans. He is a uniter not a divider. He loves this country and wants to make it great again. He has kept us safe from terrorists due to his policies against those who want to come and destroy us. He wants to vet those who enter our country so we do not become like Germany, France, England and Spain who have seen hundreds of casualties due to open borders. He is not against immigrants but wants them to come here by following the proper channels which have been enacted for years. He loves democracy and the rule of law. All are welcome but must arrive here legally.
Right now President and Mrs. Trump are visiting Florida to see for themselves the devastation caused by Irma. They did not visit the wealthy living in mansions but people who resided in trailer parks who lost the most. He is all for helping the middle class and wants to assist them in their daily lives. He wants to see them have their taxes reduced not the wealthy who do not need assistance. He is doing what he promised us he would do and doing a mighty successful job. He should be given credit and not scorn. I am proud to say he is my president.
3
Um. Vice President Biden did not run for the office of president at all. Not in the primaries and not in the general election. Zero voters voted for him and zero voters rejected him.
WMK wrote:
"... Mr. Biden was not a good candidate and the voters knew this. He was rejected for good reason. They did not want him plain and simple ..."
3
I like Joe. He's a mensch. But please, spare us this bit about values, about America trying to "advance the aspirations of all."
Propping up dictators throughout Latin America, overthrowing a democratically elected government in Iran (which began Khomeini), and have you heard of Vietnam, where according to Eisenhower, 80% of the population supported Ho Chi Minh.
True, ISIS is actually worth destroying, even though we can't militarily kill a sense of being victimized in people who we, collaterally or not, victimize. And what about our great friend Saudi Arabia, where women are valued and about as free as camels.
Yes, we have a lot to be proud of. But reality is a lot more morally ambiguous than seeing the U.S. as a tower of liberty and justice throughout the world, with only Trump spoiling the image.
7
Thank you Mr. Biden. This is what leadership sounds like.
You admit the US is not perfect, that the ideals we (should) strive for are ideals. That you even talk about ideas is a welcome relief. What a difference from gutter speak, misapplied superlatives, and inept tweets.
Those who bemoan the differences between these ideals and reality miss the point, whether by choice or chance. Realists often can't see beyond the material goods they own or want. Idealists, on the other hand, ask us -- all of us -- to look beyond what is to what could be. They offer a VISION, something that is either lacking or repugnant from the current administration.
Asking us to be, to try to be, the better versions of ourselves and our country to try to be the better version of itself shouldn't be written off as a futile waste of effort. It should be held in high regard.
John F. Kennedy didn't evoke the selfishness of "more for me" or the callousness of "we don't care about you." He inspired a generation by telling us to "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
No one wins if the current 'gimme more, take more' crowd prevails. Sadly, they can't or won't see that.
13
Reclaiming America's values is exactly what Trump is doing, and why he won. Patriotism, respect for the Constitution, honoring working people are important American values which were sorely lacking in the Obama/Biden administration. Why didn't Biden worry about America's values when he was VP?
4
Thank you for showing that our First Amendment remains viable.
What a beautiful example bringing about the change you want to see in the world.
4
That last paragraph is so quotable, I've clipped it and will keep it for my grandchildren. As we struggle with the back lash to identity politics in modern times, and equivocal and vacillation by American leadership as we face unprecedented number of issues globally and nationally, it becomes tough to define what should be the core values that for all eternity lead us to do the right thing: The constant question in all situation is: Does it align with our democratic principles? That's a value America has given the world. As someone who has experienced American Imperialism during the Johnson era, I am not all pollyanaish about what can be done in the name of democracy, but if we have the ideals and remind each other that it can be achieved when we respect all, then that's a good place to start if we want to set the world right.
21
SW: "That last paragraph is so quotable, ..."
In the last paragraph, Biden says: "... we jeopardize the respect that has made the United States the greatest nation on earth."
The latter part of that quote can be paraphrased this way: "If America is respected, then America is great."
That evades the question of whether greatness can come from within, instead of from the "respect" of other people.
1
"You cannot define Americans by what they look like, where they come from, whom they love or how they worship. Only our democratic values define us. And if we lose sight of this in our conduct at home or abroad, we jeopardize the respect that has made the United States the greatest nation on earth."
Excellent, thank you Mr. Biden and thanks for your service to our country.
31
So... we're not doing the identity-politics thing after all?
1
While "this White House casts global affairs as a zero-sum competition," it also does so for _every other facet of American life_. This fallacious thinking is at the core of Trump's entire being. Everything in his life is explained by winning and losing. Unfortunately, that's not really how life works.
It's this poor thinking that is at the heart of the GOP. They have spent decades cultivating this - because if national policy is a zero-sum game, then any spending aimed at any one other than yourself can be painted as theft. Why else does the white working class continually vote against their own interests - social welfare programs have been linked to race for decades. The voter then sees an "us-vs-them" choice. If money goes to "them" then it isn't coming to "us."
Once you see this thought process at work, it becomes painfully obvious why Trump or his followers do anything. If you give a black man rights, a white man must lose rights. To protect against harassment, you must put down potential harassers. If you give an immigrant opportunity, you must take away white opportunity. It's even at the heart of their argument against affirmative action - one spot at a university goes to a black women, then one spot is taken away from a white man.
You can see how this kind of thinking would alienate people or break apart communities or contribute to intolerance. A rising tide lifts all boats? Or just sink the other boats and lie to yourself that it's the same thing.
17
I'm not sure what the point of this article is. Certainly Mr Biden has not said anything new and why now 8 months into a horrific presidency? I fear his words are too little, too late. My hope is that he is reiterating this and then some to his republican colleagues.
5
Yes Mr. Vice President, we have a country of truly good people, with tremendous values. However, there is a perceptible angst growing among people that started well before the Trump administration. I believe the root cause of this angst stems from our perceived value of growth vs. the diminishing returns of growth as we reach our natural limits.
We see our favorite green spots covered over with housing developments or strip malls. All we get from them are longer waits in traffic and more flooding. We use to stick a hole in the ground and oil would gush up. Now we have to frack it out of rock with poisonous chemicals or drill miles beneath the ocean. We used to farm naturally, now to keep up with exponential growth we had to develop Roundup resistant crops so we could kill the weeds . Now the weeds are resistant to Roundup so we use something even more poisonous than Roundup- dicamba. We import immigrants to maintain our economic growth, but we are not seeing growth in our paychecks or in our quality of life.
As the planet is for all intents and purposes 'full', it is more difficult to create growth that doesn't have some downside to it. Yet we are all expecting growth to be the thing that leads to happier lives.
We really need to rethink this whole growth thing, although I understand we need growth to pay back all the monstrous debt we have created. But I do think it explains a lot about our why we are reluctant to increase our leadership in the world.
9
Did his administration's abandonment of the Syrian people to slaughter represent American values? Not mine.
7
What disturbs me the most is the speed and totality with which many Americans have bought into this bogus, liberal assessment of America. Remember, that's their viewpoint and it is no more valid than the viewpoint of the clowns at the other end of the political spectrum.
4
Ummmm, Larry? If this is a totally "bogus" assessment of American democratic values, it would be appreciated if you could articulate one of two things: either your description of what those values are in fact or your perception of "the clowns at the other end of the spectrum" and their values.
6
Hey, Larry. Thanks for contributing.
Good to know some folks from the middle, I guess, are just as confused as the 'clowns' at the far Right.
Could you help me out; exactly what's wrong about Joe's vision of America?
Seriously, what do you object to?
3
Actually, my primary objection is the snotty, high-handed attitude of people who know no other way than to belittle anyone who doesn't agree with them. My original comment should have read: "the clowns at EITHER end of the spectrum".
Deep divisions have led to a war over our core beliefs, fed by fake news and big money.
3
Sir, yours is a voice most noticeably missing in the current dynamic, thank you for speaking out. One can only hope that this most patriotic statement is both a call of arms to kindred spirits and, more than just a chastising announcement to the opposition, a warning that a real leader is back in town. Biden Has a Clear Vision in 2020!
11
When Obama won the Nobel Peace prize, many couldn't understand why he should deserve it, refusing to acknowledge the symbolic and real benefits of an effective black leader of the free world. How his example could significantly promote "American Values". The truth is ours values of freedom and inclusion are easy to talk about and support when we don't have to actually live by them. The truth is we've always been a nation of significant white privilege and this reality has strong resistance. But we must let go if we want to be the example and promoter of peace and freedom.
6
Mr. Biden:
Excellent and well-thought-out piece. It stands, I hope, as your informal announcement that you will run for president in 2020. Had you done so in 2016, we would not be in the horrible mess Trump has made.
I personally plan to support Bernie Sanders' Medicare-for-all healthcare plan, and, as soon as it is plausible, I will do everything I can to support you candidacy.
Best wishes,
Robert Bruce
5
Liberals have a choice---go with the empty phrases of Joe Biden or with the honest attempt by Bernie Sanders to craft a single-payer health plan that would provide universal health coverage, as in Canada or Great Britain.
It was Joe Biden who on a visit to China called China's one-child policy "repugnant," thereby offending his hosts.
In this essay, Biden writes:
"America’s ability to lead the world depends not just on the example of our power, but on the power of our example."
But America holds about 5% of the world's population. If America wants to "lead" it needs to consider the interests of the other 95%.
The main problem confronting the rest of the world is overpopulation.
One can compare results. In 1980, both China and India were severely overpopulated. But China adopted a one-child policy and india did not.
Now India's population is increasing more rapidly than China's. And China has been able to focus on living standards for a more slowly growing number of people.
One sees a stark contrast when visiting say Delhi, India and Beijing, China. Although both countries both suffer from overpopulation, China has achieved an economic miracle, and its GDP will soon surpass that of the US.
Overpopulation is becoming a severe problem in the US. But Biden's pronouncement indicates a lack of awareness of this problem.
In large cities like LA we see evidence of an impending Malthusian catastrophe.
Yet Biden and other democrats remain in denial.
5
When it comes to overpopulation, pollution, exhausted resources, persistent unemployment, and global warming; and the effect of unfettered immigration on all the above, Democrats seem not to have the intellectual abilities to process the data and reach a valid conclusion. It's obvious we need to reduce our population; yet Democrats hold on to the need for more future voters, more "Diversity", more "inclusivity"; whatever the price...
There's your zero-sum game right there - isn't it possible to support both a single-payer health care system, and the notion of America as a leader in promoting democratic values? As to the Chinese one-child policy, you might want to look at how that was enforced, and the long-term repercussions it caused, before you go all-out in endorsing it.
And Chris - does it occur to you that some of those people we encourage to form democracies might do so in other countries? People can vote in other places besides the US.
Thank you, Joe.
"You cannot define Americans by what they look like, where they come from, whom they love or how they worship."
You don't and I don't, but trump does. His pro-nazi white supremacist view is an affront to all that our nation fought against in World War II. It is an affront to all we have become since then. He is unworthy of the office to which he has been elevated. He has lied and cheated his way to the top. He is the brat we all knew as children. He is the bully that has revulsed all of us we have too frequently seen in our lives. He is an embarrassment. A mistake. Let's correct this ASAP.
6
His words vs. his thoughts. Not enough characters allowed to do each paragraph, so here's two. Hate away, repliers:
"American democracy is rooted in the belief that every man, woman and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity", by which I mean, the state defines freedom and dignity for the individual, and takes freedom and dignity from those who have attained these things, so as to gift these things to those whom the state has cheated (out of the opportunity to achieve these things) by means of the pseudo-scientific economics of socialism. "While the United States is far from perfect, we have never given up the struggle to grow closer to the ideals in our founding documents", by which I mean, we have redefined our founding documents, and history as well, so that our politics appear patriotic instead of seditious.
"You cannot define Americans by what they look like, where they come from, whom they love or how they worship. Only our democratic values define us. And if we lose sight of this in our conduct at home or abroad, we jeopardize the respect that has made the United States the greatest nation on earth." On the other hand, if your American values predate the New Deal, or conflict with the impractical ideals of transnational socialism, you're a bigot, a racist, a misogynist, a homophobe, and an enemy of the state, which is watching you, in the Big Brother spirit of I am My Brother's Keeper, as championed most recently by Obama and yours truly.
Baloney.
3
O paraphrasing B: '... by which I mean, the state defines freedom and dignity for the individual, and takes freedom and dignity from those who have attained these things, so as to gift these things to those whom the state has cheated (out of the opportunity to achieve these things) by means of the pseudo-scientific economics of socialism."
While I am all for rebutting Biden's OpEd, what you wrote there is incoherent. The concepts of "freedom and dignity" are not economic, unless you have redefined some of those terms beyond any semblance of their common meanings.
And "socialism" is a normative theory about how society should be organized. Whether there is any such thing as an "economics of socialism" is debatable, unless you first give a rigorous definition of "socialism".
For sophisticated critiques of socialism and related philosophies, see Popper's "Open Society and Its Enemies" and Hayek's "Road to Serfdom".
2017-09-14 23:25:31 UTC
1
This was a good and thoughtful essay. I wish you had been able to use a word other than liberal/illiberal, though. I realize it is precise based on how you used it, but the blind and thoughtless on the right will pounce on it as they do not understand the concept.
I would also argue that with unfettered mass media, we are seeing an age where people can be profoundly unengaged with their fellow human beings and still have a loud voice. Their baser traits like tribalism, which is the basis for most bigotry, is on full display. We need to have a national debate about how to combat this issue, as it contains the seeds of destruction for our democracy.
I would also point out that the road of conservatism essentially leads to autocratic leaders and fascism historically. Look from Rome to Hitler and all you need is a charismatic leader and a conservative agenda. Democracy is a lot harder to make work as you need an engaged electorate and thoughtfulness by voters. Two issues we sorely lack today.
We should be looking forward, which requires progressives of different stripes, but we are currently focused on how to relive the distant past instead. This will insure America will be a footnote in the 21st Century - the Century it became irrelevant and small.
3
Run Joe! But know this: you're already getting a taste of the dadaist nonsense you can expect from Trump in response. He's getting a bead on where he's vulnerable and simply reversing himself rhetorically, if not substantially. "Rescind DACA!!/What? I love DACA! Who said that??"
He can do this because his supporters "know" that it doesn't matter what he says: words are for the mainstream-media-stuffed sheeple; he's "one of them."
But you're "one of them" too, Joe. You're one of them on their (our) best days instead of our worst. Don't underestimate the challenge of reminding them of that. You'll need to speak more poetically, more powerfully than you ever have before. Reminding them that, no, while America is not all good, they can make it better when they remember who they are, and that no "social standing," nor any market success or failure can either grant or take that away from them. That America is good to the extent that America knows that virtue is not merit and merit is not virtue - that both are valued between our shining seas.
As well, pinning your carnival barker opponent down is going to require the Ryan VP debate x10. You'll need not one silver bullet but a whole chest of them, delivered from a tommygun. Go Joe, and dig deep.
6
Hillary won the popular vote by more than 3 million. Nevertheless, a clearly incompetent TV clown, Donald Trump was put in the Oval Office. Trump is a symptom of our broken, corrupt electoral system.
American democracy depends on an honest electoral process and that process has been deliberately corrupted by the Republican Party. For better or worse, we have a two-party system and party loyalty has always played an huge role. Sixty three million voters chose as so-called president, Trump, an ignorant white nationalist who disgraces our nation daily. Many chose him simply because he was backed by the Republican Party, many because he is an overt racist, many because they are religious fundamentalists who care more about the abortion issue than the survival of our democracy.
We can blame the Russians and Comey and the Electoral College but the bottom line is that the Republican Party maintains power through voter suppression and gerrymandering. Their highly coordinated strategy is funded by Citizens United money The forty million voters who stayed home in 2016 played right into the GOP's hands. The Democrats need to get these people to the polls through strong leadership and policies that appeal to all.
Joe Biden is free to extol the virtues of democracy but until the Democratic Party overcomes our corrupt electoral system with charisma, and political savvy American democracy will remain an unrealized theory.
11
Biden for president!
However, no more of these meandering, academic jeremiads, please. I lost the plot.
1
Joe, we wish you would have run in 2016!
2
No. Remember, it was Hillary's turn!
This made my day - thank you sir! I wish I could say: "thank you Mr President!" at this time. Words like this about inclusivity and standing for our values make me proud, excited to be an American. I need to hear them from the top. I think most of us need to.
8
Oh boy. Trumps defending White nationalists?
Mr. Biden, this article is beneath you. It's core is the ongoing false narrative that Trump is somehow a Nazi sympathizer which all facts point to the contrary. His job and the reason he was elected was very simply to *restore* our long standing American values that were crushed as a result of the Wallstreet MBS scam and 8 years of extreme left rule. We are a country defined by our liberties and NOT by the degree to which we are controlled by our federal government. This was by design and has held fast for nearly 250 years creating the greatest prosperity, innovation and standard of living human kind has ever known.
With all due respect, your party seeks to destroy freedom, choice and liberty for reasons that are far more cynical than altruistic. Half of this country sees that the left is working to destroy our bedrock principles wrapping it in a veneer of identity politics, media manipulation and utter rage. While your team has divided us in ways no other administration even attempted you will have to work a lot harder to destroy the spirit of this country. Personally, I would prefer you just get back to "traditional liberal" policies like "free speech" and concern for civil discourse. Trump's not the boogeyman but merely the pendulum swinging the other way.
4
Just for the record. Donald Trump never came out and said unequivocally that white nationalists amd neo-Nazis have no place on the American landscape.
So, yes. He was defending them.
And yes. He is the boogeyman.
5
The democrat party needs to get a better message other than trotting david duke out for condemnation. David Duke is a nobody . The democrat party elevates his status to feed the narrative to their rabid followers. Trump condemned him as well as the violence wing of the democrat party know as ANTIFA. I personally could NEVER support a politician who openly supports ANTIFA or BLM who are every bit a racist and violent as white nationalists.
1
@ N. Smith:
It wasn't his place to say "unequivocally that white nationalists amd neo-Nazis have no place on the American landscape". This isn't the former USSR, or France, or Germany, where freedom of opinion is limited. We have freedom of thought and freedom of expression here in the US, and while you may feel that people you disagree with have no place on the American landscape and should be silenced, locked up, or "eliminated", they have as much a right to their (despicable) opinion as you do.
Your statement that "not aggressively condemning White nationalists (while ignoring Antifa) is the same thing as defending them" is the type of false equivalency Liberals have unfortunately accustomed us to, which tends to disqualify them from any rational, objective conversation. Franz Kafka's heritage lives on...
"America’s ability to lead the world depends not just on the example of our power, but on the power of our example."
Thank you, Vice President Biden, for your timely, essential and inspiring thoughts.
We are American not because we are better than others but because we have aspirations and values which have inspired others.
Mr. Trump has it all wrong.
I am also grateful to Secretary Clinton and President Obama who have recently also made important public statements that affirm our values. In this time of national crisis, none of us may "sit this one out."
14
This statement is good in and of itself- but it does not draw sharply enough the differences in thinking and cognition between Trump's authoritarianism and basic Liberal democratic values. Nor does it address the issue of hypocrisy and moral imperfection.
Human beings are inherently imperfect. Not for the simple reason that "perfection" is by definition- but because they clearly will purse evil, callous acts for self-interest. Their motivations may appear to be elevated- as even the worst despot believes his mission is God ordained.
But what we aspire to, how we think, what values we wish to try to uphold- at least raise us to the the point of being human. Striving for truth. Basic compassion. Concern for others, not simply ourselves. Humility,sacrifice and respect for all life. These are virtues that men like Trump find as a sign of weakness. This is where the fundamental difference lies. And try as they may- men like Biden can't seem to understand this alt reality. In part because it is inhuman- and most people at some level chose to elevate their humanity- not debase it. Therein lies the hope.
2
Obama was the one who believed in authoritarianism with his pen and his phone. Returning to fealty to the Constitution, which is what Trump is doing, is the opposite of authoritarianism.
1
Every child in America should have adequate family, food, housing, good public education (the best public education) and medical attention (including getting their teeth straightened).
Instead we are going in the opposite direction. We are making it more difficult for families to survive, giving out school vouchers to rich folks, making healthcare more difficult and confusing to obtain, etc., etc.
Our focus is in the wrong place.
8
Thank you, Vice President Biden. The United States, right down to the personal level, has become extremely mean-spirited in eight short months while the civilized world and our continental neighbors gasp in horror.
There is a selfish and cruel streak in Americans, which has been encouraged in this administration, and it seeps into every corner of the U.S. whether in employment, doing business transactions, or interpersonal relationships.
Americans clearly need secular moral leadership because it is certainly NOT emerging from the pulpit. In fact selfishness, intolerance, judgement, and hate seem to be endorsed by U.S. religion.
8
It is US religion which is doing the most to help people in Houston and Florida. Bigotry towards religious people, especially when misplaced, is wrong.
2
I wonder what the statistics are on donations and volunteer help in Houston. Joel Osteen certainly did not show a compassionate side during the hurricane in Houston.
I am not meeting kind white Christians at the door while canvassing for a local mayoral candidate.
The U.S. does not need more religious donations (and religious interference in government and private lives), it needs improved social policy, single-payer healthcare, affordable higher education, modern infrastructure, and global recognition of CLIMATE CHANGE.
populationconnection.org
Thankful for Joe Biden's timely essay, but after the majority of us agree with the values he so eloquently defines, we've got to move on to action regarding this President who represents all the worst qualities of a minority of Americans.
9
I do fear JB is too old to be president -- though his personal physician might disagree. I wish there was a position in our government called "Chairman of the Board," a gray eminence whose words were taken as more than hortatory -- kind of like the Queen in England or the King in Thailand. A stabilizing influence who has the ear and respect of the public and can take the political establishment to the woodshed when they allow self-interest or political game-playing to interfere with their responsibility to benefit the American people. I'd love to see Joe Biden in that job...(guess I'm a Dreamer, too.)
6
Mr. Biden, you have a real talent for reminding us of the goals and ideals that have been at the core of our identity since our founding. In reading the comments, many complain that we don't live up to those aspirations. We have never gotten to perfection, but we need to continue to strive to live up to our ideals and achieve the vision.
Too many of us aren't sure what America stands for any more. We have the best chance of moving closer to the ideals articulated in this column if we keep in mind what they are. Then, while complaining that we haven't achieved perfection, we need to do what we can, individually and collectively, to reclaim lost ground and come closer than we have before.
It's frightening to have a president, those in his base, and those in the government that do "define Americans by what they look like, where they come from, whom they love or how they worship". The core belief that "every man, woman, and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity" is openly mocked by some in Trump's administration and base. Those who mock it have always been present, and they always will be. They are not in the majority. This is the moment when those of us who do believe in equal rights to freedom and dignity can and must do our part to fight for it.
4
I wish I could agree that American foreign policy 'embraced a vision of American leadership that fosters a more secure, inclusive and generous planet'.
While Mr. Biden would have the unparalleled insight & details about what's really been going on with US foreign policy all these decades since WW2, even a layperson such as myself knows the USA has perpetrated some truly horrible, massive overt & covert military acts under the guise of 'making the world safer & more prosperous', when in fact the US motives were anything but pure.
As a VP, it seemed Tim Kaine would have been more honest about the skeletons bursting from America's foreign policy closet, which would have been cathartic.
Whatever US policy is to be, I don't think it serves the progress of peace, justice & the rule of international law for Mr. Biden to tow the typical patriotic line in support of US interventionism, when a 'truth & reconciliation' is more in order. But I guess he sees that as his job.
No doubt he knows better, and in such excruciating detail that it would keep most citizens awake in horror at night, if not fleeing to Canada under cover of dark.
2
An excellent summary of American values, including a paraphrase of one of Bill Clinton's great lines from his 2008 convention speech without attribution: "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power." Classic Joe Biden!
President Trump of course sets a terrible example. Flip-flops all the time, sometimes in the same sentence. Lies constantly. Can't decide whether to support NATO or not. Cuddles with Russia. Tries to cut taxes for the rich and kick 20 million off health insurance. Tough to watch.
5
Bravo! Thank you for coming forward and putting reasoned and deliberate discourse back into the national conversation. I hope America is listening.....
4
Mr Biden, nice piece! And my respect for you is immense.
But much of this could be resolved by voting.
I trust the (majority of the) American voters. President Obama said it himself when discussing the GOP candidate last year, don't boo- vote!
Your space in the NYT would have been better spent making a plea to voter turnout and less about extending our American values at home and abroad.
Want to see American values in action? Then people have to get out and actually vote for the change they want to see in this world.
Again nice piece but could have been said with far fewer words!
1
Really admire Biden, but wonder how the people living in Iran in the 1950s, the Congo in the 1960s, Latin America in the 1970s and 80s, and Vietnam in the 1950s-70s, think about the US always trying to do the right thing and not simply serving our own interests.
4
It's ironic that those who seek to defend the West advocate white tribalism, assert that the West is at war with Islam, and threatened by immigration. These are the very attitudes and ideas that would trample under foot the values of science, reason, tolerance, and equality that are the bedrock of all that is great and advanced about Western civilization. Right wing nativists would extinguish the lights that guide us, and replace them with a procession of tiki torches. They would silence dialogue and discourse by brandishing their AR-15s. Mr. Biden articulates values that are and will always remain the true expression of Western and American greatness.
1
Republicans tilt the playing field for the benefit of their elite donors, and then blame the frustrations of working people on the rest of the world "taking advantage" of us. They ignore how much the US gains by a stable world and the benefits from trade and interactions with other stable democracies.
7
Mr. Biden, I agree with all you've said. But your essay is basically structured around the failings of Trump and the GOP. This is not the to inspire the public and get them out to vote. We need a Democratic Party that is focused around what it can accomplish, together with the voters, a Party that has a potent and relevant platform.
If the party leadership continues to focus on the failings of Trump and the GOP it will appear on the defensive and reactionary.
This is why I support Sanders' efforts with healthcare. I know his proposal as it stands now, would face HUGE challenges. But by focusing on a lofty goal, he is raising our vision to greater heights. Too often throughout Obama's presidency the DEMs started every negotiation by immediately giving concessions, in the name of bi-partisanship, with the result that very little was left at the end of negotiations.
I'm not saying this as well as I wish.
My hope is that the DEM leadership will realize it needs to LEAD by a positive focus on what we Americans can accomplish for our future. Listen to the voices of all Americans, then address our needs and desires in a way that makes it clear the Democrats are supporting OUR aspirations.
Again, I like what you wrote. But I'd like to see you write a similar essay without a single reference to the failings of the GOP and Trump. It would be a great mental exercise. What if there was no GOP, no Trump, no opposition? What would you want to tell the American people?
26
Bernie Sanders is a traitor because he knew of the Russians hacking his supporters' facebook pages to try to destroy Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton and he didn't say anything. He is as bad as The Con Don he helped elect.
Medicare for all sounds great but is not possible in America because of our capitalistic system. Some bright person must come up with a plan that is patient-based, seriously price controlled, effective and allows insurance companies and medical providers to make a realistic profit. Get Wall Street and other "markets"/investors OUT of the equation by nationalizing ALL health care and putting in under OUR government management like Medicare is.
It's a new world and we need some new thinking to provide real, affordable health care for all.
5
Njglea - you negate a one payer system due to capitalism, then present an outline of a system that runs counter to almost every capitalistic and free-market tenets of the true believers.
Who says what is a realistic profit? Govt, by a vote? Is it on a sliding scale?
A lot of very gray areas need to be made less so to get close to any legislation that would control corporate profits, let alone a provider...
1
Njglea, you need to let it go. Bernie Sanders is NOT a traitor. Obama knew of the Russian hackings and interference too, and did not disclose this until after the election. Is he a traitor??
The veneer of democracy is very thin, as one military gentleman has pointed out many times in his appearances in television interviews. HIStory is made up of manmen destroying the world in their insatiable greed for power. We are once again at the crossroads of HIStory with wealthy men around the planet fighting for elusive power at any cost.
They have no social conscience. They have no ambition- or greater goal - but to destroy, as we have seen in America by democracy-destroying republicans' inability to accomplish anything but destroy OUR government agencies and take over OUR United States Supreme Court. It's just a game to them.
WE THE PEOPLE are the ones whose lives will be destroyed if WE do not stop them now. Thanks to Mr. Biden for reminding us what America and democracy are all about. WE must each fight like hell to preserve/restore the one thing we value most. No spectators allowed. Democracy is not a spectator sport.
9
The 'greatest nation on earth'/ when I hear this my head spins. This football cheerleading phrase is stupid. What is this supposed to mean? Greatest in what regard? Is the greatest nation on earth one with dilapidated subways in all it's major cities? Is the greatest, the only developed nation without universal health care? The greatest is digging for more oil when Germany will be powered by 100% renewable sources in just a few years? Is the greatest the largest polluter of fossil fuels on the planet? Launching a war in Iraq that destabilizes an entire region with hundreds of thousands dead and a million displaced? A war in Vietnam that claimed the lives of millions. The 'greatest' is a juvenile phrase. I'm very surprised Mr, Biden uses it, it is empty. We need to look within and look at who we are and fix this place for modern times, it's broken.
35
Good points, but we are considered the greatest because we have the rule of law with a large and diverse population. And we are the greatest in caring and charity around the world.
5
Joe, you helped in the decline of American ideals over the past 8 years. Your example was one of division and intolerance towards opposing views. You closed your mind, along with Obama, to bipartisanship, compromise, and governing in favor of egotistical end zone dancing. When the American people spoke and handed you crushing defeats in both your midterms, you called them racist, and bigoted, and ignored their ideas. You helped Obama rule with his pen, and no ideas.
You really are not the one who should be lecturing us on what America is. We are still recovering bring from your horrible reign.
9
Don, what has this new regime done for you? Educate me.
2
I thought the Affordable Care Act, DACA, and the Iran treaty were pretty good ideas. So good that the Republicans, as much as they want to destroy anything created by Obama, are hesitant to get rid of them. I must have missed the end zone dancing.
3
If this has ever been a nation of ideals, it no longer is, at least to half of our citizens, the people who get their news from Fox and their views from Limbaugh. For almost 30 years their minds have been poisoned by the Right and are incapable of being reached with essays like this.
15
Unfortunately Trump is not the problem as you suggest. He did not elect himself. 'We The People' are the problem. We hate the trade imbalance with China but love shopping at Walmart. We endorse torture. We are devote Christians who give guns to our kids as Christmas presents. Face it, we live in an Idiocracy now.
13
“Reclaiming our values starts with standing up for them at home — inclusivity, tolerance, diversity, respect for the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of the press. If these are the democratic principles we wish to see around the world, America must be the first to model them.”
I would welcome a discussion of values, but not one based around a partisan rallying cry of ‘we have values and they don’t’. Inclusivity, tolerance, diversity? Democrats are no less biased than anyone else, look at how much of the party writes off anyone living between the coasts as nothing more than ignorant racists, but even worse is the extent of segregation in Democratic strongholds. Respect for rule of law? Like basically demanding that people have a right to come into the US and live here illegally. Freedom of speech? Like the sometimes violent protests on campuses across the country to prevent people from speaking. We could go on and on.
Inject some honesty into who does and doesn’t exhibit a support for values and you will gain a larger, more receptive audience. Otherwise expect continued losses in elections.
6
Joe...............your only problem is that you weren't the Democratic candidate in 2016. Your words would then be coming from the bully pulpit of the Presidency.
10
Sounds like Hilary's talking points. Nothing was addressed to the concerns of the 60mm people who voted against Hilary. So much for uniting the country! To be successful, Biden would have to build his coalition from the middle out in both directions and give short shrift to the loonies on the extreme right and left. To mention Charlottesville and not Antifa is is inconsistent. At least Bill Clinton had his Sister Souljah moment.
3
Trump has no friends, only allies of convenience. Pretty soon the United States won't have any friends either.
8
Joe Buck, "There's no I in team."
Leon, "Yeah, and there ain't no we either."
3
"And the good news is that the United States remains better positioned than any other country to shape the direction of the 21st century".
Nonsense.
Yes, the US - or better US-oil, military,banks, pharma - can shape the direction of the 21st century.
Only its not good news.
3
The amount of negativity, denial and blame in these comments is staggering.
How quickly this Union, which has always been a fragile one, is now coming apart at the seams.
It makes one pause to wonder if, and how, we will ever survive as a Nation.
3
It has always been fragile??? You must be very young and ignorant of history.
2
With all due respect to VP Biden, and he's due a lot of respect, this editorial is a bundle of tired cliches. The main American "value" today is to monetize anything and everything. Knowledge, sensitivity, empathy, justice...all devalued.
7
After the typical boilerplate America is great, America is exceptional, flag waving of a guy positioning himself for a run in 2020, Joe finally gets to his version of those American principles - Democratic Party talking points - that he thinks will get him a desk in the Oval Office.
The problem is, Joe and his Party have so many caveats to all of those sacred principles that they are a joke. Inclusivity - unless you are white or disagree with any leftist dogma. Tolerance - see Inclusivity. Diversity - see Inclusivity and Tolerance. Rule of Law - except for those laws that don't echo the Party dogma - Electoral College, Second Amendment, First Amendment (see The Times attack on Free Speech), immigration laws - all of those anachronistic, white supremacist impediments to progress have to go.....Freedom of Speech - reread the Times' editorial pages. Freedom of the Press - yeah, freedom for The New York Tabloid and the Amaconda Post but not for Fox News or Breitbart.
The Bidens of the world want to impose their vision of Utopia on everyone. Shades of religious imperialism.
3
Joe should run. He's one of the few Democrats who's good at connecting with rural whites, one of the few Senators who isn't a millionaire, and he hasn't got an enemy in the world.
6
"Mr. Trump’s shameful defense of the white nationalists and neo-Nazis who unleashed hatred and violence in Charlottesville, Va., further abnegated America’s moral leadership." Really?! A) President Trump did not defend white Nationalists and neo-Nazis. He pointed out, and it was absolutely true, that the violence in Charlottesville was not only from one side. That is not defending them. B) Doesn't negotiating a deal with Iran that gives them a path to nuclear weaponry (and giving them $150 billion dollars to spread more terror in the world) sort of "abnegate" our values too? Like with so many others in D.C., talk is cheap Mr. Biden.
4
And lies are valuable when people actually believe them. The president has strongly condemned all violence, that includes those radicals on both sides.
2
Thank you Vice President Biden.
6
Run Joe, Run!!! 2020!!!
12
Along with Jimmy Kimmel's refreshing interview with Sean Spicer, which served as an exit interview from the End of Days Mr. Trump lives in, this simple statement of values is, at the turn of a season, a return to sanity.
But: it's crucial for Mr. Biden to embrace and understand this much more complex emotional and cultural world than the summer of "Yes We Can", when all we needed to do was put Dubya in the rear view mirror. A third of our population still denies the equality of brown and black people, and maybe even women, and rising waves of them off themselves wiith opiates and arm themselves with assault rifles for the eventual Second Civil War or Purge or both.
And these, though mostly deplorable, are still Americans, though our weakest links. They were beyond Obama's embrace because he was black, I believe. They already hated Hillary because an industry sprang up--much of it from the GOP and Bannon--to teach hate for her. But if he can embrace them and give them jobs and a pathway to civility again, he will re-unite us.
And I think he can. Welcome back, Joe. Spend this time studying Deplorable Studies: if you do it right, you could be the first president to say "I finally, after 250 years, made all people equal." And that will be something.
13
Senator, I am sure you are well-meaning man. The rhetoric you use though is just that, rhetoric. Our country has only done what it is best for its own good. Not necessarily what is good for the majority of its people but for the parts of it that owns the majority of its wealth and its produced income. That is all well and fine but t hardly brought "the respect that has made the United States the greatest nation on earth." There is not a pageant that awards such accolades to nations as in beauty contests. Ask the Japanese-Americans interned during the Second World War, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Koreans and Vietnamese that saw their countries destroyed; ask the descendants of Native Americans, the descendants of slaves that have to endure the monuments of the slave-owners, profiteers from the slave-trade whose names are given to college dormitories and academic buildings. A nation becomes great when it acknowledges its past, clearly. Help do that instead of writing saccharine op-ed pieces for the NYT.
6
You want Joe Biden to relitigate the past? What a sure-fire way to get booed off the stage.
1
The truth is Joe you're a good man.The truth also is We the people have allowed White Supremacy to continue with little or no spoken words to explain
It or teach how destructive it has always been.Now there is one in the White House.Both parties have gone after every vote no matter how diseased their
Ideas.Until Our leadership stands and says the Supream court is now a branch of the Republican Party,any elected official thru words or behavior supports racism and/or fascism and or religious prejudice will be turned out of office.
The bill of rights,and the constitution need attention and soon.Our government is broken and Trump is shamefully stomping all over them.Life ,liberty, and the
Pursuit of happiness,undenied to any man woman or child; and add justice
A human such as the sheriff in Arizona is not fit for garbage collection!!
6
America has values? America protects its citizens rights to assemble, to protest, to vote, to pursue happiness? The America I've lived in since Reagan was in office, has done none of that. It has made it easier for corporations to cheat people, to lie and get away with it, for law enforcement to kill innocent people, for rich corporations to dictate the laws of the land. The America I live in doesn't work for its citizens at all. The only values it cares about are those that bring in the money but don't invest it in America or Americans.
America stopped being representative of the average American when Reagan was elected president. His economic position, trickle down or voodoo economics, has hurt 99% of Americans. Corporate endorsement of cutthroat capitalism has hurt all but the richest Americans. People like the Koch Brothers and the Adelsons have contributed to the damage. Trump is the latest in a series of GOP presidents who care more about their personal fortunes than those of America. But we voted him in so we're getting what we asked for: a country that is intolerant, unforgiving, uncompassionate, and working overtime for the uber rich.
16
I think your America is an incorrect judgment, Joe. America is mediocre. It is mediocre because it treats it's weakest with the back of it's hand and enriches the richest.
Lefties like you like to look past the racist and ignorant Americans' core. Trump didn't and neither does the Right. Who has been more successful? Courting racists is a winning strategy because America is SOO racist. Racism is enough to win the Presidency.
42
Mogwai, racism may be a way to define America now, but it is backwards and painful. I'm not sure it's a good idea to call VP Biden a 'lefty', but we could certainly call him thoughtful or caring or genuine or even presidential.
4
I used to tell my students that while everyone has limitations, if you didn't try to exceed what you currently believed your limitations were, you'd never find your full potential. The approach that Republicans and Trump have followed since Goldwater is one which says "Our best days are behind us. We shouldn't try to reach higher." The idea of making the nation great is just a lost leader, something we're not expected to profit from, but is thrown out there to attract attention. This is why they try to attract bigots and others any civilized nation would naturally ignore until they figure out how to grow up.
Is Mr. Biden right about our history? No - he's not. Nevertheless, I have always believed we can still reach higher. In that, he's correct. Admittedly, the ideal came from the New Deal and the ideals of the 60s, but that doesn't make them something to ignore. I have a lot more faith in Martin Luther King (for all HIS warts), than anyone who aspires to be Ronald Reagan, who BTW, caused a lot more harm in this Goldwaterism than any good he did; we're just now beginning to reap the proverbial whirlwind from what he sowed in the 80s.
You left out Russian meddling in the election. So to correct your math HRC won the popular vote and Trump won with a big push from the Russians.
I am no fan of any Robber Baron but Carnegie did leave money to build and support public libraries across America. Yes, he worked tirelessly to kill unions and exploit workers but at least he left a legacy of opportunity for education of the masses through their use of libraries.
Conversely, The Koch brothers - whose daddy made his money from Joseph Stalin's violent Russian regime and who started the hate-American-government John Birch Society - have used their inherited wealth to do everything in their power to destroy OUR government and OUR lives.
I simply cannot wrap my head around why any person would want to destroy the world. One has to be very sick in the heart and mind to even think of it.
WE THE PEOPLE are the only ones who can stop crazy-manic-ego-centric men from destroying the planet again. NOW is the time.
30
We need to reclaim our values of "inclusivity, tolerance, diversity, respect for the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of the press"? What a crock coming from one of those whose party is almost solely responsible for limiting these values. Inclusivity? How included do conservatives feel in the workplace or at our universities now? Tolerance, how well are they tolerated? Diversity, seems to me the only folks who don't obsess about skin color etc. are the conservatives. Respect for the rule of law? Please, after Obama, are you really going to mention that? Freedom of speech? Who are the ones who are shouted down routinely and ultimately not allowed to speak on our college campuses today? It is becoming Animal Farm here in America and it's 100% lead by the left.
8
"...this White House casts global affairs as a zero-sum competition". Exactly, Joe. Trump has never viewed his business 'deals' by their 'win-win' potential. He has often screwed his own investors like he did the suckers who paid for Trump U. In business as in diplomacy and politics he only understands 'I win, you are a Loser!'
He respects Putin and Erdogan because they use political power to smash opposition, break rules, and amass great personal wealth. Exactly what he wants to do and is doing. He does not see himself as the Servant of the People in Chief.
He is @TrumpPresident LLC for fun and profit.
The fundamental question of our time is whether the West will survive Trump. Being ever more autocratic makes us more like the powers of the East he so fears. Democracy is under attack as much from within as from without. We are not a 'white nation'. We saw to that by bringing millions of slaves, Irish, Chinese, Japanese, Jews, Muslims, etc. For 240 years people have flocked here from all over the world because of who we seek to be. To give up our values is to give up that hope.
Joe makes me proud to be from DE.
20
I liked the lead sentence. After that I found this piece only sententious.
The Democrats, especially the center left, have got to do better.
6
Aside from the cynicism--especially for the young--derived from the fact that America has hardly been consistent over the years applying its presumed values to world affairs, the real problem now is that so many Americans do not really see how this vision of America's place in the world is actually benefiting them. How do we teach this civics lesson?
4
Vice President Biden writes an eloquent piece. Would that such a world view were true. Here, in the world's richest country, we have a sea of blue tarps as the homeless take over the sidewalks of major cities across the land. Hard working people are priced out of cities with exorbitant housing costs. Young college graduates are bent over double with student debt. And too many face ruin with healthcare costs that have all but bankrupted them. Yet we still find a way to continue a running war in Afghanistan that has cost untold loves and billions of dollars.
Things are just not right. A majority view government with disdain, as it responds to the wishes of corporate America, not mainstreet America. Global prosperity is fine, but not when its fruits go only to the few.
15
You know you're a declining empire when you begin to talk about abstract things such as "values", "democracy", "beliefs", "freedom", "dignity" etc. as solutions to avert such decline.
5
This is a very interesting article. It was in 2006 then potential 2008 presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden of Delaware made the following comments: "You cannot go to a 7 Eleven or Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent." This caused quite an uproar and he was extremely insensitive towards Indian people. He brushed if off, but this was blatant stereotyping.
This was not the only gaffe he made during the campaign. He also said that the then Presidential candidate Barack Obama was well spoken and dressed nicely. If President Trump had said these same things, they would have called for his resignation. There is a definite double standard between Democrats and Republicans.
Joe Biden needs to practice what he preaches. It is the familiar do as I say not as I do. Remember Joe Biden never became president and President Trump did. He should get his own values in order before he criticizes our president.
2
Your so called President lies to you at least twice every single day!! But your concerning yourself with a couple gaffes committed over 50 years of stellar service to our nation.
Your priorities are seriously messed up.
4
Thank you Joe Biden for this inspiring writing, and for your service to our country past, present, and ?future.
7
Vice President Biden glosses over the need for us Americans to strengthen our values. With politicians at all levels winning by dividing & conquering various groups we need to reinforce our founding values updated to the 21st century.
We believe all humans are created equal, we all have the same rights, and governments are instituted among humans to protect these rights, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
We must enact laws and probably Constitutional amendments making explicit that every American of age 18 has the right to vote, that corporations do not have any Constitutional rights, that money is not speech.
We must act on the social, political, legal equality of everyone. We must act on everyone's responsibility to support each others equality. We must insist our government be responsible to defend and support everyone's freedom and rights, and remind us of our mutual responsibiliities.
Only then will we have the moral authority to assist other nations in their struggle toward functioning democracies.
4
What Mr. Biden says is perfectly true. However, he fails to add the most important component to the list of values that made America the world's leader: knowledge. Around the world the US was seen as the leader in science and technology and both respected and envied for it. But now, when science denial, religiosity and willfull ignorance of so many Americans have been exposed, the world laughs at the antics of creationists and climate change deniers. And in terms of realpolitik, a lot of mistakes made by various American administrations (including the Obama- Biden administration) in the world stemmed from ignorance and misunderstanding of other cultures. The USA was admired by ordinary people in the USSR; now its despised and hated in Russia because of its clumsy behavior after the collapse. The floundering of the Obama and now Trump in Syria follow the same sorry script. People respect strength, including military strength, but laugh at ignorance and naivety. It's good to stand up for democracy but a world power must understand that nothing is black and white and that before we barge into, say, the civil war in Syria, it is necessary to learn its history and to figure out the positions and ideologies of the participants. It may turn out that the best way to support our values is by accepting the values of others.
3
I only wish that there had been more push back during the Obama years against trends that were already obvious. Of course I did not have a clue about Trump's nationalist (or worse) ideology. He may not have a well-informed political ideology but he does have strong opinions in the area of social ideology and they are all abysmal. But as I watched Republicans pursue political strategies such as the Citizen's United decision and their voter suppression campaign, and their maneuvers in the states, their propaganda mill, gerrymandering and more it was clear to me that we ran a real risk of ending up with a government run by some pretty far-right reactionaries. It will be harder to change the message now that power has been consolidated in the hands of the GOP, although the worst actors do not have absolute control yet. I think that Mr. Biden would make an excellent president, but I think the Dems need to go progressive, fight fire with fire. It will be a challenge to keep regular order and find a way to get a better balance of power but the alternative is probably just as Mr. Biden describes it.
3
America crossed the line some forty or fifty years ago. We went from a nation of ideals and a government and a capitalistic system that protected and valued its citizens to one overcome by excessive greed and thirst for power. We have had for some time now a failed leadership in this country both corporate and in government. We are now experiencing the ultimate failed leader in trump. We can make a great start by getting money out of politics. Everything else will fall in line.
5
November 1980 was 37 years ago. It was when we declared what we are - not the "we" of the New Deal and allied victory in WW II but the Reaganite "I" that vilified the poor and invaded poor nations.
Trump is the result.
2
I am always confused about which way the Democrat Party thinks the country should go.
Democrat Party members, and some in the media, deride Republicans for wanting to take us backwards. They then turn around and lecture us about who we are as a country, that we’ve always been that way, and that we shouldn’t change. Joe reminds us that it is our “values” that have “drawn generations of strivers and dreamers to the United States.”
To further confuse the issue, Democrats have a habit of adding language to our nation’s Constitution. I see now that dignity is a right.
Okay Joe, I’m all for preserving our long-standing American values, including those pertaining to religion, self-defense, and most especially life, but then of course I am dragging us backwards again.
3
RM: "To further confuse the issue, Democrats have a habit of adding language to our nation’s Constitution. I see now that dignity is a right."
Good point. Biden seems to be confusing "our founding documents" and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which uses the word "dignity" five times. This example is particularly bizarre, because it gives "dignity" the same ontological status as "rights":
Article 1: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. ..."
And this example gives "dignity" and "worth" the same status:
Preamble: "... the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person ..."
1
Life is so important to Republicans isn't it? But we better be specific hadn't we? Republicans like "white" lives, preferably male of course but white women too so we can be incubators for that precious white life. That is women's only purpose after all.
1
It is hard to disagree with any of this, but it ignores the elephant in the room. The current sad state of our public life is attributable in a fairly direct way to the behavior of the Republican Party. The Republican Party has always represented the economic elite, and that's okay--rich people are entitled to representation. In trying to recover from debacle of the Depression and their resistance to fighting Fascism, however, Republicans began a conscious policy of appealing to the lowest level of political awareness. It started with anti Communism in the late 1940's and '50s. They incorporated racism in 1960. Reagan sold crackpot supply side economics in 1980 that rationalized tax cuts for rich people and ran the national debt from one to twenty trillion dollars. The God, gays, and guns nonsense continues to keep low information voters loyal. Civility in politics ended when Newt Gingrich became Speaker. Now, with Donald Trump Republicans have elected a president who embodies all the sleaze they have used to maintain power over the decades. There really is an elephant in the room. Democrats are hardly perfect, but their shortcomings tend to involve incompetence. Things will not improve as long as Republicans continue to dominate government.
6
Beautiful words, ideas, and concepts from Mr. Biden. The United States of America has been telling it's populace and the rest of the world we are the greatest because of this that or the other thing. Platitudes that sound great on paper or in a speech do not make a country great. America did offer up at different times opportunity for some people. If you were African American or Native American not so much. These days the divide between the haves and the have not's is as bad as it's been since the early 20th century. Legislating economic fairness for it's people seems to me to be the most important trait or overarching principal any country could boast about. Most countries who have a higher level of economic equality between it's citizens don't go around
boasting about it. Germany, Finland, Kazakhstan, Austria, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Malta, Czech Republic, Norway, Hungry, and Sweden all have a higher level of economic equality than we do in the supposed greatest nation in the world! The United States ranks roughly 19th in economic equality. This means that the countries listed above plus 7 others have fairer governments and systems in place that operate for the greater good of ALL it's people...not just the top 1 to 3%. Are we actually all of the shining things Mr. Biden talks about?
3
North Korea has the highest level of economic equality if you blindly use the data. You mention Kazakhstan - do you want to live there?
2
Ahh...North Korea shows up nowhere on any of the lists. Blindly using data? What does that mean? If anything here seems blinded it would be your assessment of numerous data that has been crosschecked for accuracy and by numerous sources looking for errors. Might there be a blind allegiance to something here in your opinions? Kazakhstan has a booming economy. As far as the other countries listed I have been there, worked there, and spent a lot of time in all but Kazakhstan and all of those countries are by far more equitable economically and egalitarian when it comes to giving EVERYONE a fair shake, not just the wealthiest. Instead of running down the old mantra of ...Well if you like it so much over here, why don't you move there?" Why not try and make here better. I believe I'll stay and try and do that. Want to join me in that proposal?
I was part (albeit a small part) of the short-lived "Draft Biden" effort in 2016 and regret more than ever that that effort did not succeed. We need the aspiration of the American ideals set forth in this beautifully-written piece.
I am grateful to Joe Biden for his public service and for whatever he may yet contribute.
8
What is it about America that makes it great? Geography? History? Resources? People? Industry? All around the world those things are in abundance. What makes the U.S.A. great is our idealism about what government should be. Our founders built the first modern democratic republic based on the ideal that all men (and women) are created equal and should have an equal shot at success. The days of family wealth and heritage being the deciding factors in peoples lives would be over. At least in America.
It is interesting that many of the people who shout the loudest about their "love for America" seem to want to destroy that government that makes us great.
An example of how we have never really lived up to those ideals and that vision can be seen at Valley Forge. Washington's troops were in such a bad way because Congress wouldn't come up with the funds to improve the conditions. Sound familiar?
Not to quibble with Steve Bannon (OK a quibble) but the biggest political blunder of modern times was not letting Joe Biden run for president again. Although, I think he will go down as our very best Vice President. Ever!
Thank You, Mr. Vice President. From the bottom of my heart.
7
Wonderful essay, well written and timely. This is why Joe Biden still remains among the top of my list of Democrats that I can support in the next presidential election. Just the fact that he understands so well the power of expressing our nations values in clear and unambiguous terms shows the value of the depth and scope of his long experience as a political leader in this nation. I also believe that Mr. Biden is a committed progressive who understands the need to continuously evolve and push forward those values that can truly unite all Americans.
8
Ask people of Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, and others how these past 20 years of US exceptionalism worked out for them.
6
Respect for the rule of law ?
Unless it suits your cynical political purposes, in which case continue to allow the flood of illegal immigrants to continue, just like you did when you and Obama ran the country ?
Values ? All but those held dear to persons opposed to the Progressive agenda. Respect for individual liberty, de-centralization and federalism, constitutional originalism, and all the other values that would constrain the collectivist Progressive agenda.
Disingenuous hypocrite.
Classic Biden.
5
'' Where have you gone, Joe Biden, Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you...''
( paraphrasing the great Simon and Garfunkel )
It's almost as if we need someone of immense stature ( such as yourself Sir. ) to point a finger at the President in an open setting and say with utter conviction ; '' Have you no decency Sir ?! '' Even then, probably there would be no registering of the implication.
How can there be, when it is an entire political party ( and all that voted for it ) that is in on the act ? There are weak retributions and distancing ( on the record ) for the antithesis American values that this President is displaying, but they are still all on the same page as far the ''agenda'' goes. ( save for the rare failure of not taking away 23+ million Americans health care and lifelines)
They will all put up with whatever bombast is exuded, so long as the tax cuts and roll backs of everything you did, are implemented. ( and judges )
Sad.
8
What American "value" or "values" earned Barack Obama his Nobel Peace Prize?
What American "value" or "values" led 57%, 59% and 58% of America's white majority of voters to vote McCain/Palin in 2008, Romney/Ryan in 2012 and Trump/Pence in 2016?
Mass incarceration? Mass deportation? Mass individual welfare deformation? Mass corporate plutocrat oligarch welfare? Mass military-industrial complex war mongering? Mass reliance on three score plus leaders?
7
Admirable sentiments, atrocious logic. So “every “child has equal rights to freedom” with “every man [and] woman”? Well, yes, when it grows up into a man or woman.
Dividing humanity into “man, woman and child” is as absurd as dividing trees into “deciduous, evergreen and seedling” or baseball hitters into “left-handed, right handed and rookie.”
2
Trump didn't defend "white nationalists and neo-Nazis who unleashed hatred and violence in Charlottesville." Videos show protestors and anti-protestors both engaged in violence at the Charlottesville demonstration. Trump blamed "both sides" for engaging in violence. He followed up the next morning with a statement condemning white nationalists and neo-Nazis. Violent behavior at protests and demonstrations threaten American core values, included freedom of speech and the right to peaceful assembly.
7
Amen brother Joe! Its time for us to take the keys to the asylum back from the inmates. The vast majority of Americans completely agree with what you have written. How do you get citizens to fulfill their civic responsibility to stay informed and vote?
4
You may not want to impose our principles abroad, but you sure don't mind imposing them right here at home, do you? The liberal elite would be all too happy to impose their globalized collectivism on all of us, and if we disagree, well, no worries, you'll tell us what's good for us.
2
This is the third person (so far) repeating this nonsense. Nobody is "imposing" anything, he's talking about winning elections and passing laws.
1
I'm sorry joe, this is complete white washed. revisionist garbage regarding so called "American values" implied in American foreign policy. You are correct in that Trump is much worse.
1
"Me" is right about the complacent, "fossilized" establishment Democrats.
Rozenblit is right about misinformation; add to it Russian interference and cyberwar. Relentless hearings on Ben Ghazi, a wildly double standard in terms of using phones for different parties. Wildly different standard of white collar crime for each side.
New blood is indeed what people want. Sorry Joe, Chelsea and Jeb Jr.
What I want to add is this: google the phrase "Most popular politician in the United States."
Do it.
The press does not talk about the Most Popular Politician in the United States.
The Dems certainly do not talk about this popular politician, unless you want to count Hillary placing all the blame for her own mistakes more energetically than Trump does.
Progressive platform, fossilized, corporate, establishment Democrats.
Progressive platform.
I'd vote for any plank of it.
https://berniesanders.com/issues/
5
Mr. Vice-president, why, why why, didn't you run for president in 2016?
2
I wish you had run, Joe.
5
'' Where have you gone, Joe Biden, Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you...''
( paraphrasing the great Simon and Garfunkel )
It's almost as if we need someone of immense stature ( such as yourself Sir. ) to point a finger at the President in an open setting and say with utter conviction ; '' Have you no decency Sir ?! '' Even then, probably there would be no registering of the implication.
How can there be, when it is an entire political party ( and all that voted for it ) that is in on the act ? There are weak retributions and distancing ( on the record ) for the antithesis American values that this President is displaying, but they are still all on the same page as far the ''agenda'' goes. ( save for the rare failure of not taking away 23+ million Americans health care and lifelines)
They will all put up with whatever bombast is exuded, so long as the tax cuts and roll backs of everything you did, are implemented. ( and judges )
Sad.
3
'' Where have you gone, Joe Biden, Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you...''
( paraphrasing the great Simon and Garfunkel )
It's almost as if we need someone of immense stature ( such as yourself Sir. ) to point a finger at the President in an open setting and say with utter conviction ; '' Have you no decency Sir ?! '' Even then, probably there would be no registering of the implication.
How can there be, when it is an entire political party ( and all that voted for it ) that is in on the act ? There are weak retributions and distancing ( on the record ) for the antithesis American values that this President is displaying, but they are still all on the same page as far the ''agenda'' goes. ( save for the rare failure of not taking away 23+ million Americans health care and lifelines)
They will all put up with whatever bombast is exuded, so long as the tax cuts and roll backs of everything you did, are implemented. ( and judges )
Sad.
3
Hear, hear. Now the world awaits the Biden announcement of a presidential bid for 2020. The baloney presidency of no 45 needs to be replaced ASAP.
1
Joe....you have a good heart, and that's the first essential, bu these dayst frequently missing component of a good politician. You also seem to really care, another missing commodity.
If you truly want to help us reclaim "American's Values", you need to first help us reclaim the practice of politics. But, before that, we need your assistance with the first aid of healing the wounds each party continues to inflict on the other.
Hats off to Schumer and Pelosi for their collaborating cooperation with the President. His own party can't find a way to do politics. Working together is a major, first step in reclaiming our values.That's what led to our Declaration of Independence. It required our mutual dependence on each other to make it happen.
There's a great opportunity here for you to help lead the way.
4
Why is it that "reclaiming America's values" always means, once you scratch the surface, pursuing the entire agenda of a liberal Democrat?
2
Thus spoke Joe Biden, from the Heart. Having ideals, based on classic values that follow the 'golden rule', are of course of the essence...if followed by proper action. That we usually fall short does not negate its need. Crooked lying Trump has cheapened our political discourse, has introduced vulgarity in just about any subject he so arrogantly touches...while having no clue about what he is talking about. And worse, he has given permission, by his tenacious adherence to spreading fear, hate and division for the benefit of keeping his 'base', to bring out the worst instincts of a mob of misinformed and prejudiced folks that, whatever he invents and lies about at any given moment, to fit his voracious narcissistic appetite, is the gospel truth. Under Trump's pluto-kleptocracy, there is no room to express power by example; racism, xenophobia and misogyny do rein supreme. America, as it stands (or kneels?), has become the laughingstock of the world, as our bully in chief sides with dictators the world over, thrashing freedom and justice, and muzzling the press at home. And yet, what are we complaining about, given we elected a monster whose perverse 'qualities' we knew well in advance? Special thanks go to the republican party, that so 'graciously' allowed his rise from his hysteric, and racist, Birtherism.
5
Joe - Hope to see you at Penn Homecoming weekend so we can this at length.
I believe the USA should be the global protector of constitutional rights and democratic ideals. Those countries that currently practice such governance or aspire to improve themselves to practice such governance should fall eithin OUR orbit. We protect them from those countries that do practice demoncracy and seek to undermine us collectively.
This will come at great cost to us. It may well exhaust us.
But to avoid what our misguided uber nationalist think, there is a hard nosed solution.
The USA gets compensated for offering such protection / nurturing / consulting services. Our military, CIA, State Department vista costs are offsets.
In return for running the protection racket, the USA receives High Paying Manufacturing Jobs in hard hit states like Pennsyvsnia.
How would HPMJ work operationally? Let's use S. Korea as an example.
We place the economic equivalent of 250,000 soldiers / weapons / anti misfile batteries in S. Korea, they in treturn,
create 250,000 replicating and safeguarding their IP, know how, economic output. That is build Samsung, LG, and Hyundai facilities in Pittsburg and Harrisburg,
Ditto this for Germany / Japan / Baltic States etc
1
Excellent idea, and more than a fair trade for the half-a-century of protection that we have provided.
But if you want to see nationalism rear its head, just try to impose such an exchange on our well-supported, thriving allies.
If you think the dialogue between the left and right in the United States is acrimonious, it's nothing to the screams that would come from our treaty partners.
1
George W. Bush's values were so strong that a fundamental strategy of his presidency was to export democracy. The disaster of George W. Bush coupled with unmasked post Obama racism lead us to accepting a president with no guiding star other than the almighty dollar.
Looks like someone is beginning to make a presidential push.
1
Dismissing science is bad enough, but they want to replace it with the superstition and delusion of religion.
Just to make the people more malleable.
2
"Only our democratic values define us."
Exactly, Joe.
And you can spout pleasing platitudes til the cows come home (David Brooks does it all the time) but until you put your money where your mouth is, then all the world has to judge us by are our actions, not our words.
I, as a citizen for 70 years have yet to be included in your wonderful rhetoric.
I am a female.
And, yes, Joe, the whole world does watch us, not for what we say but for what we do.
And they see that females in the US are not legally, Constitutionally "equal".
They also know that that's not an oversight.
It is deliberate.
They remember Reagan and the Religious Right killing the ERA.
Deliberate, Joe.
Half of the world loves it.
Half of the world hates it.
Saudi Arabia and Russia love it. Your Vatican loves it. Trump loves it.
I hear that Iceland hates it.
Don't talk to me about "American Values".
I've seen your "values" all my life.
They are epitomized by Trump's little speech On The Bus that got such riotous laughter from Billy Bush.
You're as old as I am, Joe.
You know very well what happened - and in all these decades later, you still have said and done nothing, absolutely nothing.
Seriously, David Brooks or Ross Douthat could have put their name on this article and I never would have known the difference.
"You cannot define Americans by what they look like..."
I can, Joe.
They look male.
They look like they are fully included in the Constitution.
Shame on you.
3
"American values" begin at home.
I refer readers to a NY Times December 8, 2015 James Risen article highlighting Joe Biden's son Hunter hobnobbing with Ukrainian natural gas bigwigs amidst charges of money laundering. As the Obama era ended in January Joe made a trip to Ukraine in support of his son who faced possible jail time.
Is this "American values"?
Physician, heal thyself.
1
Joe, please run in the next election. And keep periodically speaking up.
1
"Where have you gone, Joe Vice President. A nation turns its lonely eyes to you."
Biden claims: "You cannot define Americans by what they look like, where they come from, whom they love or how they worship."
I'm sorry Joe, but you CAN define the nation in these terms; at least a third of Americans do so. Trump ran a brilliant campaign that appealed to them and they have become his devoted followers.
Bannon would like to claim this is not about white racism but about economic nationalism --border security, scrapping rotten trade deals, bringing back decent paying industrial jobs, etc. But the underside of economic nationalism is racial demography -- preserving 'us', our white, Christian heritage as the core of the nation against its dilution by the promiscuous growth/influx of 'them' -- blacks, Latinos, Asians, Muslims, Jews... To "make America great again", we must reverse this.
The white supremacists chanted : "You will not replace us". Their groups are fringe, but they speak for millions who feel they are losing their nation to ''them' -- the others. It's pure fantasy to claim these people do not reflect "American values". White racism is as American as baseball, as the banner at the ball game declared.
"American values" was Obama's mantra, but he never won a majority of white voters and his party lost seats in Congress and State Houses in every election since he became President. Americans remain deeply divided on what defines their nation's values or their shared claim to its global greatness.
1
Thank you Mr. Biden.
By spending so much time and energy looking abroad, Obama and Biden rewarded a terrorist sponsoring nation with billions of dollars (Iran) and abandoned the American underserved who deserve more investment in education (such as school choice), job training (such as apprenticeships) and safe neighborhoods (Chicago and Baltimore). Americans lost their homes and jobs to support global "democracy".
1
Yes, all true, if stiffly stated. But now what? You think the millions of non-core Trump supporters who don't attend KKK rallies should call their republican Senators and Congressionals, and implore them to "model democratic values"? Or what?
Speak clearly, Joe. The indecent, corrupt, un-American Trump administration is collectively a malignancy that is corroding our values and our government and it is supported and enabled by a majority of our elected officials. Unless Donald Trump and his supporters are replaced by people who respect our institutions and values, the nation we knew will not survive.
2
'' Where have you gone, Joe Biden, Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you...''
( paraphrasing the great Simon and Garfunkel )
It's almost as if we need someone of immense stature ( such as yourself Sir. ) to point a finger at the President in an open setting and say with utter conviction ; '' Have you no decency Sir ?! '' Even then, probably there would be no registering of the implication.
How can there be, when it is an entire political party ( and all that voted for it ) that is in on the act ? There are weak retributions and distancing ( on the record ) for the antithesis American values that this President is displaying, but they are still all on the same page as far the ''agenda'' goes. ( save for the rare failure of not taking away 23+ million Americans health care and lifelines)
They will all put up with whatever bombast is exuded, so long as the tax cuts and roll backs of everything you did, are implemented. ( and judges )
Sad.
2
Just a load of (mis)characterizations and trite cliches. There's no there there. Thanks Uncle Joe-- you want another beer?
1
I like the use of "illiberal" and "illiberalism."
America has no "conservative" tradition.
You're either for our tradition, liberalism, or you're against it.
Do not let others define you.
Do not run from the thing you are.
1
Joe, don't kid yourself. The Progressives will never let you be nominated in 2020. They'll just put you back in chains.
2
It may be worth remembering that the "all men" who were "created equal" in the founding document referred not to all men, but to white men. We had slaves at the time, and clearly they were not considered to have been created equal to white men. Nor were Native Americans. Nor, obviously, were women of any race; women didn't have the right to vote.
The inequality the founders were concerned with was that of aristocratic birth, not of race or gender.
Yet no one disputes that the Revolutionary period was a moment when America was "great". Is this the America to which Trump refers when he calls to make it great again?
The Founding Fathers, like all people, were limited by the time in which they lived. Many of the humanistic values we have inherited were developed much later, in the Civil War, and then in the 1960s and 70s. The right wing would like to erase the later developments, and the far right would like to erase those of the Civil War as well.
Let us hope they do not succeed in making America great again.
2
Thank you, Mr Vice President Biden - it comforts all of us to say your title - for we are deeply missing you and President Obama.
Keep speaking out loud for all to hear - your words and President Obama's words are like inspiring healing balm to all Americans.
Joe Biden for President, though, I'll be happier with pretty much anyone else at this point.
the intent of this piece is so obvious. i say, no way, no joe for president.
1
Joe Biden gives an impassioned vision of what he believes are American values are and how they are perceived around the world.
Unfortunately the world has not seen America this way for a long time. So many times we hear politicians talk about how our enemies hate us because they are jealous of our way of life. Except for countries like Iran and North Korea, leaders of other countries never speak about foreign powers as enemies. For many decades American politicians have created a climate of fear that fuels an ever increasing isolation from reality.
Travel overseas and you will hear a different take on things.
Many overseas view America and Americans as self interested bullies who waste resources, pollute the environment and abuse their position of power.
Reagan, GW Bush and now Trump are viewed by those overseas as lightweights to be ridiculed.
America can believe it is a moral leader of the free world. The truth is, America is increasingly seen as a global dictator.
1
At last, a voice of calm reason above the din of the chaos this country has been exposed to for the last seven months of this administration.
Thank you, Mr. Biden.
Thank you for having faith in America, and for reminding us that we have not become a nation of mean-spirited savages, marching at night in torchlight parades with flags that symbolize bigotry, hatred, and brought death to millions.
Thank you for defending what this country is about -- and not what it is in the process of now becoming.
Please keep your voice. Please keep your faith.
And please, don't go far too away.
1
Isn't it ironic that Germany is the last bastion of Western liberal democracy and Angela Merkel - the leader of the free world? Thank you, Trump voters.
1
Nothing left to say (says the first commenter), sure, except that this is a pile of bromides from another supernumerary Democrat greeted with open arms here. It's smooth words from a master of the genre, he spent most of his adult life in government, perfecting the style.
Meanwhile, Obama said America is no more exceptional than other countries. And then went on a nationally self-abasing, personally self-promoting apology tour. That's the leader Joe Biden served for years in the White House.
When Trump threatens to do something concrete to stand for our values around the world, like fighting back against the tinpot in North Korea, liberal quarters rail with umbrage that he's being aggressive and raising the stakes.
That's the reality, as was the thanks America got in Iraq and Libya when it tried again to do something meaningful to promote the values Biden claims with ringing words to stand for.
And it is (of course) tendentious to suggest Trump ever defended white supremacists. He never did. He's not as eloquent as Joe Biden, but with all his faults he's achieved a lot more in concrete terms in his career than Biden or Obama ever did.
1
Just using the English language properly by Joe Biden brings back memories of better times.
It seems that the more generous America was, [Marshall Plan] the more successful, productive and enriched it became.
Perhaps caring about others and extending hands of help within our country and across borders is its own reward.
1
This is as good a statement of America's aspirational values as I've seen anywhere lately. While we sadly fall short of this too often, this is a great summation of where we need to go and the reasons doing so is in our nation's best interest.
And bonus points for working the word "abnegated" into an op-ed. In a time where politicians often dumb down their language to a lowest common denominator, it's refreshing to see someone willing to break that sorry pattern and use words that convey concepts with a measure of precision.
Finally, experience in governing matters, particularly in foreign affairs, which is often shaped by generations of history which takes time to understand and master. Joe Biden has probably forgotten more about foreign policy than President Trump and Secretary Tillerson have ever learned. It is not a field for amateurs and dilettantes. We need smart and experienced leaders like Joe Biden to be part of the process.
If Mr. Biden's op-ed is to be a "true measure" or a starting point for "Reclaiming America's values" shouldn't he be discussing the "Cause" and "Effect" of how we got here?
"This has stood as the foundation of American foreign policy throughout my political career — until recently."
Mr. Biden attempts to mask the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States over Hillary Clinton as the starting point or "cause" for the need to reclaim America's values, however by any true measure, the election was the result or "Effect", not the cause.
However, like any "seasoned" politician, his rhetoric talks a lot, but says very little.
His over use of the word "democratic" litters the page like a poorly written copy write ad or sales pitch for a cure all product that cannot sell it self.
Perhaps at one time the US was that "beacon on the hill" and perhaps President Trump is dimming that light a bit more, but failure to acknowledge that the filament of that light was already flickering and well past its useful life, as a new form of light, the LED is pushing aside the old dog, he can keep on trying that old sales pitch of a "tin man" salesperson.
1
Vice President Joe Biden (oh, how I long for the days you were in office!) thank you for reminding us why we are Americans: not because we occupy a geographic location on the globe, but because of the values we cherish and the ideals we aspire to.
The irony is that our values are under attack not from a foreign adversary, but from emotionally disturbed people who cannot think clearly as they listen to and follow a dangerous but skilled con-artist.
Dear Mr. Biden, why didn't you go for the presidency? You would have been
an excellent 45th President of the USA!
When your "values" become a stump speech for what America rejected in the last election, from local to national elections, you tend to sound like a broken record.
We are tired of becoming the lowest, common denominator so our hard work can lift other countries up.
We are tired of the rule of law being flaunted and smacked around with talk of amnesty every year as more and more people sneak across the borders looking for their amnesty.
We are tired of the liberal thinking that what's mine is yours to redistribute.
There's a reason you lost to, of all people, President Trump.
A hard look in the mirror will reflect that.
1
So, if I can sum Joe up, Liberals = right, Conservatives = wrong. I liked him so much better when he was being quiet...
4
Inspiring words. Much better than "carnage"
I have to wonder though if the values that we think we have is just an illusion. Trump catalyzed the unmasking of white supremacy in our country. I was surprised to see people I know who, before Trump, hid their racism and, after Trump, have expressed it. I think we are being tested like in the 50's with McCarthyism to adopt fascist principles. Back in the 40's the army made a video about how fascists come to power:https://youtu.be/23X14HS4gLk
I hope we heed the signs.
And so the race for the White House in 2020 begins...
Irony aside, I'm glad that Joe seems to be in it.
1
Please Mr. Biden:
Run for president and bring back the country that we
knew and my family members fought for in
World War II.
Please deliver us from the current treasonous and
criminal trump administration.
Let's hope These values and ideas resonate with this White House
I would take Biden more seriously if he or Obama had even once asked the King of Saudi Arabia to give women equal rights
4
Or even demanded Constitutional inclusion in THIS country for the women they claimed to "love".
1
Out of insufferable arrogance, Uncle Biden thinks he gets to be the one who defines America's values.
2
Run Joe, run.... for 2020
Joe, thank you for your intelligent expression of our current state of affairs. Ignorance (and disinformation) breed fear and hatred. This so-called president's personal characteristics, lack of character and core American values are now tainting and polluting our nation. He is an isolated, ignorant, paranoid man who bullies, lies, is unfaithful, lacks restraint, and takes no personal responsibility for anything or anyone. These are the putrid characteristics trickling down the walls of the White House into our nation's groundwater. He is an environmental disaster. Let's just hope he does't poison us all.
This is the same guy who denied ordinary Americans Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection -- rendering credit card debt inescapable for working people. So while ordinary folks pay Visa 30% on ever-accruing balances for life (this, when the bank is offering .01% on savings accounts), the likes of Donald Trump is routinely allowed to write off hundreds of millions.
Joe, you and your party brought this on yourselves. Not everyone would love your brand of milquetoast social liberalism and neo-con foreign policy, but you would have had enough votes to keep Democrats in power.
And what did you do?
1
I love Joe Biden, but the whole "values" political lecture is showing its age along with Joe. The truth is that there is and has been since out founding two Americas--one based on the racism of white male privilege and slavery and the other on the democratic ideals (aka "values') of equality and religious tolerance. We fought a Civil War, but the psychological divisions along with statues to Confederate generals didn't end there as we've seen in the years since with Jim Crow, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, lynchings, urban riots, assassinations of political leaders, and now the white nationalist neo-Confederate and neo-Nazi movement embraced by the Trump administration and its "son of the South" Attorney General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. We need to confront the dark shadow that former President Obama called "America's original sin" has cast rather than just return to the Clinton-era "values" argument. So far, none of our political leaders have been willing to call that out as the Supreme Court rolls back the Voting Rights Act, Republicans pass Voter ID laws, the Trump administration employs a commission headed by Kris Kobach aimed at further disenfranchising voters of color, and threatens mass deportation of those formerly protected under DACA. We need to call it what it is Joe--the re-awakening of American "nativism," racism, and white supremacy, and loudly proclaim we will no longer tolerate such intolerance in 21st century America.
Dear Joe,
My wife and daughters slightly adore you. I like you best when you say gaffes, much less when you write editorials expressing a benign wish on one topic whose like you withhold from others. During your service as Vice-President, the United States government pretty cleanly severed principles from policies--at least if the principles are those of equal fundamental rights of every human being. Saudi Arabia comes to mind, where the President celebrated dogmatic bigots who actively and effectively oppose every American ideal you list. You can thumb your diary for any number of other cases. Your silence was stunning. Where are the gaffes when we need them?
1
Joe, please come back. Thank you for this editorial.
When the American president bows down to Putin, ex-KGB in 'the evil empire' (Reagan) and repeatedly scoffs at overwhelming evidence of Russia's hacking to sway the 2016 election, which Dick Cheney rightly named 'an act of war', he diminishes our standing throughout the world.
According to journalist Katty Kay, who spent much of the summer abroad, America is no longer seen to be the leader of the free world... America is now seen to be irrelevant.
Resist with a vengeance.
I agree with everything he said. It 's just all the bad stuff America has done all over the world. It starts with how we built our country on slavery and genocide of our native peoples. We never had any moral authority excepting in our own minds. We have always talked on both sides of our mouth, what we did was just hidden. I know we did good stuff but we also did some pretty horrendous support of dictators who raped their countries and killed lots of people. We conveniently try to pretend none of this ever happened.
1
What a bunch of baloney coming from a guy whose administration promoted class warfare, painted cops as the bad guys, and really got the ball rolling on the increased division within this nation. Joe - you had your chance and blew it.
Or, how we don't worship. C'mon Joe, we are Americans too.
Should'a ran, Joe. Still can run, Joe. You know she will.
God bless you, Joe Biden.
1
Biden: "American democracy is rooted in the belief that every man, woman and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity. ... we have never given up the struggle to grow closer to the ideals in our founding documents."
Apparently, Biden has not actually read "our founding documents", because the word "dignity" is not used in them.
In contrast, "dignity" is used five times in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Biden should not confuse America's founding documents and UN documents.
Per text searches in transcripts of the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Amendments, and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Those documents can be found online at 'archives dot gov' and at 'un dot org'.
2017-09-14 11:46:01 UTC
1
Mr. Vice President, you use a word that Trump does not understand. I'm not referring to "abnegated," though I'm certain he cannot even pronounce it, much less understand it. I'm referring to "we." The only pronoun Trump comprehends is "I."
1
Just face it liberals, the Democratic Party has no palpable leaders. The Party has gone rogue and extreme. Joe "they gonna put ya'll back in chains" Biden was second chair to the most divisive administration in the modern era. Hence the "Trump" correction. The last thing we need is a phony grinned lawyer leading us around.
Dear Senator Biden: The U.S. Virgin Islands could really use you as Governor. We know you like us. Please consider it.
Biden/Obama in 2020.
Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
Please be our President sir.
As a long-time admirer, I am sorry to see such falsehoods flow from the pen of Joe Biden regarding supposed United States "values" that made our country an example to the rest of the world. That "shining beacon on a hill" line stopped being true long ago.
A few reminders:
1. The Vietnam War - It was started on a lie, the phony Gulf of Tonkin incident. Over 3 million Vietnamese dead.
2. Iran-Contra - Starting with the treason committed by Reagan's campaign to keep American hostages in Iranian hands until after the election of 1980, it culminated in illegally selling arms to Iran and using the profits to fund an illegal war in Central America. Thousands died on that lie.
3. Rwanda - While our leaders are only too happy to babble "Never again" on Holocaust Remembrance Day, President Bill Clinton turned our country's collective back on the Rwandan genocide. Hundreds of thousands died.
4. Our illegal invasion of Iraq after 9/11. Based on phony intelligence to fit a predetermined set of criteria, revealed conclusively by the Downing Street Memo. The definitive war crime, according to the Nuremberg Principles.
Trump is just the latest in a long line of presidents who have made evil decisions that affected the world.
2
Where have you been Joe Biden.
"The nation turns it lonely eyes to you.........".
The notion that the U.S. will only thrive as a white-European- rooted society belongs in the trash barrel of failed ideas and movements from Fr. Coughlin, George Wallace, and its uber-champion, Adolph Hitler.
How does Trumpism not degenerate into a catch-all for every misplaced and misdirected outlier who believes that he's lost everything to Blacks, Muslims and Mexicans, and who loathes having to monitor his speech for "political correctness " (code for free-floating stream of consciousness insulting language directed at women, gays and people of color)?
How does Trumpism not feel like a reversion to the interminable foot-dragging and hemming and hawing, not to say outright opposition to righting the wrongs of Jim Crow's legacy?
Please, please, please run in 2020!
What I miss most about Joe Biden is having man in the White House, two actually. Instead we have a pouting male-child in a perpetual state of hissy fit, daily proclaiming "Look at me, Look at me."
I miss you Joe. We need you.
1
Yes "the power of our example" is what makes us leaders.
Yes every person should have equal rights and equal dignity.
The constitution has been a useful tool in moving toward those ideals.
"Inclusivity, tolerance, diversity, respect for the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of the press" are mostly enshrined in the constitution and should be guiding principles for our domestic and foreign policies.
"We can meet our security imperatives without giving a green light to dictators who abuse civil rights.
Both parties have embraced a ""Vision" of American leadersip that fosters a more secure, inclusive and generous planet,' planet, but have our policies matched that vision? What is a "bulwark for global democracy," anyway? Since WWII, we have used our power mostly to protect the interests of global corporations instead of the interest of the people that live in targeted countries. We created the Banana Republics.
Biden voted for the invasion of Iraq. He had been in the White House. He should have known that war was based on lies. We invaded Iraq because it has oil. Eventually we gave control of the oil to global oil corporations.
Our civil rights record is not as good as we like to pretend: Mass incarceration, beating and terrorizing peaceful protesters protected by the first amendment, standing by while global banks steal millions of homes. And that's the Democrats.
Just because life is not a zero sum game doesn't mean we have to hand it over to global corporations.
33
The Iraq war began under President George W Bush. biden was NOT in the White House during that time!
Thank you, Mr. Biden, for an eloquent ode to American values and democracy!
I'd like to add another threat to our values that has spun out-of-control (and has been doing so for some time): special interest money. Oligarchs basically control our government and its citizens are increasingly left powerless in the voting booth and elsewhere. Trump has strategically placed self-interested oligarchs throughout his administration who seek to further enrich themselves to our collective detriment. SCOTUS rules in favor of corporations. Until we overhaul our campaign finance laws and other laws related to lobbyists and corporate interests so that they serve the people of the United States rather than oligarchs and corporations, we'll continue to see further erosion of our civil rights, voting rights, and financial, consumer and environmental regulations.
1
Love the words, love the thoughts, but we need the actions. Also, I concur that we need new blood to reenergize the voters which is so desperately needed. Continue the fight, continue the words but lets find some new people to accomplish the actions.
3
These words are an ideal and not quite a reality. But we need to have ideals as a guidepost. Liberty and Justice for All needs to be for All. Equal protection under the law needs to be for All. Government of the people, by the people and for the people is an ideal. These should be part of the Better Deal. I'm with Joe.
8
Dear Mr. Biden,
Reading your elegant and eloquent words, I recognize with joy and relief the open, optimistic, well-wishing, can-do spirit of the America I grew up in. You have already given so many years of service to this country that I feel I don't have a right to ask, but please run for president in 2020. And start your campaign right away. Whether or not you win, we need to hear this message every day, remember who we used to be and can be again.
8
Beautiful essay, it expresses the idealized vision of a great many
Americans, unfortunately it is only paid lip service to by our Democrat party leaders who it appears just haven't the spine to stand up for the values they profess to so ardently believe in.
One can't help but wonder does this signal Biden's intention to make a run at the presidency? If so I think he would raise the bar in the debate but I'm not sure if old guard thinking is what the country needs at this point. I'm not referring to age but to the parties attitudes about almost everything. The recent history of Democratic leadership is a long list of missed opportunities that led to our present situation.
We need a candidate who speaks for all Americans as much as that is possible. Sorry one issue and wedge issue voters. It is time to work for the greater good because we are on the brink of disaster.
4
Excellent piece from Joe Biden and a much needed reminder of what we and the world are gradually losing in these trying times.
13
Biden unloads a lot of verbiage about "values" and "democratic values" mostly to criticize the Trump administration (which deserves all the criticism it gets). But his enumeration of these values is limited; among many other values omitted, he excludes freedom of religion. His vision of some values is shriveled; "respect for the rule of law" applies to any state, democratic or totalitarian--and does not embrace an American ideal of "justice for all"--the word "justice" not appearing in this essay. Finally, there is no mention of the primary American value, stated first in Declaration of Independence, namely, equality, with its enormous implications for race, gender, religion, and naitonal origin. I belabor Biden because he is a good example of the talk about American values or democratic values which is detached from serious and meaningful content. Trump is not leading us away from or betraying them; he is following the flows from both Left and Right toward a polity neither democratic nor totalitarian, just corporately and bureaucratically autocratic.
5
There is a willful ignorance about Joe Biden's American Exceptionalism. The long term decline of the world's admiration for what USA used to stand for and achieved is cultivated by decades of American misadventures both domestic and abroad. Endless invasion of foreign countries, wrongheaded nation building and failures, local corruption of its judicial, political and financial systems, plus a long list of other problems such as its decaying infrastructure, declining student's academic performance, broken healthcare system, flood of guns and drugs, income disparity, racial hatred, prison population: all point to something very basic- the core value extolled by Joe Biden is a delusional set of contradictions with a glossy sheen hiding old worn-out internal logical patches. The hypocrisy of it all is not lost in what Trump supporters called Political Correctness, leading to their collective lunacy of calling facts as "fake news'. The "Founding Fathers" were smart men but no infallible sages. Let's start with the false premise that everyone is "created" & "equal". People are neither equal nor created. Everything is but a sequence of interwoven actions, cause and effect. Freedom of speech, religion and press cannot be held in absolute terms. Ownership of guns is not a birthright. So many of the holy cows embraced by its Amendments are basically sick and need to be doctored. Still not convinced? Donald Trump will serve as a daily reminder all is not well in America's Core Value.
9
if we really want to lead with our values, then why are we supporting countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel, who have terrible human rights records? Why are we the weapons clearinghouse for the world? Why do we have 900 bases all over the world and no military objectives? If we champion human rights and freedom, why do we curtail the Bill of Rights and champion terrible legislation like the Patriot Act? All of these and countless more reveal us for the hypocrites we truly are.
4
Vice President Biden makes an important plea in his article today, America must continue to lead by example. And we have. The rest of the globe understands how messy our process is. They know we are a country of immigrants and innovators, with rednecks and minorities both, creating a dynamic mechanism for change. Biden is right, we have ever strived to elevate the discourse and solidify the language of tolerance and inclusion, until now. Trump is an aberration, a manifestation of a mob, and the spirit of this mob needs to be called out for what it is, racist. As a pediatrician, I always reassure my parents with how messy parenting is and not to be too hard on themselves. I tell them there is no one way to parent but, there is one best possible way to raise positive, progressive children who strive to contribute to the world. And that way is for those parents to be positive and progressive themselves. To lead by example. WE need to keep the discourse elevated and protest the abominations that spawn from Trump and his mob. A mob knows only anger and reaction, we will plan and pigeon-hole the Mob into an indefensible position that betrays it's ugly center for the world and the reasonable rest of America.
2
Ah, to be proud of our President again. His basic honesty and likeability, together with a great understanding of how the world works and how we can help makes him number one for us. "Tell us it "is", Joe"
1
I fear, VP Biden, that we have now lost our "respect that has made the United States the greatest nation on earth". My Colombian friends suggest that we are still a notch above the political issues in their beloved country, but sometimes I wonder. They have the FARC, we have 'the base' - some of whom are gun-toting, xenophobic, supremacists carrying hate around like a dirty pair of shoes. The eight years of Obama-Biden let me rest easy (and possibly complacent) because I knew you would take care of a whole nation rather than just those who voted for you.
When the current administration spends a minute on Hillary-hate or wall building, I fear we have already lost our respect. How we made it past the grope tape and the birther ordeal I'll never understand.
Mr. Biden, I can define America when you were in charge, but I am unable to define it now.
3
One hopes, Joe, that this is but prelude.
The nation awaits.
2
American values have greed as their capstone. The USA was founded ostensibly for the pursuit of happiness, that the predominantly Anglo colonists interpreted as the freedom to beggar your neighbor and make money. Everything that we do in American life points to a selfish determination to have our individual way, and we clash constantly throughout our unfulfilled lives vying with others to prevail at all costs. The consequences of this determinism are to be seen in the way we have led the rest of the world in raping and destroying our home planet, all for the sake of a couple of pence.
5
Joe, I hope America's corporations read your inspiring words. They are the only American "people" whose voice matters anymore.
4
"Over 45 years of working in global affairs" and still at it? Well during these years we've gone from a creditor nation to a debtor nation, right? Just passed the $20 trillion mark, over 100% of GDP and one third of the $20 trillion national debt is owed to foreign nations, $1.3 trillion to China alone, subsidizing over 50% of their yearly defense budget. Great job, Joe!
1
Money is both a medium of exchange without intrinsic value, and a tool for the manipulation of power. Creditors need a very carefully executed haircut. One that increases the health of the polity and planet.
I have always appreciated Biden.. But come now, I weary of people trying to sell the American myth, our greatness, our 'good guy-ness. Our fable has always been suspect and flawed. At best our white hats were always dirty and often our hats were brown or black.
1
You mean the Democratic values of the Patriot Act that took away habeas corpus? Or the murder of innocent Black children playing in the park? How about laws being passed to make protesting illegal and allow the confiscation of protesters' assets? How about stop and frisk laws that allow people to be stopped on the street and have their bodies ravaged by police just because they look suspicious (are Black or Latino)? Or maybe American citizens that look Hispanic and are detained for three years in isolation because they could not prove their citizenship and of course being in isolation they were not given the chance to do so? Do you mean those Democratic values?
Instead of worrying about the Russians, perhaps we should take a serious look at ourselves. You cannot export values that you do not uphold at home. Let us reclaim our Constitution and our Values right here, right now with the repeal of the Patriot Act. Let us help those who are not able to pay for college and are loath to take on debt they can never pay back to get a college education. Let us rebuild the rust belt cities and bring jobs to them. Let us build our infrastructure and schools rather than give middle class tax dollars to billionaires who squander it and save it rather than invest it in America. Let's stop all the wars and start using that money to rebuild the countries we have wreaked destruction on.
Maybe we should clean up our own house before we criticize others. You cannot export what you do not have.
5
How about having a bigger voice, more resistant, more forceful voice than just an editorial. We are in crisis here and the Democrats aren't doing anything! They are just as complicit as the Repubicans
1
Just as complicit? The Republicans OWN the House of Representatives, control the Senate, have the currant President, the edge in the Supreme Court, plus Republicans have 30 Governors, and most state legislatures are Republican dominated.
Just as complicit? C'mon...
Utter nonsense.
Your lofty words ring hollow.
Iraq, WMD, and the disastrous handling of the war undermined our standing in the world.
Making toxic financial securities our biggest export and destroying the global economy and holding absolutely no one accountable for it undermined our standing in the world.
The "red line" in Syria undermined our standing in the world.
The decades-long abandonment of the American middle class you claim to worship undermined our standing in the world.
The embarrassing and disastrous "Russian Reset".
The inexcusable inaction of the Obama administration on North Korea.
All of these things undermined our standing in the world, and you were a part of all of them.
The foreign policy establishment of Republicans and Democrats alike has failed us, spectacularly, for decades.
And democracy is in retreat around the world as a result. That preceded Trump. Indeed, it is the cause of him.
I have great respect for you, but you're a dinosaur.
The world you describe simply does not exist. The world has changed, radically, and your 20th century worldview is obsolete. Consequently, you're part of the problem because you continue to view the world of the 21st century through a 20th century lens.
We need a new generation of leaders to clean up the monumental mess created by the Boomers, and it will take a lot more than lofty rhetoric.
Time to move on Mr. Vice President. Thank you for your service.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
2
Good list of "accomplishments". Add to it our out of control national debt fueled by the twin deficits making us the number one debtor nation in the world that Joe has been working on for 45 plus years.
I agree wholeheartedly with Joe Biden's observations but until the great economic divide that continues to keep the majority of American's unable to realize a sense of legitimate gain it likely that those Trump depicts as the "forgotten ones" will only grow and real prosperity will continue to be solely in the hands of the already mega wealthy. Regardless of whether Hillary or Trump is in office, real tax reform is needed to sow the seeds of growth and gain for the majority of Americans. And until this is addressed (along with infrastructure, social justice, health care reform, lack of any semblance of coherent foreign policy) then Joe Biden's vision can't really be addressed. Until we get our own house in order we can't hold ourselves up as a model for the world to emulate. Trump's administration is a sad, pathetic and inept collection of wealthy sycophants and self-absorbed folks who care little about the type of world vision Biden proposes - money, power and personal gain is their objective. Thank Joe for sharing thoughts on what made this Country great and perhaps it will happen again down the road, too bad the Democrats couldn't have put you on the ticket as I think you would have made the difference that Hillary couldn't.
3
Thank you, Mr Biden for saying what needs to be said. As other comments have said you are preaching to the choir here. Please get the message out to others as much as possible. trump is a disaster that is ruining the reputation of the country around the world. Lack of health care is hurting so many people within the country and causing fear and misery. Fear is on many faces - DACA should be strong and standing.
Please keep writing and talking everyone needs to hear what is going on in the name of their country.
2
I am sickened to see what we have lost in such a short time. I am 73 and not optimistic that we we will recover in my lifetime. But Joe Biden gives me hope that the the innate decency of most Americans will win our country's soul back from the abyss.
3
The accelerated weakness and hypocrisy of America is not because of Trump but rather the other way around. Mr. Biden, as long as you don't recognize this reality you are wasting our time.
2
I wonder what will be the further damage to the US image after President's T speech at the UN next week.
1
Thanks Joe -- this is all well said. But please, in the coming months and years, please stay out of national politics. Please do not run in 2020 -- make room for the younger generation. We're grateful for your service and decency, but it's time for new faces. And voices. So the next time the Times offers you an opinion slot, maybe insist they choose a new one.
I am a conservative with the utmost respect for Vice President Biden and I applaud his message. However; for the record I did not hear President Trump "defend" white supremacy, I heard him denounce civil violence in the favor or in protest of ANY ideology. Yesterday in the NYT, I read an account of Senator Diane Feinstein questioning the credentials of a judicial candidate based on her Catholic faith. We all have a lot of work to do when it comes to listening and treating each other as we wish to be treated.
You lost my loyalty when you came up with a text for VAWA which ignored the reality that men have rights.
I know someone who lived under the threat of a long prison sentence when his girl friend attacked him. He held her hands to prevent her from hitting him, a neighbor saw this through the window and called the cops. The cops arrested HIM despite her protests that he was not at fault. It took a smart lawyer to rescue him from a long prison sentence.
When you, Biden were mulling over VAWA, men's groups tried to see you.. You refused to see them. This is ONE reason I will NEVER vote for a Democrat. (Probably not for a Republican either but for a quite different reason).
Let us hope that treating men like garbage, and putting millions of men in prison is not one of America's values, even if they are YOURS.
Gotta love Joe Biden, but . . .
This somewhat formulaic expression of values includes the seed of the Trump disease.
". . . that has made the United States the greatest nation on earth."
We can't be the greatest unless others are less great. Biden and most commenters complain about the zero sum approach of the Trump administration. Biden's declaration is not as stupid or thuggish as MAGA, but this delusion is part of the problem. We are not the greatest. We are more oligarchy than democracy. We allow our citizens to die rather than providing universal health care. We underfund schools. We invade other sovereign nations with false provocation. We pulled out of the Paris climate change agreement. We refuse to join the International Criminal Court. I could go on.
Our Constitution is elegant. Our democratic ideals in the abstract are noteworthy. But we are quite far from being the greatest nation on earth. These types of patriotic declarations are pure hubris, a quality that better characterizes America in the 21st century.
"American democracy is rooted in the belief that every man, woman and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity. While the United States is far from perfect, we have never given up the struggle to grow closer to the ideals in our founding documents."
".....respect for the rule of Law......."
Mr. Biden, I have a profound respect for you because of your maturity and dignity, but I can not reconcile your actions as a Senator as you wrote the 1990's crime bill, and your writing here.
I believe in the principles set forth in our Constitution assuring us of Freedom, but, you were instrumental in enabling the power hungry bigoted police empire and their "law and Order" machine to turn America into a Police/Prison state, now even more dangerous as the training of Police has taught them to shoot first and lie later.
I'm in my sixties and when I was a youngster the nation was frequently referred to as "The Land of Freedom".
Now you leaders refer to us as "The Land of Laws".
America must have a million laws and no one is forgiven and lives are ruined.
God only has ten laws. He forgives.
Tillerson needs to be reminded of the old adage: You talk the talk, but do you walk the walk? If you can separate your policies from your values, then they aren't really your values.
Refreshing to hear your intellectual and moral "voice" Mr. Vice President. We always need a statesman in the Oval Office--- someone whom our children can respect, someone whom our citizens can admire. Millions of Americans know in their respective hearts and minds that you are that deeply devoted, special person who can relight America's torch of freedom.
1
I wish we would stop the propaganda talk that the USA is the "greatest nation on earth." It is arrogant and used by the left and the right quite often. What does it mean when someone says we are the greatest nation on earth? Does that mean other nations are not great? That we are better than any other country? It is a meaningless macho slogan. Enough already.
1
The U.S. values maximum individual freedom and internal policies defend sexual deviance, abortion, hate speech, religious accommodation, etc. External policies are different. We cannot force China to adhere to the intellectual property laws enacted by the U.S. congress. We cannot force Saudi Arabia to accept Christian churches. Other countries should make their own laws about LGBT rights, taxes, environmental issues, etc.
Neither Vice President Biden nor President Obama significantly improved domestic or international policies. Others will argue that most areas of the federal government got over-regulated and bloated. As for “our democratic values defin[ing] us” this is nothing more than an amalgamation of diversity – some of it is good and some quite bad. It is not a basis for international policy or a model for homogeneous societies and cultures.
1
Where were these 'American core values' when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were A-bombed (under a Democratic President) - a monstrosity of such magnitude, that no other country dared to repeat it?
Or when Korea was cut in half and kept in a perennial split ever since? Did the Koreans ask for it?
How about the overthrow in Iran of its democratically elected leader in a CIA-organised coup?
Ditto in Chile in 1973?
The Vietnam War in its entirety?
Yours are big words Mr. Biden, but have no meaning. Not anymore.
The racial divide is still there, the mass shootings are a daily phenomenon, the income inequality is growing.
And 'American democracy' as a model doesn't exist. Not anymore.
1
No effective argument can truly be presented with all the evidence tilted to one side.
Problem here is that Joe Biden has no core beliefs.
I find it interesting that every criticism leveled can be traced to a failure of the Obama administration. Racial unrest, foreign relations, immigration, etc. If these were not left festering, things would be much better for all.
Had this man run for president, he would be president. He is everything Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are not.
2
Thank you for the pretty speech, Mr. Biden, but the Marshall Plan is history. More recently you have created Al Qaeda, abetted ISIS, encouraged Islamic Extremism and destroyed the Middle East.
As I write, Saudi Arabia has just completed 15,000 bombing missions over Yemen, one-third of them (according to Human Rights Watch and Western observers) specifically targeting civilian areas: France 24 has been honest in reporting U.S., British and French complicity and responsibility for the Saudi atrocities that include the indiscriminate dropping of U.S.-made and U.N.-banned Cluster Bombs on Yemeni civilians.
Action speaks louder than words, Mr. Biden. When are your politicians going to put a stop to U.S. war crimes? You speak of 'respect' for the U.S.. Well, the world lost any trace of 'respect' for your nation when you bombed Iraq instead of Saudi Arabia to avenge 9/11.
Most of the world is neither brainwashed nor stupid. They understand, as do many NYT readers, that the U.S. acts against every value and human right it claims to represent. If my country supports proxies in its own region it is far more excusable than U.S. support for abominable dictatorships located thousands of miles away. And if you stopped supporting those dictatorships Iran's need to protect itself and strengthen missile defences would diminish and the nation could concentrate on sorely needed economic advancement.
The ball's in your court.
1
The danger of starting every such essay from a position of American exceptionalism, and blowing your own trumpet (or what the mooch accused bannon of doing), is that you live in the ideal and not the reality.
The reality of America also includes slavery, racist policing, vast inequality, a plutocratic system deeply corrupted by money, and an institutional bias favouring the rich and always leaning toward war.
America, like all other before it, has been corrupted by its growing power and wealth.
There are plenty worse than America, but there are also plenty of better examples for the world to learn from .
Policy and values should be an inseparable package but that is what patriots believed in America and which made us the leader of the world. Under the fascist regime foisted on us by a hostile foreign power with the collusion of a man who never did a patriotic deed we are in effect an occupied nation with a wide resistance but until next election our system and out policies are being dismantled.
We need patriots like Mr. Biden to remind us who we are and what we still want to be; and to tell those who are holding our government hostage that freedom and prosperity is not a zero sum game and that the assets of our people are not theirs to steal and present to some ruling class as a gift.
Thank you Mr. Biden, and with Trump it is always an "us" against "them" mentality that is damaging and divisive at home as well as abroad. The majority of Americans are resisting his message and are standing by the American values that make this country great, equal rights and freedoms for all Americans. We love and respect our Constitution and what it says as far as the rule of law, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and the freedom of each citizen to have a vote in their government. Trump wants only those who will vote Trump to have a right to vote. He is a great lover of dictatorships.
Trump, Tillerson, and most of his Cabinet are working hard to demolish our democracy from within as they try to create an autocratic rule and suppress the majority who do not want it. We keep sending the message to Trump and his administration that racism, misogyny, voter suppression, and bigotry are not on our agenda.
This administration is the most amoral, corrupt, anti American one ever established, and by fraudulent means, in our history. It represents a challenge that we can all face and overcome because we won't allow a Trump to subvert our values. We do not want a cheat and a liar, but a true patriot who will represent all Americans and not just a small handful of special interest groups of wealthy, white males.
Trump is not a leader of democracy and he tells us this every day by his words and actions. Trump's horrible fascist vision of America is not our vision.
A right-on read. Our country is bought and sold by big money business interests. There is literally nothing we can do about it now. With the stolen supreme court seat firmly in the grasp of right-wing action thinkers, and too many economically ignorant people taking us down the completely wrong path, nothing is likely to change in the forseeable future. Sorry to say but, unless things change soon it will be too late for us to be anything more than become a third-rate country. America's "We The People" promise was put out by greedy capitalists.
The scrappy kid from Scranton perfectly describes the dangers as Trump and conservatives begin dismantling precisely the policies that make America both great and safe
1
So thankful Joe Biden called out this Administration's "values vs. policy" quote from Tillerson. Though that hypocrisy has on numerous occasions shown the USA at its worst, to hear it advocated by the SOS was profoundly disturbing, unacceptable. Go Joe!
1
We start reclaiming America's values by first overturning Citizen's United. Let's get to the root cause of these problems first and stop putting lipstick on a pig. Get special interest money out of Washington politics so politicians can actually represent the people who elect them.
1
Joe, where were you when we needed you? I kept searching for your name on a ballot last November but it was nowhere to be found. I held my nose and voted for Hillary but you were always the guy. Had you been on the ballot our country would still be recognizable.
2
These inspiring words take issue or contrast with far less lofty statements uttered by the Trump administration. Mr. Biden appeals to what he perceives as our common better nature. But many will see his words and sentiment as abstract and impractical. They will not resonate with a large percentage of our population. They are not enough.
Trump's appeal, on the other hand, is to personal selfishness, to tribalism, to a far narrower but perhaps more immediately gratifying vision of a common good. Indeed, Trump's vision has nothing to do with our constitutional principles and ideals.
At root, Trump's tribe consists of himself and his family. His efforts to unite our citizens remain laughingly inept and are usually understood to mean absolute loyalty to him or at least unspoken and unseen acquiescence to his agenda. Everything else, the presidency and its powers, his mandarin coterie and financial enablers and beneficiaries, are means to an exclusively selfish end. He cares nothing for the welfare of our nation and its citizens. Quite apart from the sublime ignorance of history and government he displays daily, and his painfully obvious awkward efforts to appear empathetic, he is simply unable and unwilling to see value in anything or anyone that doesn't serve or contribute to his personal benefit.
Whatever label he chooses or is applied to him, Trump is the product of the general decay of our political structure and years of Republican party rot. Lofty words aren't enough.
91
We LOVE you Joe! I love you because you are a man of integrity whose words and actions agree. You let me share your Amtrak car from Washington years ago and I was extremely grateful. After reading the comments here, I can't help but think that we have somehow really lost our way morally and deep in the heart of the matter. It is obvious that we cannot attain what we profess perfectly, yet this shouldn't mean you eject the American ideal and values associated with it. You keep the ideal and work hard to attain it and protect it, as the Greatest Generation attempted to do. They may have been better stewards of the American ideal because they saw first hand the horrors of other governing philosophies and so recognized the premium of this bold American experiment. Yet, even though we younger generations were recipients of their sacrifices, we haven't the heart to meet the challenges we now face. Our American ideal is being attacked from the outside and from our nation's core heartland My Mom who taught in inner city Buffalo and often would say "what is good practice for my own children, is good for ALL students" In God's eyes they are deserving of the same benefits we all share. IT used to be everyone I knew shared this fundamental belief that all children are deserving of the opportunity to make something of themselves.That was considered the American way, even though it was obvious it wasn't true perfectly. Without worthy goals and ideal, this is where we are.
8
Thank you Joe Biden!!! We need more like you to stand up for American values. If only those in the Republican party would stand up for our democracy and values we might see America move forward rather than back, as is happening right now. The strongest voices, Trump administration, right now are those trying to undermine all that we have gained.
8
Biden and a handful of others are what's left of statesmanship in this country.
Right on. Joe if you had run, you'd have won. If you run, you will win.
11
Ah Joe- we of a certain age can only weep at what they've done to our song of high ideals and hopes on the world stage and at home. They have hijacked our worst attitudes toward one another and accrued power for its own sake, based on a fictitious world where fear itself is at the center. We have long abandoned the government that builds or provides the foundation for the common good-- It's a sad refrain to imagine what might have been- a government for, of, and by the people with a commitment to the future- but Iago is as much a part our human condition as Desdemona and we must be content that there was a voice such as Joe Biden to remind us of what is good.
4
It's a commendable attempt from eminent Mr. Joe Bidden trying mend what looks beyond repair.
Issue is rooted in the legalistic American society. The limits of human rights and rightness are determined by very broad legal system. People have acquired great skill in using, interpreting, and manipulating law. Every conflict is solved according to the letter of the law and this is considered to be the ultimate solution. Nothing more is required. One could still not be right, and it would sound absurd to urge self-restraint . Voluntary self-restraint is almost unheard of: "everybody strives toward further expansion to the extreme limit of the legal frames.
American have achieved the rights of man, but at the cost of sense of responsibility to God and society. All the celebrated technological achievements of progress, including the conquest of outer space, do not redeem its moral poverty.
There is, however, a way Americans to reclaim the greatness. Follow Indian philosophy of Sanatana Dharma which provides the harmonious fulfillment of all aspects of life, namely, the acquisition of wealth and power (artha), fulfillment of desires (kama), and liberation (moksha)
Mark Twain had observed with a remarkable foresight "So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked".
Sorry Joe, but much of that "leading the way" in international diplomacy comes at the end of a gun, or the shock wave of a bomb. Bush and Obama started new wars, but never ended any, and it looks like Trump isn't any different. The fact that you're pushing for more involvement, without specifying the death and destruction that has always come with it, says you can't be trusted either.
"Around the world, other nations follow our lead because they know that America does not simply protect its own interests, but tries to advance the aspirations of all."
Very succinct, refreshingly so. Of course, it is neither strictly nor historically true, but it is true enough and truest in the way America has accepted immigrants from around the world and made them a part of its effort to espouse and put into practice not distinct American rights but universal human rights. America began not with national, racial or ethnic exceptionalism, but with universalism: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." In growing up in America, the son of an immigrant now married to an migrant, I have never felt pride in being just an American citizen but in being a citizen of the world with the good fortune to have been born in America. Trump and his ilk promise nothing but to make me and all of us not "great again" but less, at our own and our planet's peril.
3
Dear Vice President Biden,
If our democratic institutions were strong, they wouldn't be threatened by populist criticism and attacks. What has weakened them is a reckless foreign policy, dating back to the George W. Bush administration, that embroiled our nation in a needless ongoing war. Additionally, our democratic institutions have been threatened by the absence of a domestic policy that supports middle class jobs, incomes, and educational aspirations. Further contributing to our weakened democratic institutions is a "pay to play" election process that cynically calls bribes campaign contributions. Let us also not forget role that the policy of gerry mandering plays in undermining voter confidence in the legitimacy of our electoral process. Let me not fail to mention a dysfunctional congress that has failed for at least a generation to reform our immigration policy, maintain our nation's infrastructure, enact a fair system of taxation, and control our national debt. Mr. Vice President, the bed was already burning when this administration lay down upon it. Our values are plain for all to see. They need only look at our behavior.
2
Sorry Joe, but I don't think you understand American democratic values.
American democratic values are rooted in the beliefs that all men are CREATED equal and that they enjoy EQUAL PROTECTION under the law. American democratic values do NOT guarantee EQUAL OUTCOMES.
This fundamental truth is the engine that drives our nation forward and distinguishes us from the failures of socialism and communism that some Democrats like to wrap in an illusion of idealism and statism.
Sen Biden nowhere said that American democratic values guarantee equal outcomes. You did a lot of reading-in there. Maybe start over and read what he ACTUALLY wrote.
Fine, BC. But then don't complain about any "naked public square," devoid of anything but cold market merit, and don't you dare complain when a person of color takes a job you wanted.
This is not about notional Trotskyism, for god's flipping sake. Can you at least acknowledge that there's SOME ability to put language on the ball without pitching out of the zone, SOME headroom between us being the lowest-taxed industrialized nation and us being Finland but with higher taxes?
Let the extremists try their extremism. In this country, they will fail. But don't shoot the center dead again before it's even had a chance to breathe.
It would be hard to dispute what Mr. Biden says. That's why
Op-Ed pieces by politicians are so boring. He could have gone
further to say that the U.S. will continue to be the headlights
of history whether our president wants us to or not. This is because
Americans, however vaguely, understand that our nation was the
first one to have been created as an act of human will when that
whole idea was brand new. Up until then, governance was tangled up
with religion and ethnic identity, itself the outcome of some
tribal past comprehended only dimly. Therefore, collectively we
understand better than anybody else how history is a sometimes
lurching process of convergence toward the theoretical ideals
spelled out in our founding documents.
Mr. Biden, I appreciate your inspiring words about how the US should be an example of democratic principles for the world. I know that President Obama tried to do the best he could under trying circumstances to be a positive force wherever he went. The truth is that the Untied States, for all of its potential, has many deep troubles to overcome before we can ever hope to be an example to other nations. The racism in this country is our most challenging issue. It keeps millions of people in poverty, ill health, and fear of the police. It keeps them from enjoying the full benefits of our society. There are other prejudices as well: religious, ethnic, and class, to name a few. In this supposedly enlightened age, women have to struggle for equality with men. And there is the sorry fact that our country uses most of the worlds resources; materialism is a crippling disease here that inflicts suffering among the poor and the middle class. We need to learn to live more simply and sustainably, a necessary change that will be extremely hard for most people.
That's why we need leaders with a clear vision to lead us into a realistic future, a place where our country can be an example to others. Right now, we don't want to see it, because we're proud, but we are taking more than our fair share, and we're paying lip service to regimes that oppress others. We are better than this; we can be.
2
I remember when Mr Biden was considered a bit of a wild card. We knew nothing of that term until now and I miss the last administration deeply. America went through some very difficult times and I feel the way many do in that justice was not served on those who caused millions to loose their place in line. Special interest groups have hijacked this nation and we continue to suffer from decisions such as Citizen United.
I do not know how to make America feel like a place that I love but I do know that what is happening now is not the way forward for this country. I often wonder if it can be reclaimed at this point.
3
Trump and his supporters do not share the values you express. Equal rights?
And from their behavior, it would appear that many members of Congress do not share them either. I am hard pressed to come up with what Trump might do to turn them against him. It is surely a bleak period in our history.
1
Spot on Joe! This is the higher ground that Trump will never tread upon. He doesn't even know which direction is up hill. Trump will not make America great again. He will lead us into the swamp he said he would drain.
12
Thank you, Joe Biden!
Your statements reflect why I still vote and what the best of America has always meant to me
Hard to eat freedom. Dignity without a roof over one's head? Yeah, no. The world has moved on from the labor - capital model. We need government now more than ever. Soon we'll supply more * stuff * via automation than the (jobless) humans can afford to buy. How about planning for that day? Divisions serve to keep money flowing untaxed to the owners of automation. Whether divisions of race, religion, gender, and whether couched as diversity or the various isms, left or right. Don't tell me about white nationalism without telling me about the role of affirmative action and thinking by tribes in this mutual national distraction from the impending paradigm shift and our huge wealth inequality.
3
Uncle Joe, your party is goners unless they can decide what they're for besides just that they hate lots of people that used to repreSENT America.
With Trump's values and the fact that Americans voted for him, I no longer have faith that we are a great country. With Congress being so divided, it has ultimately divided ALL Americans. With the lack of healthcare and the failure of our politicians to correct it, it has left Americans bankrupt, sick and ignored. With the resurgence of hate groups, we have digressed and not progressed in civil leadership. With the propaganda that the media creates, not the truths, no one can be trusted, believed ethical. Though I applaud Biden's optimism, I as an aging American see and feel the frustrations that are taking us downhill fast. And I have little control even when voting; lack of choice, electoral college etc. I am now against our two party system as it has proven to stifle making America a great country. And Trump's campaign of making it great again conned those that voted for him, thus reiterating the lies, deceit of our leaders, and our corporations. And those that do wrong and con consumers are no longer held accountable. Americans are being ignored more than ever. Sorry for my pessimism but this is how I feel. It is truly a very frustrating time in American history and I wonder if there is hope.
8
Sigh. Hearing Joe Biden's voice in my head makes my heart hurt. The eloquence, the love of country, the understandable language...I so miss a politician that genuinely cares about this country. Come back Joe! I'm begging you! Come back!!
12
Biden is one of a handful of what's left of statesmen in this country.
In addition to my first comment, which I hope will be printed before this one, I will add this: America has many values. Joe Biden doesn't mention them all, or not adequately.
The values he adumbrates: "inclusivity, tolerance, diversity, respect for the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of the press" stand side-by-side notably with personal liberty including in regard to economic rights. That was a key element of the independence project. (The freedom, say, to set up a chain of bodega-style restaurants in NYC without incurring charges of "cultural insensitivity"...).
The omission of personal liberty tells mightily about the parti pris of this almost life-long (in career terms) politician. While he mentions at the outset "equal rights to freedom and dignity", the spanner in the works is that dignity, which can mean almost anything, can be used to cut down the basic meaning of freedom.
The Constitution and Bill of Rights set out the relevant framework, not the shining oratory of this sculpted article.
@gerald:
Oh, please, the canard of "freedom" meaning the right to do anything you want without fear of consequences is the drivel of the Ayn Rand brigade, where regulation for example designed to protect our economy from the rampages of greed or our environment are a 'burden to freedom', where religious bigots want the right to use the law to discriminate against those they don't like (Religious liberty laws), or the white supremacists and neo Nazi's that Trump stood up for complaining that they are targets of ridicule and venom and what it boils down to is "I want the freedom to do as I choose, and if people don't like it, they should keep their mouths shut". Rand Pail not long ago espoused something similar about the civil rights laws that ended Jim Crow, he basically said that if the whites down south wanted to segregate blacks, that was their freedom to do so, and if it violated the freedom of blacks, well, too bad..or if religious people want to use their religion as a basis to make certain kinds of sex illegal, or refuse to serve someone, well, that is okay. The freedom the right (and some of the left) wants, to be able to do as they wish without consequences, is denying the freedom of others to respond to what they say or do, or denying the law the right to regulate that which harms others.
I don't think he "omitted" freedom: that was the first value that he mentioned, in the second sentence of his piece: "American democracy is rooted in the belief that every man, woman and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity." He then also mentions that we should be "building from a narrative of freedom and democracy," and we should "speak out when nations violate their citizens' rights." I think he pretty much emphasized support for freedom and liberty throughout.
I don't see--and you don't explain--how the right to dignity "cuts down" on the meaning of freedom. If anything, it expands it.
Not personally in favor of a "Joe for President" campaign, but this is a much-needed voice right now, as we are veering very dangerously toward a totalitarian future that will eliminate our personal freedoms. Already we see a President who is very willing to restrict freedom of the press and freedom of speech, who advocates criminal prosecutions of political adversaries, who has tried to limit the independence of the prosecutorial function, and who demeans an independent judiciary. This is not ok, and I believe we need a return to respect for our core values as a nation.
I'm pretty sure Biden knows that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights describe our personal liberties. The "shining oratory of this sculpted article" is a breath of fresh air from the childish sentence fragment tweets doled out daily by the current occupant of our White House.
Bravo Mr Biden! (as your friendly neighbour may I call you "Joe"?), I applaud your speaking up so effectively. We sorely miss the civility and good sense of your previous administration. Please continue, with strength.
Trivial caveat: delete the last three words, which effectively abnegate your theme. "Great", yes. But right now, "greatest" is questionable; not one national measure of civil life exists that could persuade me to move there from here. Just sayin'.
4
Fine reminder of who we should be. But as long as we have leaders who keep repeating the tired boast that "America is the greatest nation on earth," we will not advance as a mature country. This chest-thumping does nothing but alienate our world neighbors and make us look like schoolyard braggarts. It recalls the Colonel Blimps who bellowed that Britain was still "the greatest empire on earth," even as that empire rapidly declined.
7
Okay Mr. Biden, I fully agree with everything you have said here. Now please use your 'position' to work here at home. American citizens need you to work on behalf of our right to vote NOW. You know how things work, you know people and need to start right now pushing back on the Trump/Kobach assault on the right to vote.
Those two miscreants are ramping up the GOP playbook with the aim of making sure millions can not vote in the coming elections. Kobach will use his weaponized Crosscheck computer program to make sure as many non GOP votes can not be cast as he possibly can. And Trump could care less and has not done anything to guard against voter roll hacking or voter machine hacking.
We need someone of your stature and influence to start the resistance to these UnAmerican tactics. The courts are being stacked against us as well.
Please, please do something NOW. Thank you.
2
Dear Joe, Dig deeper.
The Republicans you discuss preceded Goldwater. The Democrats you address were New Dealers...like Bernie Sanders. Shake out all the cobwebs and look again. The Clinton Democrats bound to Corporate government and the Reagan Republicans just don't like democracy at all. So who do we trust, who can we believe in? Who will preserve our ideals?
Look back a few years to Lyndon Johnson and answer this question: who would Johnson support? Sanders or Clinton?
Your candidacy is welcomed, because you are pure of heart, the real deal, the champion of the working man. Please take the time to re-examine what you and Obama accomplished and what America needs to re-assume our leadership: college for all qualified students, infrastructure revolution, a public option for health care, real gender equity, a foreign policy that rejects tyrants and religious fanaticism and demands human rights for all. None of this is foreign to Joe Biden and it is doable in light of the darkness that Trump has inflicted on our country. God bless you Joe.
5
I like Joe Biden - he's honest, authentic, empathetic ... and often gets his historical facts ... misplaced. I always chuckle when people talk about "American values" and the "ideals of our founders." The facts are that our nation was conceived in and maintained by violence (towards Red, Brown, Yellow, Black and "foreign" people), and only became a nation when those exalted founders retained the idea that it was appropriate to own other human beings in the same manner as one could own a horse and wagon. The bloody bill came due 85 years later. Despite the results of the Civil War and all the subsequent rhetorical flourishes, America has never really acted as if it truly believed "that every man, woman, and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity."
4
@jason:
Biden doesn't gloss over that, he says that America has not always lived up to those standards, and isn't perfect. Among other things, while our treatment of Native Americans and blacks and non whites and Jews is marred by horrible events that rival the holocaust, Biden is right that the founders created a structure to change things when there were problems. Because we have a judiciary the excesses of the legislature can be overturned; because we have a written bill of rights (unlike the implied one in the UK), we have mechanisms to change things. The right worshipping the founders as if they were Moses on the mount is mirrored on the left by "hah, the US is so great, look at the terrible things that happen". Both forget that they were human, not gods, and often for example mythologizes other groups, like Native Americans or other groups around the world, when their history is checkered with horrors like slavery and mass murder and genocide. While it by no means is perfect, the United States, unlike many other countries, established itself as a place where diverse people live, if imperfectly, and that trust, while not perfect, not without bumps, worked without it needing to be Yugoslavia, warring factions held together by a brutal dictator.
Thanks to Mr. Biden for his eloquent defense of the core values of a democratic republic. However, before the United States can heal itself of the current hateful divisions cheaply sold as political options, it should recognize its role in suppressing in other nations the very values it holds so dear at home. To give an example from my country´s history: In 1952, when Fulgencio Batista overthrew elected President Carlos Prío, Batista was promptly recognized by the United States. Three weeks after the coup, he was shown beaming in front of a Cuban flag on the cover of “Time” magazine. Batista censored the press, tortured and murdered any opposition, and pocketed millions from public funds. The US made a feeble attempt to reign in a “distasteful” dictator ninety miles from its shores only when it was obvious that his dictatorship was at an end, too late to prevent the Revolution of 1959, which soon led to the censoring of the press and the silencing of the opposition, among other notorious violations of democratic values. The role of the United States in Cuba and other Latin American countries is hardly the playbook of a democracy eager to share its values across the world. Let us cherish the values defended by Mr. Biden, but separating national myths from historical facts should be part of our discussion
2
Rhetoric aside, there is no evidence that America has been the paragon of virtue, certainly not since WWII and the Marshall Plan. It would be good to have our behavior match our rhetoric.
5
Mr. Biden's "democratic values" are straight out of the 1960's Kennedy playbook. Admirable, to be sure.
They are, regrettably, completely at odds with the reality that most Americans live.
Since the Reagan presidency, America gave the green light to its nascent moneyed class who then shipped millions of living wage manufacturing jobs to slave wage labor countries so they could pocket the labor cost savings. They used some of their new found wealth to create a brand new citizen in Washington, DC. The lobbyist. Throw in some "donations" to political campaigns and the world was their oyster.
Only in America are citizens not provided access to health care. Only in America have private colleges now become the exclusive right of the wealthy. Only in America do the wealthy and the companies they own and run pay very limited taxes.
It might not fit in to Mr. Biden's romantic notions of American "values," but these are the real values of America today. Ones that Donald Trump adequately displays. OK, so his misogyny and racism aren't as politely just below the surface as we'd like them to be, but he was elected because his "values" rang true for many.
The Washington bubble that Mr. Biden has lived in for decades hasn't turned his head so much as insulated him from what's really happening in the country. His not "gettingitness" was wonderfully mirrored by Secretary Clinton in her recent interviews about her upcoming book.
And they wonder how Trump got elected.
4
Yes all very nice. Looks like most commenters here don't really know who Joe Biden really is. That to me is the greatest conjuring trick that the neoliberals have managed to pull off. They have all worked together very hard to ship middle class prosperity to every other third world nation leaving behind wrack and ruin. To compensate for this they have sung hallelujahs towards every form of identity politics they can. Do not forget that Biden as Chair of the Judiciary Committee along with Patrick Leahy was responsible for rail roading Anita Hill. He also was totally absent from every labor struggle over trade pacts like NAFTA, CAFTA etc. He comes out now suddenly in support of the Dreamers? How about spending a little time supporting our own kids for whom the American dream no longer exists even though they live here? Many of them with Master's and Bachelor degrees and working as Waiters and Waitresses?
2
@paul art:
Biden does speak to our own children, he has passionately spoken about the working class and that even educated people are having trouble finding meaningful work. As compared to Hillary Clinton, who came up with all these talking points but meanwhile was aligned with the silicon valley techno elite who are just as bad as the Koch brothers (without the social baggage or the science deniability), he is genuine. And as compared to the moron in chief we have and his pretend populism ("I'm going to bring back jobs, I am going to give America back to Americans"..while surrounded with Mnuchin and Cohen and the rest of the Goldman Sachs cabal, real populists there). Biden is not a radical, but quite frankly a radical at this point would be poison, they would be a liberal version of Donald Trump, Biden has the heart (along with his tendency to put his foot in his mouth) but also has the experience to know how to get things done. He isn't perfect, but compared to what is out there, especially if (God help us) Hillary crawls out to run again in 2020, he at least has a chance of getting elected.
Kamala Harris. Can the NYTimes please present some new progressive faces? We all love Biden, that is a given, but not to lead our country. The democratic party is at a crossroads at the moment.
We need to blend the old values with progressive ideas. Medicare is an old program, make it progressive, move forward. Employers would love to
not worry about health care, citizens would love not to worry about health care. Just do it.
And while you are thinking about a new face, Kalama Harris is not just a pretty face, she is the new face of the democratic party.
2
If you want a more engaged citizenry, make voting and public service mandatory activities.
While I applaud Mr Biden's efforts to remind his fellow citizens what America should be, his last sentence that America is the greatest nation on earth is just silly. America elected a know-nothing blowhard last November who may well trigger a nuclear confrontation. It is tempting to rest the case there. However, let's tackle the assertion. America may be powerful, politically and monetarily but the Greatest Nation? In what respect? Do Americans have better lives? They don't live as long as people do in most other western nations. Many Americans have no or only limited access to health care. America has a lower rate of education and higher crime rate than in many European nations, has a growing gap between rich and poor, has a higher reliance on energy and wastes more natural ressources such as water, per capita than Europe. America has embarked on some dubiously justified aggressions against foreign nations employing torture in the process. Yet many Americans, including well educated and informed Americans insist it is the greatest nation on earth. Nonsense. There is no greatest nation on earth. Time to abandon the myth and tackle the problems America faces with more humility. There are many things to admire in America, where I had the privilege to live for 8 years just as there are things to admire in the nation where I have the privilege to live now. Every nation should strive for greatness in meaningful ways, one of which is to ensure the welfare of its residents.
4
I agree with this comment. I have traveled and lived in over 40 countries and find it insulting and untrue that the U.S. haughtily bestows upon itself the title of "greatest." There are countless other countries where the standard of living, the well-being of its citizens, healthcare, the system of education, etc. are just as admirable if not more so than those of the U.S. People in nations like Uruguay, Costa Rica, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Portugal do not dwell on being number one especially in military might and over-the-top consumerism. They just enjoy life.
1
The graphic accompanying this piece is brilliant. It makes me weep.
Here, faced with a politician with real ideals and a vision for what America has aspired to and needs to aspire to be, "The Art of the Deal" stands out as just what it is--nothing but realpolitik--at its best it's realpolitik, nothing more. At its worst, it's frightening, and it is at its worst most of the time. Thanks, Joe, for shedding light on Trump. I'm not as scared now.
A well written reminder from Mr. Biden but I am sorry to say it falls on far too many deaf ears. The Republican segment of America is not interested in perpetuating democracy. Otherwise we wouldn't be fighting over taking care of all Americans just for starters.
I realize I am being idealistic but why shouldn't I? I was raised that way and I want to see it continue.
1
I have the utmost respect for Joe Biden. Had his party not veered so far off track, deserting their core constituents, Biden should have been their nomination, even though Biden had personal issues about running. With that said, it was during Obama's tenure, right or wrong, we turned in our worlds policemen's badge. Our adversaries especially Russia, and China took notice and advanced their agenda un deterred. Muslim Terrorist organizations also made great strides, knowing we would observe not get involved. Bush made a grave mistake invading Iraq, Obama watched as the Middle East re-organized into so called religious conflicting objectives which equals choosing whig terror groups to support. I would agree to Biden's point we have no coherent foreign policy, nor did we under Clinton, or Kerry.
1
An eloquent statesman - how refreshing.
I'm a Democrat and find the statement following statement utterly delirious, "American democracy is rooted in the belief that every man, woman and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity".
American Democracy, did not include all those poor, bare-footed soldiers, who fought under slave-owner George Washington, who founded our country granting the right to vote to white, male landowners.
@david:
The belief was always there, if the practice was not, and Biden mentions that, he says we don't always live up to our standards. The same sentiment that gave the right to vote to white, male landowners (which was not a good thing) also gave rise to the checks and balances we have, including the judiciary, that has helped lessen 'mob rule', the majority oppressing the minority, even if it takes a long time and is not perfect. More importantly, what you and others who want to pick apart history miss is that the US was the progenitor of what other countries later adopted, we were the first country that attempted a system that allowed the population to choose their rulers, the English Parliament of the time was not democratic (full of nobility) and they still relied on the King to rule. Those words were not perfect, we have a history of oppression, of denying rights (Jim Crow, Native Americans, women, gays, Jews, blacks, all have experienced it) but we also had a system that allowed those oppressions and variations from that belief to be overcome. Our country is not perfect, and other countries have things that they in some ways live out much better than the US (Canada comes to mind, though it has its dark points, too, for example they don't have the equivalent of the first amendment), but also keep in mind the US was the progenitor for the rights you see in other countries.
Mr. Trump is not a leader himself and does not exemplify the values that Mr. Biden claims the U.S. must demonstrate. Yesterday, Tim Scott, senator from South Carolina went to the White House to explain U.S. history to the president. Then the White House referred to the Senator as Tom Scott.
How can a man who does not have a basic grasp of our American identity lead us and draw respect and camaraderie from our allies?? Mr. Trump does not have a bedrock of knowledge and conviction on which to build and so he follows rather than leading. He follows whomever has the most compelling argument. The argument he finds most compelling must be, for a man with no foundation on which to judge the argument, a judgment instead based on emotion. So here I am, waiting for the other shoe to drop, both domestically and in foreign affairs.
By the way, what was the White House response to the equifax breach, which to my naive brain appears like a nucleation point for a recession?
So the true America is a liberal Democracy?
Thanks for letting me know - I thought the founders structured America as a Republic, with most power left to the states. In fact,, they left a hint right there in the name: The United STATES of America.
The problem is Joe, there is no singular American value, but a set of contradictory principles that we each uniquely interpret.
Who is more American - a President that refuses to enforce dysfunctional immigration laws, or a President that coldly vows to enforce the law Congress writes after taking his own party to task by giving them six month to change our dysfuntional laws? One may be intolerant while the other actively undermines the rule of law. Both interpretations simultaniously exemplify and blemish American Values.
I am in no way defending that Trump values are American, but the Democrates continue to alienate me as well, by being intolerant of any interpration of American Values that isn't their values. I watched the 100 year old company I work for invert by renouncing our US citizenship to save on their tax bill under Democratic values. I watch our jobs go to India and a very protectionist China under global liberalism. While I didn't vote for Trump, I won't apologize for feeling that a dose of America first has been long over due, and that liberalism has gone too far. qq qq
2
Please allow me to correct you on some things. First, we tried the whole Republic thing with most of the power left to the states; that was the Articles of Confederation, and nearly led to the dissolution of the nation. The current Constitution defines where the power lies very very clearly when it states in Article VI that the Constitution and all laws derived therein are to be the supreme law of the land. This means that no matter what law a state may have, if the federal government passes a law overriding it, the state's law is nullified. There is no nullification by the states towards federal law. (Sorry you State's Rights people - that's just the way it is) The United States is a Representational Democracy (stated right there in the Federalist Papers by Madison himself). Similarly, we live in a Living State, which means that things change over time. This was understood when the Judicial Branch was set up the way it was. We also live in a federated nation, so states which botch themselves can be bailed out by the wealthier states. A republic would not have this, especially if the power resided in the states. By making the statement that the U.S. is a republic, you (and others) are making the statement that the most powerful should not only be more in charge than the weakest, but they should receive the bulk of rewards as well. Read Plato's 'Republic' for a clearer idea. Better, study the Roman Republic. I think we can aspire to better than that.
Thank you for taking Secy Tillerson to task. He is dead wrong to suggest that there is a "difference between policy and values;” our policies embody our values. If our policies reflect values other than those we publicly espouse, then that public statement is a lie ... and the world sees that and knows that the US cannot be trusted. So long as those in control "cast global affairs as a zero-sum competition — for the United States to succeed, others must lose," those "others" see and know that the US cannot be trusted. Our country's stature in the world has always rested on trust; this administration is squandering that trust. (This could have been avoided. You should have run for the presidency, sir.)
Yes ... and the values need to go beyond those Mr. Biden mentioned in order to be truly relevant in our times.
He fails to mention issues of care for the planet and all of its species -- climate change is real and it is important to have pollution free natural resources, including parks and other places to connect with them. If we don't take care of Mother Earth and our bodies, where are we going to live?
Also overlooked are a just and equitable income and wealth distribution and ample opportunity for advancement -- both of which provide a sound foundation for the economy and its growth.
Perhaps most importantly, he fails to include the spiritual dimension -- a call to reconnect with our essential nature in compassionate, ethical, and moral ways. We need to transcend materialistic consumerism if we have a hope for a future at all.
Life has evolved since the founders established this country... and our citizens need to incorporate a more modern consciousness if we are to survive and thrive.
6
Thank you Mr. Biden for this piece. Hopefully it is just a starting point for you and the good citizens of this country.
If you are reading this, I challenge you to be the unifying force in the tangled mess of bickering currents and threads that is currently the Democratic Party. You write that "The international community still needs a strong, democratic America leading the way." You can take the lead on this. You have the credentials, the street smarts, and the heart.
9
Mr Biden, Progress has always come from the political left. Until we get the Republicans and Conservative Democrats back in their cellar, little good can happen.
9
By Conservative Democrats, do you mean folks like Joe Biden?
Biden is not arguing for the left. He is arguing for establishment "centrist" policy. Meanwhile establishment centrist policy created Trump and is weakening our country.
Until the Democrats put all of these ideals before their desire to be elected, they will not get elected.
The fact that those who initiated and perpetrated the unjust, criminal Iraq and Afghanistan wars have not been prosecuted in our courts demonstrates that "America's Values" do not include the application of law to the most culpable members of our political class.
4
Yes and Biden voted for the Iraq War resolution. And the Obama administration let the Bush administration off the hook for its war crimes.
1
Please tell me once more, what is a "real" American.
I am 90 years old, my Mother and Father and one (1) Grandmother
were born in the USA. Am I a "real" American?
4
Biden is talking about American VALUES, not about what defines citizenship.
Those values are the results of a lot of political debates and choices, made first by our Founding Fathers and then all subsequent generations.
You can certainly be a US citizen and never having studied history, and as a consequence ignore the values that founded this country. That doesn't make YOU less "American", it simply makes you a bit more ignorant - and most of the time, that ignorance isn't even your fault, but rather the result of the lack of equal access to information.
Depends. Do you vote Democrat or Republican?
Thank you, Joe, for delivering eloquence and wisdom on America's place in the world.
What is so terribly ironic about Trump, and white nationalism in general, is that the world responds very positively to American leadership. They need us. So when we display global leadership, empowered by our democratic values, America actually becomes greater and more powerful.
11
Yes Trump gives aid and comfort to our enemies, Nazis and the confederacy, and material support to terrorists, the KKK.
But Biden is trying to imply that the opposite of Trump is the establishment Washington/media "center" run by, for , and of global corporations.
Obama's Homeland security coordinated the national attack on Occupy Wall Street. and they coordinated the attack on indigenous Water Protectors at Standing Rock. The Clinton Administration made possible the mass incarceration of millions of black and brown non violent drug offenders.
Our politicians talk a lot about freedom, but in the end it is usually the freedom of the rich to manipulate markets and buy politicians.
The Trans Pacific Partnership was a massive power grab by the global corporations. But Biden implies that anyone who opposes it must be a Trump supporter.
Trump is not the opposite of the global oligarchy. He is of the global oligarchy, and only uses "populism" to advance the agenda of the super rich, for his own benefit.
The opposite of Trump is not the fake corporate center. The opposite of Trump are not those that make excuses for mass theft. The opposite of Trump is the left.
Those of us that fight the global take over of the economy and governments by the global billionaires, who fight systemic police repression of dissent, who fight for government safety nets, who fight for fair trade and regulated markets, who fight for repressed Peoples and fight for the earth, are the opposite of Trump.
All very true. But remember there were some very real problems that were ignored by both parties that Trump exploited to get elected. Economists will tell you globalization has winners and losers, but that overall it is better for society as a whole. The problem is the benefits tend to be spread out (everyone can buy a toaster for $10 instead of $15), and are frequently less than life-changing. The costs, on the other hand, tend to be concentrated and devastating to those who lose their jobs or see their salaries shrink to poverty level. And these folks aren't likely to be sympathetic to the argument that they should be willing to sacrifice their own economic well-being so someone in a Third World country can have an opportunity to do their job for 10% of the cost.
And when they complain, they are told that's just the price of progress. They should be willing to be the grown-ups and take one for the team, since they are so fortunate to live in a wealthy country, after all. So when someone like Trump comes along telling them he'll bring back their good jobs, is it any surprise they'd take a chance that he might be telling the truth, since neither Clinton nor any of the GOP candidates Trump defeated were even giving lip service to the idea? Was he lying? Of course. But what more did they have to lose?
9
I see your point, but think you have something backwards.
The benefits are concentrated. We have seen a massive shift in wealth to the global .01%, from almost everyone else. They have seen their share of income and wealth skyrocket. We have concentrated half of the world's wealth in a few thousand people.
Most of the rest of us are losing more than we gain.
1
Good points. You've summarized the single most important reason why Trump won. It wasn't racism, it wasn't bigotry. Too many democrats don't get it.
Yes, that's true. There is a certain percentage of the population and certain industries that have profited tremendously. I work for an airline myself, and overall I'm sure we've made more money due to globalization. But now we're being hit with competition from airlines (Etihad, Emirates, Qatar) that are being subsidized by their governments, so they can sell cheap seats at a loss to grab market share. And our government's response has been almost non-existent. I'm not sure if that's due to bribery (campaign contributions) or a general unwillingness to rock to the diplomatic boat, since we want to continue to have access to ports and airbases in their countries. But if it goes on, we will eventually get the same result our steel industries got trying to compete with subsidized steel from China.
I don't disagree with Mr. Biden, however, all of this works in a democracy, and at the moment we are an illusion of a democracy. Until the right to vote is given to all citizens, until the congressional district gerrymandering is corrected by independent rules rather than political voices, until sexual and racial equality is achieved in our representative government, all of this is an illusion.
22
I agree with what you are saying. The following questions are offered
only in the spirit of collegiality and with the assumption that we are genuinely stuck at the moment around the questions of who we want to be with one another and then, in turn, who we want to be in the world outside of our borders?
What single area would you focus on first? Why is that the priority over others? Can it be accomplished without adding to the taxload.? What is the most practical first step you can offer?
Thank you.
Mr. Biden writes movingly that our democracy is rooted in the equal rights to freedom and dignity in our founding documents, and makes an eloquent case for America's imperative to live up to these lofty ideals.
Unfortunately, it's very difficult for people to find unity in ideals. Most find it through shared habits, customs, language and religion. America’s dynamism and creativity, however, has always come from how odd it is that we have so many different ways of life always bumping up against and interacting with one another.
Trump’s victory demonstrated that for many Americans, this mixing and mashing, for reasons I don't claim to fully understand, changed from being perceived as a very good thing to seeming a very bad thing.
We Democrats have to hold dear to lofty principles, but politically speaking, we need to do what Mr. Biden only flicks at here—emphasize the way American mixing and diversity fuel our energetic, vibrant and dynamic society. If we talk about lofty principles all the time, we're doomed to live with Trump and his populists ruling the roost for years to come.
3
It's high time Democrats accept the fact that we do not share the same values as Republicans. We desire freedom from oppression, believe in the right to actualize our individual concepts of the Good, have faith in the ability of scientific research to help overcome the obstacles nature puts before us, and believe that arts and social sciences help us understand and interpret the larger world around us.
Contrast this with Republicans, who believe all relevant wisdom is contained in a single, ancient book; that their version of the good should be universalized and forced on others; who deny that objective scientific research can be trusted; and who want to use military power to dominate the larger world around us.
Our nation is not homogenous. Rather, there are humanist intellectuals, theological authoritarians, and a remainder that is increasingly choosing sides. In the days of a common existential threat, we could conceivably get along; but in a shrinking world where tolerance is preferable to guns, what divides us is clearly greater than any unifying, common values.
These differences are irreconcilable. It's time we govern accordingly, even if that means having different governments and different borders. It's time for #bluestatesecession
6
Mr. Biden makes one comment at the end of his article where he says "you cannot define Americans by what they look like, where they come from, whom they love or how they worship. Only our democratic values define us." Americans Need all four of the above if they are to have Access to shared experience which is not algorhythm or computer-driven. Experience is first of all of the heart, whether it beats for one or for many. He should know this having been awarded the highest medal in the land.
1
One of the best articles written to date. We need this type of moral strength as well as military strength. Keep it up Joe.
4
I'm grateful for VP Biden's (and his boss's)l leadership, and am deeply dissatisfied with what we have now. However, what is missing here is a discussion of justice. For reasons withheld from most of us, there has been no justice for those of us who were ruined in the depression of '08. Eric Holder worked for you, Mr. Biden, but he sure didn't work for us when it came to prosecuting Wall Street banisters. As they say, if ;you want peace, work for justice. I want peace. An unjust America is no example for a troubled world.
9
Mr. Biden expresses, very smoothly, America's prime value as collectivism, the belief that everyone should enjoy the same level of Thomas Jefferson's "life, liberty, and happiness." For people to have this in the real world, where people are not the same and do not all achieve the same, some must be taken from those who have achieved more and given to those who have achieved less. Since not all people are willing enough to give, some must be taken from them. That is the government's job. It must be big enough and powerful enough to do it. Under Mr. Biden and his boss the last eight years, that government grew from taking 17% of our GDP to run itself, our level for the entire life of our republic except in wartime, to the 25% it is taking now.
And Mr. Biden is wrong. Jefferson didn't say "liberty;" he said "the pursuit of liberty." America's prime value is equality of opportunity, not equality of result.
That made us the freest and most powerful nation the world has ever seen. That made us the envy of the world. That made us rich enough to care for those among us who were not clever, diligent, or lucky enough to succeed.
That is the value that progressivism has replaced. That is the value that progressives fear and hate so much they try to silence those who still advocate it, labeling them with any untrue label.
That is America.
10
"America's prime value is equality of opportunity, not equality of result." I agree with this but do not agree that progressives don't believe in this also. It's true that progressives want to put in place a "floor" below which no one should fall, but they do not believe in equality of outcomes. Things like free college and basic health insurance are part of providing equality of opportunity.
5
"Jefferson didn't say 'liberty;'he said 'the pursuit of liberty.'"
Let's revisit the Declaration of Independence, shall we?
"...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness ..."
And yes, as others have noted, democrats (albeit not all of them) and progressives have focused on the equality of opportunity for many decades. You're mistaking progressivism for the classic ideals of communism and socialism as expounded by Marx and Lenin. There's a huge difference between the form and the latter.
What do you think he was speaking of but equal opportunity? It is self evident that outcomes are not equal. The public school system now under attack throughout this nation is a good example. Not every student succeeds. But to support it we must take more from some to give others an equal opportunity for an education. Transit, crime and fire protection, safe drinking water, and a myriad of other services necessitate taking from the more well off and providing opportunity for others. All of this seems self evident. And was precisely what President Obama was speaking of when he claimed no one achieved solely on his own. So much of what conservatives decry as government overreach is simply an attempt to provide the equality of opportunity you claim to value.
Equal rights to freedom and dignity becomes nearly impossible with the amount of money that currently taints and corrupts our political system.
10
Many readers point out below that part of America isn't and has never been about the values that Joe Biden first of all incarnates as a person and politician, and secondly sums up in such a simple yet eloquent way here.
You could answer that that is true, but that values are IDEALS which give a direction to our everyday struggles, rather than denying the necessity of those struggles.
Some people below however seem to object that the problem we're facing today is that 30% of the country doesn't even share those ideals. And that's where I disagree.
Each time I talk to Trump supporters, I meet people who without any doubt are "very fine people", who only want the best for this country and its citizens. The debate starts when we leave intentions behind for a moment and try to see how to define those values, and how to translate them into concrete policies and laws.
That's when time and again, it becomes obvious how utterly brainwashed these people are. There's no other word for it ("and I mean this literally", Biden would without any doubt add here ... ). Whether it's climate change, Obamacare, Obama's personal history, you name it, what they take for proven facts has indeed been spread by the GOP and right-wing media for years, BUT also been debunked for years already.
That's how they voted for Trump, who merely took over all those lies in the most brutal and unapologetic way, and now "trust" him no matter what he does.
Equal access to the truth is today's struggle ...
31
As a Canadian looking down on the Trump presidency, Mr. Biden's comments come as a reassuring message that, despite the headlines and daily news, a rational America still exists. The void left in the world by a retreating United States will be filled, but in a way that darkens our planet. Domestically, immigration is the reason North America exists. We should look at this as a reason to celebrate our achievements on this continent and realize that we have created something that people from around the world want to be a part of. Hope is an essential motivator for all of us and without a caring America, some of that is lost.
15
Thank you. Many of us Americans actually do live by our values of equal opportunity for all, and all equal under the law, and we do not separate policy from values. The 8 year dream is over, and we now face the reality of what was behind the scenes all along: some at the top cheating and pretending to "not know". Doesn't that make them smart? That they don't pay their fare share of taxes? That they hide money off shore? That they pretend to be pro-America but have their products made elsewhere? That they can afford any medical treatment or cosmetic surgery but deny American what every other developed nation has, universal health care, when we are paying 2x more and getting much much less. Sad we have to go through this educational revolution, but here were are. I believe in education, and knowledge is power.
2
Mr. Biden invokes strains of an older advocate of general equality: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." [Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream" speech, 28 August 1963] . Some strides have been made, but we are not there yet. There remain painful days ahead.
The attitudes of some in the current administration are again testing the endurance and resilience of these thoughts. The ability of the current man in the White House to exemplify and inspire these values is severely limited. It takes more than "let's make a deal" to advance these core values.
4
Right on! Mr Biden has eloquently expressed the essential role that values have played in establishing the US as a world leader. Those of us who are in other countries want America to once again lead by example. It would be wonderful if America got back in the game (rather than simply grab the ball and run offside).
13
The whole idea that the United States is the greatest nation on earth is another appeal to mindless to nationalism. The same nationalism to which Trump appeals so often.
The United States is not the greatest nation on earth. It is the richest and has the strongest military, but that is rather a product of its size and large population than some miraculous achievement. If the EU would unite tomorrow, it would have a larger economy, a richer economy and beat the US on practically every welfare metric out there.
By declaring that the United States are the greatest nation on earth you create an emotional environment in which both policy makers and voters are unwilling to learn from the successes and failures of other nations. This is how the US ended up with poor education, health care and poverty nets.
84
"If the EU would unite tomorrow, it would have a larger economy, a richer economy and beat the US on practically every welfare metric out there."
Exactly. And here you see our advantage, we are united. The danger today is that we are becoming divided.
1
There was an article, not too long ago in either the NYT or the WaPo that was quite telling. It said that Trump sees America the way people who live in the rest of the world see us. Yes, we like to believe the exceptional America that Biden talks about is more than just the veneer or the good cover story, but in many cases, that's all that it is, a cover story for the US going about advancing its national interests like less "exceptional" countries do.
True, we came up with much of the international law that orders the world these days, the UN, the ICC (which we did not join) the World Court and other institutions at The Hague and we fought WWI and WWII without territorial ambition or gain. But we have been cavalier with other countries and other peoples. Argentina, Chile, Cuba, the Palestinians, the Iranians, Viet Nam, Iraq and Kuwait are all places where you would not recognize the idealized America that we all want it to be.
Trump has decided to simply remove the veneer, end the show and go after US interests with bare knuckled aggression. He feels that trying to keep up the show of exceptionalism puts us at a disadvantage with Putin who has no such illusions about Russia.
Biden, on the other hand, wants to make the veneer of exceptionalism the reality and not just an illusion created by the veneer. I would rather strive for the exceptionalism of which Biden speaks.
8
Mr. Biden eloquently reminds us of the dream called America. At times over the course of slightly over 240 years, a very short time, the Founding Dreamers imagined a more perfect human experience. And in the ensuing decades, other dreamers at all levels of public and private service have at some times followed the dreams of our constitution and sometimes chosen language to create their own dreams, some of which have resulted in nightmares.
Joe. The best part about Joe is that when you say Joe, you actually know who we are talking about, you relate to him and you are familiar with the history that drives him. Often criticized for his verbal gaffs, in today's daily Trumpisms, I can't think of a single Joe gaff that even comes close to not being eloquent in comparison. Joe, in light of today's president, you are forgiven.
But we desperately need to be reminded in these darker days of the "dream that is America." We trust Joe. We like his voice and we are thirsty for more.
6
While I applaud most of what Biden has to say, I see a fairly large contradiction in his words here:
"Placing American democratic values back at the center of our foreign policy does not mean we should impose our principles abroad or refuse to talk with nations whose policies run counter to them."
This is all fine and well, but I am not sure how one should square this sentence with one a few graphs down:
"Leading with our values also means that we speak out when nations violate their citizens’ rights. If leaders repress their own people, we must make clear that it constrains our ability to cooperate with them."
So, reading in to this suggests that we should simultaneously resume leading globally with our American values--what those are and aren't right now, who really is to say?--and refuse to cooperate with those that repress their own people. I am not sure how we can approach Putin with "American values" while also curtailing our ability to cooperate with him since he represses his people, and those of the Ukraine.
2
The USA was once a beacon that drew the world's best and brightest. This made us strong, made us great, made our beacon ever brighter.
But no more. Trump has put an end to that. He has made us small, bitter, angry, tribal. Who wants to come join us now?
2
Thank you, Mr. Biden, for this eloquent articulation of what makes America a leader. I think the problem goes deeper than just the administration's view of our place in the world. And it's much deeper than just Trump and his appointees.
I think the problem is that too many Americans, largely but by no means all Republicans, don't believe that there is a common good to be served at home, or abroad. The political philosophy behind repealing Obamacare, tax cuts for the wealthy, and zero-sum foreign policy is that those who have achieved get to keep, and they don't have to contribute to the well-being of others. They don't have to care for their fellow Americans, and they sure as heck don't need to worry about people outside our borders. This political philosophy underlies the Republican agenda in this country, and Trump largely embraces it.
Until we believe that we exist partially to serve a common good, that "We're all in this together," the power of our example is not the shining beacon on the hill.
3
Dreamer. Mr Biden, I'd have voted for you if you would have run. However, you could not have changed the underlying cause of the trump effect; overpopulation. The fact that a large fraction of the population agrees with him means that we have passed a point of no return. They may be a minority but they are the ones with the guns. As a group they're a weapon of mass destruction that has been itching for an excuse to pull their triggers for decades.
1
Words not included in Mr. Biden's piece:
Yemen, Saudi, airstrikes, cholera.
Yes, let's be exceptional and live up to our values. Wouldn't that include standing up to human rights abuses by our "allies?" Or only when it's convenient?
Morality is easy in the abstract.
2
A wonderful piece.
Unfortunately, it will be disparaged by many as "socialist" and "extreme left wing", as will the Sanders bill proposing to expand Medicare so that ALL citizens have access to healthcare.
Those naysayers stand near the north pole, and nearly everything is south to them. Can we please bring our nation back to the proper latitudes?
1
This conservative will not disparage Mr. Biden's remarks as being either "socialist" or "extreme left wing".
He speaks the language of Americans of all political stripes in the desire for the equality of opportunity and the opportunity for equality.
Where I disagree with Mr. Biden and the left is in the necessity to restrict the achievements of others to achieve the lofty goal.
I applaud Mr. Biden, a professional politician if there ever was one, for his willingness to live the life of the common man rather than the life of the privileged national big-foot. I also applaud Mr. Biden for his abilities to seek common ground and compromise, the ultimate measure of the success of any legislative body or functioning democracy.
I would suggest to Chis, that instead of dismissing those with other political view that we disagree on HOW to achieve the ideals, and the forming unbendable positions and calling your adversaries snarky names is no the way to go about achieving the consensus that our federal form of government requires in order to serve The People.
Care to join us in a discussion? Or are you going to continue to stake out positions that you know will never make it past the Congress?
Put another way: the world was becoming more Democratic because the USA was making it happen for 50 years. Not always successfully through our power, but for the most part our American values were adopted throughout the world. It was a war of attrition, and besides a few places like that former Soviet Union, we had largely won.
Now however, we have a President and administration that does not understand this. In fact, his values are plutocratic and monopolistic, and seem part and parcel with Plutocracy instead of Democracy. But more than that, he is no longer walking the talk with respect to democratic values. Left unchecked, we will begin to lose both face and ground with the world. One of two things will happen: Either another power will rise and take on the mantle of Democracy (who will it be?), or the autocrats and plutocracies of the world, least of all our own, will become the dominant force. We should not want this, because it will lead inevitably to war and hardship.
It is interesting that the most prominent Autocrat in the world helped to get Trump elected, don't you think?
I have much respect for Joe Biden but the Administration he was part of bears responsibility for our current President. With all the focus on Political Correctness and Non-Confrontation millions of the core of our country were forgotten.
Add to that the Democratic candidate didn't get it and now wants to abolish the Electoral College.!
3
"The international community still needs a strong, democratic America leading the way."
If the United States relinquishes its international leadership, it will become subservient to the powers that fills the void.
Bravo Mr. Biden. You demonstrate that which we are losing: Eloquence of manner, vision and a the beauty of intelligent prose, all of which stand in stark contrast to the shrinking of thought in the Twitterverse and the soundbites of 24/7 news. We have become immune to critical thought because we are mesmerized by the opiate of the masses, literally and figuratively.
I applaud you for all your many gifts and accomplishments. Please keep writing to us.
By all measures near half the electorate is willing to have a dictatorship. Meaning a functioning police state backed by a fortress America military. This half will not admit it but the values confirm it. They are the values of the GOP and the corporate establishment as an interlocking directorate propelled by the logic of the Federalist Society. Equality and other declarations are hanging in the balance and the time is short. Too bad media do not see this.
It's refreshing to read the words of a real leader--one who summons us to listen to the better angels within us, rather than our fears.
The saddest thing of all to me about Trump becoming president (I'll always hold fast to the heartening fact that he at least did not win the popular vote), is that so many people did not see or care that he lacked the values of which Vice President Biden speaks. Which made me think that they, too, lack these values, which made me think that America was no longer great, because America was no longer good.
Of course, Trump vowed to "Make America Great Again" but he absolutely cannot do this if he does not embody and exhibit our nation's ideals of openness, inclusiveness and equality.
Mr. Biden stands on one side of the divide over what makes America a nation. There are those of us who believe that at its core America is an idea, who's roots are in our founding documents. For others, like Trump and his supporters, America is a typical nation made up of one ethnic group (whites) and that excludes others. America as an idea is what makes us exceptional, even if we have not always lived up to our highest ideals.
The simple truth in our former Vice President first sentence contains more truth and weight that all of our current Presidents speeches put together. It is an example of presidential leadership which is sadly lacking today, but hopefully not in the future.
American material success, though very unequally distributed, is undeniable, but its historical commitment to liberty, justice and equality leave much to be desired.
We are quick to boast that "we are the greatest" but rarely ask, greatest at what. Those who chant "make America great again" never never do either. A little humility might allow us to learn from other countries who have succeeded in providing for their people an excellent standard of living in an atmosphere of justice and fair play.
You are right about the sharp Right turn that has led to the current administration. The Nation yearns for a national voice in opposition. Take the stage and fill it if you can. Earn your right to lead America forward to a better, more just life for us all.
2
This is all about Human Nature 101. The United States of America is composed of almost every culture in the world and the people from those cultures. It is also composed of every variant of human behavior known.
Yes, we became a nation based upon some ideals embedded in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. However, any honest reading of our history will demonstrate many many instances of the betrayal of our founding documents in words and deeds.
I am an 86 year old Korean War veteran and I have seen a lot in my lifetime.
I am also an amateur historian and I have read a lot of histories. Our history, of course, has many moments for which we can be proud and I am proud to be an American for sure. Also, I was born and raised just a hop, skip, and a jump down the road from Scranton where Joe Biden was raised. This anthracite coal country has been home to sturdy people of mixed cultures for centuries. It turned into Trump country for its own reasons but I doubt very much if it will reelect him in 2020.
I sure wish Ike was still President.
4
Nice to hear your voice. I miss your administration. Everything you write is true. However, you are preaching to the choir. I would hope you and former leaders try harder to unite our nation that has recklessly been pulled apart these past two years. Trump recently made a deal with the dems. Instead of celebrating some form of bipartisanship, the media seems to be mocking it. How can we come together if this childishness continues? For as much as I distrust our current leader, he is the president, and while I may not have a lot of respect for the man holding office, I do respect the office and try to see anything good that comes out of it. Maybe I am an optimist, but we are stuck with this administration, so anything that can help them move in a direction to help our citizens, I applaud.
While climate change and disasters are a big deal and a threat, lack of affordable healthcare in this country kills our citizens daily. We need more voices on this from our previous leaders and more support for Bernie Sanders medicare for all.
25
The problem isn't donald Trump. It's the people that continue to support him. Trump is a reflection of them.
Trump has no plan, no core, no moral compass. He just responds to whatever makes the crowds cheer. He learned that very early on. When he would make racist statements, the crowds would cheer, so he would make more. When he spoke of isolation, the crowds would cheer, so more isolation. When he blamed big Democrats for shuttered factories, the crowds brought the house down.
We have a problem in this nation of extreme misinformation, hate, and fear that dominates the public square. We have a problem of rampant ignorance and the inability to grasp logical thought. To merely mention this condition will get one branded as an elitist.
Leadership has been replaced by emotional stimulation. Whomever gets the biggest rise out of people's blood pressure gets the most votes.
If we want to reclaim American values, we have to reclaim America's minds. Good luck with that so long as they continue to watch Fox News and listen to Rush Limbaugh.
379
We need a strong education system steeped in our values not corporate schools.
Well said, and yes Faux News adds to the propaganda and sadly it says aloud- just how many Americans believe in untruths, half truths but sadder is the fact they aren't smart enough to distinguish ethics and truths.
1
So your suggested course of action is to control the type and level of information that is communicated to 62M Americans? Sounds like you're in for a 'tough' 7.4 years. A suggestion is to gaze into the mirror and you're likely to see the source of your issue. Our prayers arew/you.
Is personal ambition also being reclaimed here?
I am an older adult myself, but I do not see an 80-year-old as my next first-term president, and someone who essentially represents the old guard of the Democratic establishment, fossilized into their comfortable senate and congressional seats, while enjoying for themselves and their families the generous comprehensive health care benefit packages their fellow citizens can only dream of.
Our nation needs a much younger Democratic candidate to lead us out of the political and social swamp Americans have created fro ourselves, within the framework of a progressive social agenda that clearly represents the social values of our nation's Democratic majority, and will work energetically to address and meet the urgent health care, economic and social needs and concerns of all citizens and residents of the United States.
That person, to earn my vote, will have to declare, from the start, her/his full and unambiguous personal and political commitment to National Health Care/Medicare for All, a plan to be progressively and thoughtfully implemented over the first four years of that his/her presidency.
The majority of Democratic senators are still not on board National Health Care. I will not vote for any candidate, at any level of governance, who does not unequivocally support Medicare For All as our highest national priority, once we have unseated the GOP in both chambers of Congress, and the oval office.
18
Personally, I would take an eighty year old Joe Biden over a seventy seven year old Donald Trump any day of the week. I totally agree that the Democratic party needs to begin building a roster of younger leaders who can engage and inspire. That is most definitely the way forward. But building that roster begins small-city and state government engagement, and running for local offices. There are many young Democrats out there, look around at the mayors of New Orleans and Atlanta for example. The three largest cities in Texas, deeply red, are all Democrats. They are on the ground, working every day with economic issues that we say we want our party to address. Listen to their voices and encourage them to pursue higher office!
24
I don't see how you can associate someone like Biden on the one hand, and the words "fossilized" and "comfortable" on the other ... his personal life has been everything BUT "comfortable", and filled with horrible losses and pain, time and again.
It's a testimony to his character that at his age, THIS is the kind of op-eds he writes, rather than becoming bitter, angry and hateful like Trump and so many others. Biden is clearly THE perfect example of how aging can mean becoming wiser than many younger people.
As to single payer: it's precisely Biden who, at a time when there was NO majority (not among the American people, and as a consequence not in Congress) for single payer, was wise enough to not "wait", knowing that before Obamacare 40,000 Americans died each year only because of lack of healthcare, but to work hard to get 60 votes in the Senate behind a bill that would cover 20 million more Americans (among them those 40k, as studies have shown) and slow down cost increases already today.
That's EXTREMELY difficult to obtain from Congress, and Biden, Obama and what you call the "old guard" succeeded nevertheless.
The only way to ever be able to sign single payer into law is to CELEBRATE each step forward and learn from it, rather than despising it because it doesn't achieve all our ideals overnight. As Saul Alinsky has shown, ALL real, radical, lasting democratic change is step by step change. And if there's someone who knows how to achieve it, it's clearly Biden.
5
The last part of the last sentence of your post is key. We cannot be "one-issue voters" until we've swept the current GOP administration and Congress out of office.
It is certainly good to remind us of the ideals of America’s founding fathers, which were based on the European Enlightenment that in turn borrowed a great deal from the wisdom of all ages. Those values are certainly respected and valued throughout the world, but sadly for many decades, especially since the end of the Cold War, they have been totally neglected in the United States more than in the rest of the world. While there has been a global march towards greater equality and liberation of huge masses of people from occupation, colonialism and poverty, the United States has been following two major principles, crass materialism in the form of the domination of big money, and militarism as a defender of corporate greed. Today’s mantra in America is “full spectrum dominance” and the suppression of the many for the sake of the few. Trump is only the symptom and the embodiment of all that has gone wrong, not the cause of it. When Gandhi was asked what he thought of Western civilization, he said it would be a good idea. The same could be said about American values.
212
The problem is, too many in this country have stopped believing that American values are a good idea.
Reality always falls short of ideals. But at least if we have ideals, if we think it is important to try to live up to them, reality will be closer to those ideals than it would be if we had no ideals at all.
The system of government that the founders of our country created was built on ideals. Ideals that were better than they were. Even at the outset they compromised those ideals, by institutionalizing slavery.
But they also built a system of government flexible enough, timeless enough, to give future generations the opportunity to live up to those ideals in ways that they never could.
In many ways, we have. In others we have not. But until now, we tried, because we thought that trying was the right thing to do.
Joe Biden appears to still believe that we should strive to live up tn those ideals. But do Trump voters? Do the majority of Americans? If not, the experiment begun all those years ago in Philadelphia will be over and America's time will have passed. Something altogether different will rise, perhaps built on similar ideals, perhaps not.
Will we demonstrate renewed belief in what have been American values, determined to try to live up to them, or not? If it were up to me, we would. But it is not up to me, it is up to us.
1
Excellent comment.
Joe, Thanks for the eloquent description of our ideals. Your statements remind me of the views of President Theodore Roosevelt expressed at his memorial on Roosevelt Island in the Potomac: "In popular government, results worth having can be achieved only by men who combine WORTHY IDEALS with practical good sense."
Please run for President in 2020. Our country, and the world, need your leadership.
17
"You cannot define Americans by what they look like, where they come from, whom they love or how they worship. Only our democratic values define us."
Inspiring words, to be certain, but alas, they ring hollow these days.
When you hear that a majority of Trump voters wouldn't relinquish their support of him for any reason, when you hear that a majority of republican voters would be on board with postponing general elections if their president asked for it, when most republicans believe that white Christians are the most persecuted group in America, then I, as a German, cannot help but see the same seeds that led our country and so many of our European neighbours to catastrophic ruin, not so long ago.
Let's face it: to many Americans - old straight white male rural Americans chief among them, these democratic values only exist to serve them, and them alone; anyone else enjoying them is seen as an assault on their privilege, worse, as oppression. As long as women's place was in the kitchen, as long as people of colour were cheap (or free) disenfranchised labour, as long as LGBTQ people could be demonised, they loved democratic values, whereas now, they will vote for literally anyone who promises an America in which ostensibly universal constitutional rights are the exclusive privilege of what they perceive to be "real" Americans, ie themselves.
516
I share Paul's repugnance for the supposed values that some of Trump's people express, values that are in direct conflict with the possibilities of freedom, civilization, prosperity, and peace. But I would suggest a caveat:
People hold multiple values, often contradictory ones. We do not come in one piece, so usually we hold conflicting values and views. To take the views expressed by some Trump supporters as representative of the values of all or most of his supporters is a big error: I suspect there is more agreement with Biden's take on our values than you perceive, and academic work by such as Jonathan Haidt substantiate that.
2.
3
I agree with several of your comments. I was interested in the statement that "a majority of Republican voters would be on board with postponing general elections if the president asked for it". Where specifically did you read this or what Poll was taken that offered this data.
"Inspiring" and "ring hollow" are contradictory. Personally, they don't "ring hollow" to me.
Welcome back, Joe. But let's not get ahead of ourselves with the election jargon. People came to America not because of our values. They came because they could and because there were jobs here, jobs that the employers dearly wanted to fill. George W used to say, speaking of Al Q and such: they hate us because of our values. I think it's more likely that they hated us for our lack of values, our utilitarianism, our consumerism, which we insisted on spreading all over the world.
America is great. The first pay check I earned in Ireland was in a building with a plaque that thanked the Marshall Plan for funding. But the Civil War is not over. The Bible fundamentalism used to justify slavery has not gone away. The Vatican tells some people that "pro-life" is part of their faith. And so, the ideal separation of Church and State is far from functional. Perfection is hardly a human quality, but striving to improve ourselves is a worthy quality. Pretending that all we need to do is dump Trump is a dangerous notion.
149
To Mr. Paddy Johnson - You have forgotten all those immigrants through the years that camefor safety from Murderous enemies who would kill them all. Others came for safety from vicious gangs, some came for religious freedom to worship in their own way. Over the years some did come for jobs. Now we have people fleeing for their lives and we are so fearful, we turn them away. Just like FDR and the State Dept. and their anti-semetic hates that turned away thousands of fleeing Jews trying to save their lives from Nazis. I also remember the Hungarians who tried to escape when Russia invaded - America accepted them. Now Hungarians refuse to help refugees - what short memories they have. And plenty of neo-Nazis there also.,
Neither Africans nor Natives came to America seeking jobs.
1
J.K. Thanks for your comment. I didn't forget all that. FDR? Maybe. But the 1930s anti-semetism related back to the Red Scare of of Post-WW1 and the feat of Eastern Europeans. America's history of welcome to newcomers is patchy to say the least.
The problem is that it is hard to speak of values and promote righteous causes when you are morally bankrupt and value nobody and nothing but the almighty dollar. Sadly, too many of Trump's supporters share those values making it very hard for American to be great at all.
39
Modeling good behavior - any decent parent knows how important this is. However, had Joe Biden run last year, we would not be in this predicament now.
21
The decline in values & civility is not a new phenomena, it's not something that just happened because of Donald Trump; don't make the symptom the disease.
But, it is something that coincides rather clearly with rising inequality and an economic model, promoted largely by Republicans (but Democrats also hold responsibility) that prioritizes endless competition to meet ends meat; all done under the banner of 'free markets' and nonsense economic beliefs like the doozy fantasy that cutting corporate taxes will somehow benefit the rest of our society. For goodness sake, we cannot even successfully explain why profiting off of the health of our neighbors is morally bankrupt and wrong without being shut-down by blood money vultures.
We're a society in decline and our fall is inversely proportional to the growth of large corporations and Wall Street bankers who encourage being cutthroat, who see compassion as weakness, and enable money to wash away all sins. It's simply unsustainable as most fantasy's are...
We're losing our Democracy to the Plutocrats and it makes sense that if we're dumb enough to accept it they'll continue to take more and more and more.
Of course we've lost sight of what truly matters and the evidence is all around us. And, frankly, cheerful platitudes that we're currently 'the greatest country on Earth' will simply not be potent enough to address reality of the pressure cooker most Americans live in each and every day. We're a Plutocracy in more than name.
86
I think we've had problems since our founding. We've always been like teenager who because he/she feels 'grown up' the adults have to take him/her seriously. Where else would a nation think it could start a trade war with the most powerful nation on earth when its own economic was several times smaller (the Economic Embargo against British trade under Thomas Jefferson between 1804 and 1808)? What other nation would have the leader of another nation state "Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, as long as they've tried everything else" (British PM Churchill during WWII)? Sadly, we have a long history of rewarding the wealthy at the expense of all the people who actually contribute to that wealth. (The 'Gilded Age' from about 1880 to about 1930)
I am often reminded of a comment by Demosthenes (paraphrased of course) which demonstrates these problems aren't new "History judges the greatness of nations not by how well they take care of their most powerful, but by how well they take care of their least."
“Not since the Jim Crow era has an American president so misunderstood and misrepresented our values”. Mr. Biden, with all due respect, this president exactly understood and represented the values of his supporters, all 62 million of them. That’s why he was elected by “we the people”. This president was chosen to represent Americans at home and abroad. He mirrored their deepest fears and prejudices. He is the heart and soul of America today because that’s what the November 8 election results told us. His election was not a fluke or an accident. Americans wanted change and they now have it.
No Mr. Biden, this president correctly gauged the pulse of Americans over these two years and embarked on a successful and winning campaign. Many of his embarrassing and offensive statements and videos of his personal conduct came to light, but his base only hardened and became stronger as the campaign wore on. Republicans were all on board the GOP nominee’s express, gleeful at the change and “so much winning” that would come their way if their man won.
And finally, it was American voters themselves who misunderstood and misrepresented what was already great about the values of their country but didn’t appreciate at the time. The president defined for them what Americans should look like, where they should come from and what religion they should shun as being radical and violent. This president told Americans who they were and they agreed with him. It’s that simple.
9
I agree with your statements about 45's supporters, however, this should not define ALL Americans. It is important to remember that so many more voters voted against 45 than for him, and these are the citizens that model American values.
19
Sixty five million people did not think Trump represents our values. His election was a fluke caused by an antiquated electoral college process.
Dear Joe Biden and all my comment writer friends, thanks for what you all have written, encouraging thoughts to which I add this.
As a dual citizen of my forebears' Sweden and my parents' USA I find that what are described here as American values fit like a glove to what I experience as Swedish values. In both of my countries there are groups of people intent on taking those values away from us. We must not let them, and to do this we must demonstrate that we not only lay claim to those values but live by them.
In order to live by them we, both Americans and Swedes, we must support Biden's closing words with my additions:
You cannot define Americans (Swedes) by what they look like, where they come from, whom they love or how they worship. (We are all members of the only race, the human, and we must show our belief in that every single day in the manner in which we interact with others whatever their lines of descent.)
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
31
Have never been prouder of Biden than when he said "Malarkey." during the VP presidential candidate debates. And followed that, when pressed for details, with specifics rolling off his tongue that demolished the oppositions' misstatements. And, he has an awesome sense of humor.
Ahhhh, if only he had run for President.
47
After all the pain and outrage of the last two years, what a joy to read such an eloquent defense of American values, delivered with simplicity and grace.
18
Good article well written and presented. Now if you only could tell us when the questions still remaining about what happened on 9/11 will be answered.
Or at least when the Patriot Act will be repealed. "Nothing is as it seems."
2
My daughter is 20, in a very good university and knows for a fact that you are a rock star. Hillary's loss broke her heart. Please run for the Presidency or the Senate. The country really does need you.
Can I add to your argument?
An intense concentration in wealth is occurring at the same time access to first rate education is being choked off. Training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics all requires competent, well paid teachers. Private forms of grammar school, high school and universities get it: this century is going to cost taxpayers a lot of money in the form of education and training. If we do not do it a dozen other nations will laugh as the lives of their citizenries improve.
I sat in the House Chamber yesterday and saw only one party that was concerned about America's future and the planet's long term existence. The Republicans are still arguing about the Hobby Lobby decision.
I know---our budget has demands on it that are beyond reason. I also know that life and access to upward mobility is not going to get better for the bottom third of our country without a sustained investment in university education. Education will provide a real and direct benefit to the economy well beyond one more insane try with trickle down economics.
If the world sees us taking care of our own it will be easier to set standards,
make reasonable demands and generally ask for help in dealing with the desperate and starving. We are one family and need to act like it.
22
Thank you Joe Biden for your calm, intelligent and reasoned op-ed. The challenge for like minded Americans is to maintain American values in the age of trump. With the religious right stiicking with our virtually amoral President one has to ask will it be possible to ever wipe the stain of this administration from the history books.
5
"You cannot define Americans by what they look like, where they come from, whom they love or how they worship. Only our democratic values define us."
This is simply untrue. Mr Biden defined Americans by race, age, education and every conceivable variation for political advantage. Identity politics is splintering us on the right and left and it was and is employed by Mr Biden to smear his political opponents. Democratic values? Yes, our Republic is a representative democracy, allowing elected representatives to vote on our behalf, but our values derive from concepts of natural rights and law with equal protections for our citizenry and enumerated rights. Were these imperfect when written, yes. Were they revolutionary among all nations, yes. Have these been perfectly expanded within the framework provided by our founders? Mostly. Politicians are not saints, they are like all of us, with both good and bad impulses but what sets us apart are the equal protections under law to pursue our interests, self govern, and rise or fall based on our efforts. These are not 'democratic' values. Helping a neighbor isn't a 'democratic' value. These spring from deeper sources that were well articulated by our forebears. Politicians who fail to understand or maintain the generational trust given to them to pass these on do not serve our country well.
5
To say Mr. Biden "smears" anyone with this article is utterly ridiculous. "Mr. Biden defined Americans by race, age, etc," well, of course. Every politician does that. We have these things called "demographics," look it up, to define groups of people so politicians can identify their wants and needs: isn't that what politicians are supposed to do? If a politician has a mostly Hispanic electorate in his district, is he supposed to ignore their specific concerns because they are some "identity" group?
To make us one united country, the individual groups comprising that population must have a voice. The term "identity politics" has been demonized by the right, but they do it just as much with gerrymandered districts and planting the false idea in the heads of our white population that identity politics is the cause of their decline in status.
"What sets us apart are the equal protections under the law." Correct. We are a nation of laws. That's what defines us. We all agree to make law through a Democratic process and then agree to live under those laws. You don't seem to get that this is our Democracy in its quintessence. We don't "self govern" as individuals, we "self govern" as a nation. We all are subject to the same laws, some of which we, as individuals, may not necessarily like. You seem to think "equal protection" is allowing you to have the freedom to do whatever you, personally, want. This is simply not so.
Trumps fortress America that refuses to honor its traditional values, and refuses to foster them around the world. This policy is a ticket to disaster in today's world of terrorist attacks and nuclear proliferation.
If we withdraw from participation on the world stage and let oversees problems fester, they will come back to bite us in a tragic way and our military will not be able to protect us.
6
America's values and the possibility that they can be lost and then reclaimed?
I do not look at or listen to any of America's stated, official values. I look at what exactly has been occurring historically and attempt to solve the problem to a more ethical, higher state of affairs. I see America at worst historically as a ground on which operates clashing identities religious, ethnic, racial, cultural, etc. and the dominant one so far (white/protestant) has capitalized on the rest.
And at best America has tried to give equal voice to all these clashing identities (egalitarianism, socialistic leanings, blunting of edge of capitalism and calls to live up to higher democracy than that which has existed so far) but so far these identities have been largely running in parallel, which is to say each group in America and the two political parties have alternately been playing aggressor and victim and trying to increase the quantity of their members...
It's startlingly mathematical in its fixity and predictability. All these set identities do not seem to really identify with the set "America", but reinforce their sets religious, racial, ethnic, etc. as best as possible within America. This just leads to increase of population and increased division and attempts at technological/bureaucratic control. The high task is to overcome these divisive sets racial, religious, ethnic, etc. into a new set which is more closely identical to high set America...America a question of set theory.
Mr. Biden ably restates the case for human values with an American face. The issue he alludes to is the current president, who never met an oath he could not break. A thrice-married man who has thousands of lawsuits forming a paved trail throughout his career is not a person to be trusted. The trust that America will not only honor its commitments as well as its values has suffered since January 20th. We have seen the rise of hatred and bigotry in the open—aided and abetted by the president.
The restoration of our good name, the restoration of our venerable values, and the trust of our allies can only be begun with the removal of Donald Trump. At that point, the real labor begins to restore our values and our better selves.
13
If America does not stand for the values espoused by Vice President Biden then it stands for nothing other than "this is the land I live on so it's better than everywhere else."
I can see where that might be viewed as a practical perspective in a world of limits but I don't see how it can be claimed to be moral, good or even great.
The American belief in both equal treatment and liberty is the marriage of English and French political traditions. It is what makes the USA unique and it is what makes the country worth loving and defending.
Of all the crimes against history and decency by this president, the worst may be that he would reduce our nation to being just another country, just another piece of land.
7
Mr Biden's opinion piece is evocative of Tim Kaine's very fine essay on "The New Truman Doctrine" in the July / August issue of Foreign Affairs. Well worth reading for deeper insights into the topics raised by Mr Biden.
That said, the only thing missing from Mr Biden's direct comments on values is the need for honesty in relations among our elected representatives, between our elected representatives and ourselves, and among ourselves.
Politicians are infamous for finding new and creative ways to lie. Mr Trump is the exemplar of this reality, but in all honesty, the sin of alternate facts, truthiness and creative spin engulfs the whole establishment. Especially when juxtaposed with the propaganda din of both the domestic media outlets and amplified by the Russians, the world envisioned by Orwell becomes more real every day.
Mr Biden is correct that Americans sometimes fall short of the ideals expressed in our foundational documents. Unfortunately, as lying has become the lingua franca of our officials, the rest of the world takes note. That, more than anything else, allows the domestic and foreign propaganda organs to undermine the professed values of the United States.
5
This is the same warmed over milk rhetoric that inspires no one.
Biden is well liked, but he has made too many mistakes, like fumbling the Clarence Thomas hearings. He actually apologized to Bush's blazing mediocrity, and the nation has been stuck ever since.
Time to retire. Time for a new generation of leaders.
1
Mr. Henry -
That' exactly what he is saying, that young new leaders need to emerge.
Excellent essay. My compliments to Mr. Biden's staff and writers.
Is this the kickoff to Biden in 2020? (He is 74 years old).
4
We do well and can do much better in our dealings with others. More than what we do and how we do it is How We Be. Be caring, Be helpful. Be supportive. Be understanding. Be neighborly. Be tolerant. Be open. Joining together with each other here to learn the life of the others that make up this Melting Pot. And sometimes it is still a Stewpot, with each carrot or onion distinct while enriching the flavor. I miss Biden and seek one with at least a smattering of his wisdom to rise up and lead us in the hard work of truly making every American great again.
1
I have a great deal of respect for Joe Biden, and I would love to agree whole heartedly with this column, but I cannot agree with a basic premise that, somehow, America is exceptional. We are certainly the most powerful country on Earth, economically and militarily. We have tried to provide moral leadership in defense of human rights, press freedoms, and democracy. But we have also willfully blinded ourselves to the darker side; the economic empire that led us to overthrow democratically elected governments because they dared threaten our banana lords, our rubber barons, our petroleum princes.
I say this as a globally engaged US citizen who believes deeply in the best of our values. I was never prouder to be an American than the day in early November, 2008 when I walked into my office in Abuja, where I was working to improve access to healthcare for Nigerians, to celebrate the election of Barak Obama.
But I also know that we must also see the ugly side of our engagement in the world. Only then can we change it. While I find little that President Trump says to agree with, he at least had the guts to call out America's darker history. "What, do you think our country's so innocent?" https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/for-trump-we-have-a...
I would vote for Joe Biden for president in a heart beat, because I agree we should reach for our highest ideals and principles when engaging in the world. But too often, we fail.
179
...But we must not give up simply because we fail. No successful person or project has succeeded without some failure along the way. We need to learn why we failed and then move on.
One reason for the current failure is that we, as a country, neither know nor understand our history. Learning American history is also learning our values and what made America great.
The U.S. was founded on ideas, but too many Americans don't understand that and. because they don't know that, they don't understand the ideas. This isn't a team sport; we didn't get this way only because of a strong military. We were strong because we had a set of ideas and we were willing to fight for them.
Agree wholeheartedly. If we truly love our country we need to realize that we have not truly earned the moral authority we claim to have. We Americans are not only what we (think we) see in the mirror; we are also what the rest of the world sees, and it isn't a pretty picture. Until we realize that and endeavor to be part of the world instead of a beacon apart, we will continue to be "ugly Americans" no matter our intentions. To this end I highly recommend reading Suzy Hansen's enlightening book "Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-American World."
The difference between you and Trump is that you view our failure to achieve our ideals as a reason to try harder, while Trump views it as an excuse to stop trying. In his view we're beyond redemption so we should stop trying to do good, and might as well instead do every bad thing we can think of.
While I admire Joe Biden's sincere observations about reclaiming American values, I'm afraid I have to disagree with a couple of his core ideas.
First, there is nothing that guarantees or, for that matter, requires the world to be led by the U.S. At this point in history, it's high time that the U.S. (a country that has failed to invest in its own future) join the rest of the world rather than standing apart.
Second, it's simply not true that the U.S. is a democracy. We are a constitutional republic "based on" democratic values; however, witness the results of the last presidential election. If we were a democracy, someone other than the current incompetent would rightfully be our leader.
There are a great many Americans who do not embrace inclusivity, tolerance, diversity, respect for the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and, sadly, those at the highest level of government don't either.
4
Thank you so much Mr. Biden for this message of hope and restatement of the values which define (or should define) this country. It should be our goal to continue our struggle toward having a country where everyone regardless of their color, sexual orientation or religious beliefs has equal rights. We should strive to work for the common good in areas like healthcare and infrastructure. Funding these essential programs requires a fair tax system in which all people and corporations pay their fair share of taxes. As a scientist, I would like to see a return to a time when our government has respect for science. Maintaining a positive relationship with our allies is necessary to promote stability in our very dangerous world. There is so much to do, and we seem to be going full steam ahead in the wrong direction. Our best hope is for strong leaders who also have the common good of our citizens as their priority.
2
I particularly like the fact that this piece spends a lot of time discussing a solution rather than re-diagnosing a problem exclusively. If all we talk about is the problem people get discouraged and shut down falsely believing that there's nothing that can be done. But discussing the solution gives everyone hope and drives change. Well done.
2
Bravo, Mr. Vicepresident! I would add that you perfectly described what is happening and what we are as a country. However, the whys are also relevant and one of those is not that Trump has deep beliefs against what America is but because of his lacks of beliefs.
Since last November many of us have become Trumplogists just as a survival skill. What amazes me the most is that Trump will stand up for whatever he thinks will make him win. Values are not part of the equation and he surrounded himself with a money and power hungry inner circle. So winning power and money is the only creed. That is why for our president, rejecting or protecting DACA is about winning. It has nothing to do with human beings.
6
Some very good points. There is wide disapproval of Trump's flip-flopping about Charlottesville, and today's NYTimes reports his agreement with Democrats to improve on his widely unpopular DACA reversal. These traditional American values will persist because Trump cares about his ratings.
However, the US national debt makes it necessary for us to be more restrained in our approach to international leadership. The Obama administration led the way to a more realistic approach by its muted approach to Libya and Syria. The foolish, budget-busting Iraq war made it clear that we need to manage international spending more intelligently. We can do that by leading an international team. The Trump administration's incompetent neglect of diplomacy will inevitably be succeeded by a cooperative approach in the next administration.
2
True, we may cherish American values and rightly affirm them as core of the Nation’s identity while abstaining to interfere in the values of other nations. However, certain issues come to mind when considering how much of these American values have helped empower the global machinery of Capital (i.e., the mega corporations) to effectively undermine the goals, aspirations and safety of constituents of the Nation. The most recent consequence of global warming materialized through the unprecedented devastation caused by two hurricanes speaks well about the pressures by a few U.S.-based powerful interests to sabotage the join international efforts to deter the catastrophic effects of global-warming. The Nation urges a sound amendment of the U.S. constitution able to contain impulses like Capital’s wild expansion. If we keep eluding this issue, we may cease to exist in the not so near future, and there will be no one able to defend the virtues of this Great Nation.
1
Well spoken Mr. Biden and so true. However, If this trend of negativism and division continues I fear America's values will disappear and this country will become a vacuum.We need you and your peers to speak out against the evil that is eating this country. We also need a new generation of leaders to overcome this nightmare. Each and every day when I read, listen or watch the news there is something I do not understand. As an immigrant who became an American citizen 15 years ago, I am ashamed of what's coming out of this WH. Why is it that people of all socio-economic, racial, geographical backgrounds have not taken to the streets more forcefully to defend themselves against the permanent attacks on America by this administration. It's not like Congress is going to help. Do we really have to wait for another 3+ years to change direction?
2
Speaking of reclaiming our values, 16 years ago we had the opportunity to show the world our best selves. First responders, the men and women in uniform, those killed and those injured did. I'm still angry and disappointed that in the days and weeks that followed our country responded to violence with more violence, out of all proportion to our loss. The world came together and we briefly held moral authority internationally that we hadn't since World War II. Smart police work and staying within the normal framework of national and international justice would have served us and the world so much better than the lives lost, the treasure spent, and the needs at home unmet have.
Values matter. Bush/Cheney got us into this mess, including creating Guantanamo. Obama/Biden didn't get us out of it, and Guantanamo is still open.
3
Dear Mr. Biden, thank you for your words and your service. As a country we have lost our way. You are correct in that "Reclaiming our values starts with standing up for them at home". To do that, we need leadership that will brook no argument, and we need citizens who will stand up to those that are ok with letting it slide. I am an optimist, but unfortunately do not see our leadership rising to the occasion. Our democracy works because it was not based on tribalism, which brings its own baggage, though lately it has started to tend that way in terms of political tribes, and rich vs poor. Such tribalism makes negotiations always zero sum, just the way our current President likes it.
With regards to foreign policy, you are also correct in that we must first do as we say, live the life so to speak. Our country has an abysmal record of supporting dictators, and only supporting democracy when it suits our business interests. The forms that this support takes have been many times not to our credit - such as the overthrow of the legitimately elected government in Iran in the 50's, the war in Iraq, among others. And frankly I think that our policy towards Russia has been one of the reasons the situation between them and us has gotten so degraded. We placed anti missile defense in Poland which set off the whole tit for tat we've had with them for the past seven years.
We need to keep our friends, and we need to show others that we are willing to work with them.
1
This is the America I think of when I proudly sing the National Anthem. I believe President Obama could have done so much more for this country if the Republicans had met him part way even a little bit. Instead they decided it was better for them if they made him fail, not better for this country. We need to get the big money out of our elections so our votes count or we will continue to go down this road. Over time it will be too late to turn back.
2
Mr. Biden speaks well for middle class values: fairness, hard work, willingness to share with others and to sacrifice much. Our political and controlling interests are addicted to the opium of money, an addiction so strong that they will say or do anything to quench their horrible thirst. The middle class has ceded control in the worse place possible, the voting booth. Media, especially social media, reflects the value of money and exists to make money, no longer to inform or connect others. The values of the dominant political party (Republicans) is about money and nothing else. Whenever a representative talks about "the American People" he or she really means "Wealthy People". (Try this: every time Mitch McConnell says "What the American People Want", substitute "Wealthy People" and see how true this is). Now, every proposition from this administration is geared towards more wealth for the wealthy, and every single cabinet appointment seems to be completely, and hopelessly addicted to the acquisition of wealth. Isn't this just another crisis of addiction, that remains untreated?
1
I read this with Mr Biden's voice in my head. Very nice to hear from him.
A good man.
America was lucky with Obama & Biden. They were both intelligent, kind men of strong moral character. Great family men.
A leader's values color their actions.
When Biden writes "betrays an unnecessary cruelty that further undermines America’s standing in the world", he sums up the Trump administration.
An unnecessary cruelty defines pretty much every thing Trump says or does. Chaos is the Trump normal, he needs a constant win, constant adulation. America's standing in the world has changed. Germany & France will lead where we used to.
The next few years could be very dark. Hopefully Mueller will act soon.
3
We are about one sixth through the minimum sentence we are serving with Trump as President of the United States. I pray we can safely get through the remaining portion of his rule over us and someone like Joe Biden to lead us positively into the future.
4
American values should be the bedrock of a plan to improve our economy and drive job growth - respect for each individual and opportunity through fair and smart competition. We have a tendency toward helping special interests, and that’s so with Trump more than ever – just some different interests. And all this without a moral compass. 2020 needs to be about restoring values to the White House.
2
Income inequality.
Doesn't matter what anyone says about American leadership or our democratic values, but until we come to grips with the devastation of international global cutthroat capitalism, the poor will get poorer and the 1% will be chortling with glee. Doesn't matter who is President. Russia isn't anywhere as important as a danger.
As it stands, America is dying as a nation, as the barbarian inside the gates, interlocked international corporate boardrooms, runs our lives and destroys our cultures and our air and water.
I don't believe my federal government cares about the poor and the powerless, really. It is politics and business, and both are about supporting their contributors, the investor class.
Nice words, Mr. Biden, but none of it puts food security on the table.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
3
Joe, I respect your unwavering passion as a civil servant. (A politician is a public servant. A public servant is not necessarily a politician.) However, I see your conclusion as a direct reflection of the results of your work and eight years in office. Look in the mirror and read this opinion article. Humbling experience.
1
We all know Trump is bad. That goes without question. The important part is the alternative. Mr. Biden's outline sounds an awful like Mr. Obama's position. The position Mr. Biden wrote for him because Mr. Obama entered office with little foreign policy experience. Essentially, a principled pro-global approach to world affairs that favors diplomacy to military. Mr. Biden is correct. This is basically the same foreign policy every president has adopted since WWII with alternating emphasis on diplomatic and military solutions.
So why do we have Trump? His foreign policy, such as it is, amounts to an incoherent jumble of self promotion and aggression. What about Mr. Biden's values based approach failed America so poorly as to abandon American hegemony? That is the question we need to be asking ourselves right now. I'm open to debate but I'll venture a guess. The reason American global leadership was left in the cold actually has very little to do with foreign policy. Aside from war fatigue and a few hostile acts, the policy was mostly working. Painfully slow but functional.
The real reason Trump's despotic nationalism was granted air time was a failure of domestic policy to address conditions at home. We repaired some damage to our national image but left Joe and Jane Mainstreet feeling abandoned. If you really want a return to American leadership, you had better look within before you look without. The first will accomplish the second.
2
Thank you Mr. Biden. Your neighbours to the north share your concerns. Your future is intertwined with ours and we look forward to a prosperous future for our children and grandchildren.
2
The bittersweet irony of the Trump nightmare, the behavior, words and actions which are diametrically opposed to American values is that we are reflecting, talking and marching for these values like never before.
4
Although it's a bit sad that things are to the point where a major political figure feels it necessary to write a "Democracy 101" essay, Mr. Biden's article is, most certainly, a breath of fresh air.
2
We need somehow to help those members of the European Union who are trying to repair the damage of Brexit and the betrayal of those states that are abandoning and sabotaging the flow of refugees in the name of ethnic and cultural homogeneity. The U.S. should be more supportive of Germany and Italy and Greece and other hospitable peoples, and we should try to show the central European states a way to repair the damage they are doing.
1
The rhetoric is nice, but it's the policies that matter. Yes, we must set the example for the rest of the world to follow. We cannot, . through force, create Democratic governments in other parts of the world. Turns out, other places don't take kindly to being told how to live. And, throughout history, one of the goals of American foreign policy, like it or not, has been to get what other places have for the least amount of money. In other words, using American intelligence, ingenuity, and capital to take advantage of other parts of the world. Now when these other places want a piece of the action, we are horrified and view ourselves as innocent victims. "We showed you our good will, and you reward us with abusing the relationship" Please. America's greatest asset is double speak. We aren't here for your oil or your minerals or your customer base, we are here to help your economy grow. We aren't giving tax breaks to the wealthy, we are trying to help the middle class. We aren't bringing back exported jobs, we are just telling you we are. If American corporations were at all patriotic, they wouldn't run when tax policy doesn't favor them. The rest of us just have to grin and . bear it, they should too. Let's face it, Joe, we are not,and have not been for some time, the United States of America,we are the United States of Maximum Profit. Party affiliation notwithstanding.
1
"...every man, woman and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity. "
This is part of the problem Mr. Biden. Rampant inequality in this country, excerbated by bought off and lassez faire politicians of both parties, has stripped far too many Americans of the freedom and dignity that comes from good jobs with living wages, affordable and secure housing, and a modicum of confidence in the future. If the guy we have in office is making things even worse than they were, so was the insanity is expecting those who broke it to be able to fix it.
(It should have been you in office.)
1
Truly the last nine months have proved the aphorism: "If you stand up for nothing, you will fall for anything."
Including Trump and the policies he espouses, however they change.
2
Joe Biden reminds us of what we are losing with Trump in office. His words
remind us of a time when we had principled mature and intelligent leadership.
The path that Trump is on further erodes our ability to continue to build upon the hard won gains of WW 2. Those institutions that were developed after that war were designed to prevent another horrific global conflict. Unfortunately instead of building upon that Trump prefers the fascist jingoistic path espoused by Steve Bannon and others of that ilk. Every since January
20 2017 it seems that we are living in a bizarre re interpretation of those
various prime time TV soap operas from the 1980's. Unfortunately this not
TV and everyday another facet of Trump's convoluted relationship with the
world is brought to light. Like a rotting pile of garbage it stinks and is eroding
our nations ability to make a positive contribution. Ben Franklin so aptly
stated during the Revolutionary War that if we do not hang together we
shall surely hang separately. Our country must continue to work towards
equality & justice for everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender
or sexual orientation. Unfortunately Trump and his cronies believe that those
who have the most wins. American exceptionalism is not to retreat to some
imagined interpretation of a mythical past. Our exceptionalism is that in spite
of our differences we work together and try to live up to our values.
2
Privatization of our democracy (government) threatens democracy.
Conservatism undermines government (democracy).
Conservatism must be defeated.
"Reclaiming our values starts with standing up for them at home — inclusivity, tolerance, diversity..." I read this and my faith, as a European, in America is renewed despite the horrors of Trump and the Republican Party of today. Then I read your story about that bastion of American values, Harvard, and its rejection of Michelle Jones and I despair.
This "abnegation" has taken place as we have become less involved in the pursuit of democracy. Unless or until we become a people willing to take responsibility for our government, we will continue to move away from those democratic values you refer to.
1
Let's be honest. Trump represents American values: the huckster on the make, the con man, winner take all.
We admire these types. We reward them with big bucks and phony awards.
We even gift them special tax breaks for encouragement.
4
Fairy tales may be excellent for embedding moral values in the pliant minds of children, but I don't believe that pretending the history of the United States is one of being uniquely benign towards the rights of human beings is necessarily useful to steer our politics in that positive direction.
Perhaps if our real history was taught in our schools instead of the patriotic mythology we dole out to our children, the American people would be more sophisticated and less easily manipulated by the myths that drive our politics.
Maybe we'd be kinder to the migrants coming from south of the border if it was widely known that not that long ago we stole half of Mexico in a trumped up war our government justified as being manifest destiny.
Perhaps if Jim Crow was examined fully, especially in public schools in the south, there would be easier and deeper understanding that the victims of racism in this country are not a thing of the past and they are not white (although poor whites were also often excluded from the polls in that not long ago era).
Even the American Constitution, while being a great accomplishment in its time, should not be held up as an example of perfection- that document that gives the state of Alaska equal representation in the U.S. senate as Texas is hardly the floor plan for a perfect democracy.
America is a great nation, but it is not a uniquely good nation. If you realize that than you realize we have work to do.
5
Let me rephrase: our values are revealed in our actions, the world is watching a display of values not previously seen as America, I thought we were raised better than ... this.
1
I have genuine respect for your distinguished career in public service. But until you address the outsourcing of our foreign policy under the Clinton Global Initiative, which saw the enrichment of private citizens and which was then embraced by the Obama administration, your noble words here will remain empty political posturing.
3
Wow Joe Biden. What a crystal clear view of what you hold dear, both personally and as a citizen of our planet. I agree with you. Leadership is about walking the talk, about trying to be better than our primal urges dictate. I hope you run for president, because your clarity of what is right needs a might platform. Good Luck.
1
Mr. Biden grasps the sweep of history that Mr. Trump lacks. He understands values which require a strong inner life of conviction, morality and clear conscience. Mr. Trump addresses world issues as if they were a big real estate deal that he can bully to his advantage. World affairs are more subtle. The bull in a china shop approach is self-defeating. Bluster is not diplomacy. I patiently await the presidential election of 2020 and Mr. Biden's democratic torch.
116
Why was there no President Walter Mondale nor President Michael Dukakis nor President Al Gore nor President John Kerry nor President Hillary Clinton?
What "democratic torch" were they carrying?
2
By most anyone's account, former Vice President Biden is a man of impeccable moral and ethical standing who almost exudes a sense of humanity and humility. Despite his many years of elected office, he always seemed to stand above the fray of the Washington political game.
I feel deeply for the personal tragedy he experienced in the loss of his son, and respect his decision as a result not to throw his hat in the ring for last year's presidential race. However, one can't help but wonder how different things might be today if he was the one sitting in the White House.
It's hard to know if Joe Biden's time is past, and Democrats now are looking to a younger generation of leaders in the future. If however, he is ready to move forward after his own personal loss in the greater service of his country, I suspect that a great many people might still welcome him with open arms in 2020.
24
As an elderly, democratic, white woman, I take issue that "American democracy is rooted in the belief that every man, woman, and child has equal rights to freedom and dignity."
That is just not accurate. Some children have access to much better schools. Some people have greater access to good health care. In some areas, people cannot even get healthy food because there are no decent grocery stores. Some people must live in the streets or ghetto like conditions. Notice the poverty in Appalachia and the living conditions on our Native American reservations. Consider the lack of good jobs. Consider those people that live in high crime areas. Respect and Dignity? Look at the hate that is spread by the alt right. Need I go on?
The United States may profess equality and dignity, but this is just not the case in the wealthiest country in the world.
Regardless of what the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, the United States and especially Republican representation is based solely on the needs of the wealthy and how they can become more wealthy. Greed.
335
"American democracy is ROOTED IN BELIEF that every man, woman, and child HAS EQUAL RIGHTS to freedom and dignity." -- the statement doesn't indicate that we've achieved it, only that we strive for it. It's like a mission statement - keeps us focused on the right things when choices are at hand.
Yes, the striving is uneven, as humans are flawed. But I believe in the mission statement wholeheartedly.
2
While I agree with your assessment of the disparity in wealth and dignity, Vice President Biden said we have "equal RIGHTS to freedom and dignity." We might not all have the means, but we all have the right. Government has failed in areas where the ability to build on these rights is nearly impossible. But as Americans, we all have the rights to freedom and dignity.
When Dreamers pay more in taxes than our "billionaire" President, it's no surprise that the wealthiest and greediest have no real desire in bringing respect and dignity to their fellow Americans.
1
Sorry to beat a dead horse, but I must reiterate what Kir Sander and ecbr are saying because we liberals often get lost in the weeds on this point: American democracy is absolutely rooted in the belief that everyone has the same rights to freedom and dignity. Our national story has been about making good on that belief, getting closer to it even as we fail to attain perfect equality. Some may resist it, but as we stumble in the dark, all of our lurches seem to eventually make headway towards our ideal that all people are created equal.
I have immense respect for the distinguished service and the winsome, humane candor of Joe Biden. And there are many important critiques, and necessary clarion calls to American values, that ring true in his column this morning. You go, Joe! I do sense, though, that there is a patina of American exceptionalism here, and a shortfall of serious grappling with the most profound global challenges that our economics and our politics--even at their best--have in fact amplified. As another commenter has noted, the post-
World War II era of nation-states, and the hegemony of first world 'values imperialism,' is evaporating. In place of "...the United States standing as a bulwark for global democracy," I think I'd want to aim for "...the United States as a strong partner for global thriving with dignity and equity." It's not that I have given up on democracy; it's that very often our protection of, and projection of, democracy has been freighted with an assortment of military,
economic and even cultural assertions that are...questionable.
5
Compare Joe Biden with Donald Trump and you have two extremes: One man is ethical, morally centered, caring and empathetic. And the other is, well, president of the United States.
Biden certainly made his share of mistakes during his long political career, but overall, as far as this Democrat is concerned, he gets high marks for consistently being on the right side of history.
Will he run in 2020?
70
"Will he run in 2020? "
The Dems could do worse. Shame he didn't run in '16. I kinda doubt they would have lost MI, PA, and WI.
1
Where you been Joe? We need you.
74
It is striking that a man who so highly values the loyalty of those around him hold to him personally, can so readily dismiss our nation's reputation as one solid in its word. Yet over and over in his transactional view of world relations, Mr. Trump is willing to break or threaten promises made by previous administrations. Our allies are on edge shaky in the notion that they can trust this nation to do what it says or to stand for its own values.
Certainly those values still exist for fewer voted for Mr. Trump than voted for others. Less than 35% of the nation agrees with him or approves of what he does/says. Still, in 4 years this one man and his minions can go a long way toward making America irrelevant. No matter how much some wish for it, we will not remove him; he is unlikely to quit. Opposition is important, but standing for the positive is also vital. Limiting the damage he can do while strongly speaking out for what America truly believes is the best path to preserving our nation, its soul and its position among the nations.
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This opinion piece muddles the facts. While Trump might be clumsy and inconsistent, that is irrelevant to the point Biden is trying to make. Biden reveals his true agenda when he prioritizes "diversity" ahead of "rule of law."
Both left and right are responsible for the dismal state of today's politics. The left wants to control everyone's minds, it wants to tell everyone how to think. The right rejects that. So when the alt-right and alt-left fight, the important priorities are lost.
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Voice: Reason is useful when informed by facts. The reality is that personal entitlement to riches is what has always driven American politics. That ideology comes in different packages--"freedom," the "government is the problem," etc. The idea that America's problems began with Alt-anything is very short of reality.
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I could not disagree more.
The left and the center want a society in which, as the Vice President properly says, the hard-won values of inclusivity, tolerance, diversity, respect for the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of the press -- in a word, decency, until recently almost universally accepted -- are again taken for granted and protected.
By contrast, the right, as it has long displayed itself, wants a pyramid society with itself up top -- free from the heavy inconveniences of taxes, regulation, any obligation to the common good, and, sadly, even the restraint of civility.
I'd rather not live there. I thus applaud the Vice President and regret those who, like Voice of Reason, seem to want an America that, history tells us, can only end in its self-destruction.
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Voice of Reason: As a life-long liberal, I can testify that we do not have an effective "left" in this country any more. The country has moved so far to the right that a centrist like Barack Obama was, and is, accused of being a socialist. Bill Clinton's triangulations worked because they moved the Democrats further to the right.
Diversity is not a priority. We are a diverse nation and we will become more diverse as we move into an uncertain future. I don't like to think what will happen if we don't nurture toleration for differences.
The idea that the left wants to control minds and the right rejects that is absurd. So is the idea that somehow liberals don't care about the rule of law. Respect for both ideas and laws is the foundation for liberalism as it used to be. It also used to be something that true conservatives advocated.
Neither alt-right nor alt-left, whatever those terms mean, represent mainstream American principles. If they are actually "fighting," it's on the periphery of political thought.
Joe Biden represents the kind of politics that have been eroded by political divisions. He wasn't always right, but he always seemed to have the best interests of this nation in his heart. I think that was his true agenda.
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The breaking promises made in our trade agreements, making vague our commitment to NATO, and reminding the world that we are putting them behind our interests is hardly is the message Trump has given our allies and others in the world. Joe Biden has reminded us that we are better than this,
If Biden's idea for Iraq was adapted by Bush we wouldn't still be there with troops in harms way.
Let's hope Mr. Biden remains active in government.
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I admire Joe Biden, but there is nothing democratic about invading and occupying countries in the Middle East and elsewhere, as much as we might abhor their values. I think this view of American empire has had its day.
Sorry Joe, but we need a new generation of leaders in Washington, ones willing to work with the world, not impose their will on others.
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The Marshall Plan?
The era of imperialism has given way to the era of globalism. I suspect there are lessons to be learned from the Marshall Plan regarding mutual flourishing on a global scale. American First-ism, which is only another form of isolationism, is a retreat from the challenges of globalism and problems, such as climate change, that only global solutions can deeply address.
If you're worried about the US imposing its will on the world, you're fighting a war from the past.
Trump is working with and for Putin. Are you happy?
Yes, a handful of US institutions have been able to contain Trump's worst impulses, by preventing him from granting Putin everything on the Kremlin's wish list.
However, the damage Trump has done to the State Department remains incalculable, and may take decades to repair. Trump has summarily fired thousands of experts who will not be available to pass on their hard-won knowledge to an incoming generation of Foreign Service novices. No one can predict today how long this Russia-friendly dismantling of US diplomatic clout will go on, or who -- if anyone! -- will reverse it.
Trump's self-serving, opportunistic flight towards Democratic Party leaders has a single objective: to prevent Democratic Congressional votes from impeaching him, by getting as many 'grateful' Democrats on his side. If he could win the Democratic nomination in 2020, Trump would leap at the chance!
Having made a bigger mess of the ME, the USA can't simply slam the door & flee from the consequences. The reason to avoid bad decisions is precisely so that one does not have to bear the burden of bad outcomes. Biden is not GW Bush: JB understands the costs.
Joe Biden has skills he is only beginning to tap. Unlike some of the other (younger) Democratic leading lights, he is neither polarizing, nor divisive. We need someone to lead the US who can build consensus & heal the nation. That requires reaffirming those core values he rightly invokes in this essay.
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avrds: "... invading and occupying countries in the Middle East and elsewhere,"
avrds: "... we need a new generation of leaders ... willing to work with the world, not impose their will on others."
If, by "elsewhere", you mean to include Afghanistan, you are making a false assumption. The military operations in Afghanistan were and still are *international*.
For lists of contributing nations, see the Wikipedia articles: "International Security Assistance Force" and "Resolute Support Mission".
The age of nations has passed, Joe, and, if we are to survive, we shall need to replace nationhood with global patriotism. We need to fly the flag of the world http://flag-of-the-world.com above the American flag. And we need to emerge a global community with a culture that works for the benefit of all life. Nothing less than a fully-inclusive worldview and universal level of concern will do.
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While I agree, the question is, how on earth do we get from here to there?
That's hilarious. Thanks for the guffaws.
3
Well said, Mr Biden, and all very true. But, more than ever our government has become one that has been bought off by big corporations and big money. Until this is addressed, cries to recover our democratic values ring hollow.
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Big corporations and big money supported Hillary, just like they supported Obama. We made an important step last year in addressing this by electing the candidate not supported by big corporations and big money.
I would love to read a comment from Mr. Biden, one of the most honest and courageous Americans of all times on why Tower 7 fell.
That will be an extraordinary example of the power of the example.
Many dubious and unresolved American affairs an actions since WWII have created a cinicism coupled with hopelessness which in part, not small, are the precursors of the current WH insanity, a WH which outstandingly was very recently occupied by Mr. Biden. It seems decades ago, it certainly feels like.
Those on the right would say "whoa, there, Mr. Vice-president: we thought we WERE reclaiming America's values".
Our founding documents envisaged a nation in which any (white) man (not yet any woman) could make a dent in the fabric of reality on his own steam, provide for his family and indeed grow rich by his own efforts. That required a nation of laws and equal treatment under them, it required that taxation be legislated not whimsical, and moderate, and it required that government invest reasonably in those public works that leveraged the efforts of individuals. Thankfully, those principles have broadened over the centuries to include by law everyone, not just white men of property. While we're still not perfect in our application of those broadened principles, we're pretty far along.
Remember that we wouldn't have the constitution we have without the promise that among the first acts of Congress would be passage of a Bill of Rights, which would protect the individual against the tyranny of government. And that promise was fulfilled.
Since then, however, a natural charity has evolved into the principle that individuals count less than the collective: just about any reduction in the status of the individual is permissible in the minds of some so long as the interests of the collective are protected and advanced. This certainly was NOT among our founding "values".
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As to world affairs, President Obama and you led an administration that claimed to evangelize American values, and what sort of world did that create in eight years? Is there a good story ANYWHERE in the world? Is any part of it more stable than it was on 20 January 2009, other than economically? Much of what you sought to evangelize all Americans can embrace, but hard-headed and objective observers might suggest that you didn't do it very well. That necessitates some tough calls, perhaps a challenging attitude even with our friends, and brinkmanship with our adversaries.
There may be more EFFECTIVE ways of evangelizing American values globally than the means you and Mr. Obama took. Domestically, we are the nation that for the first time empowered the individual to prosper and protected his rights, eventually regardless of what s(he) looks like, or where s(he) came from -- and hopefully soon whom s(he) loves. And THAT is what made the United States the greatest nation on Earth.
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In addition to the Bill of Rights, We the People also have the Preamble, where the notion of a more perfect Union (sounds sort of collective) is espoused. The individual should thrive on his own steam, and prosper by his own efforts. But absent a healthy "collective" as you call it, the individual would be hard pressed to do so. The ideas are not mutually exclusive, the are symbiotic. A healthy Union requires the efforts of individuals, and individuals require a healthy Union.
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Well said, progress has been made by standing on the shoulders of others. Industry and commerce progress on achievements of the collective and a healthy Union.
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For all criticism that has been leveled against America's foreign policy, the ideas that have shaped America have - and continue to - inspire billions throughout the world. These ideas will always be tested in a complicated world - just as they are currently being tested in a divided America - but that testing has always been a fundamental part of the American experience. And for all the discord and division that currently exists in this country today, I believe that all Americans still share a fundamental desire for freedom, equality, and justice.
Mahalo to VP Biden for reminding all of us about what it means to be an American.
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Thank you, Joe Biden, for getting to the heart of the matter: why values matter, what they accomplish, and how we risk losing them in this administration.
I was particularly struck by this sentence: "Rather than building from a narrative of freedom and democracy that inspires nations to rally together, this White House casts global affairs as a zero-sum competition — for the United States to succeed, others must lose."
It reminds me of the economic argument that a country's wealth is like a pie, with only so many slices and the only way to grow rich is to deprive someone else of their share.
Pitting America against the world is just so, well, un-American. I was raised to believe that what this country fought for--life, liberty and the freedom to pursue happiness--was a worthy goal, one the world should emulate.
Fortunately (or so I hope) I do not believe any one person can destroy these values overnight--it will take more than one man to bring us down. But as we slog forward through 2017, we need reminding of our values and why they need defending, not trashing.
This column does just that.
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As usual, Christine has a well-written argument. I think, unfortunately, that she is making an error in thinking the mess we're in is the result of one person taking action that undermines our values.
There have always been anti-democratic currents in the policy and practices of the USA. Sometimes those currents pull us into dangerous territory. Thinking about the trajectory of progress in the nation may allow us to think that the good will prevail. That's never been certain and it's not certain now.
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@Betsy S: I understand your point about one man being responsible for the mess. However, you have to admit that there is something very peculiar about Trump's base being particularly attached to him, not to the issues. It reminds me of a cult of personality, sort of a Svenghali type hold he has over their minds and hearts. Should something happen to this individual, or should he do something so egregious that it wakes them out of their spell and back into a reality they have been divorced from for a long time, there is a distinct possibility that they might regain their basic common sense. Not totally, of course, but partially, and even that would be progress.
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One the world should emulate...
Yet, not one the USA should finance.
Your partisanship is blindingly, glaring.
1
Thank you for everything you have done for our country Vice President Biden. We very much appreciate your service to our country. You've always worked to ensure that we live up to our ideals and I don't think that the progress on recent social issues would have been achieved without your nudging us to do the right thing.
While I agree with what you say here I'd like to point out that we've been so focused on international concerns for the last two decades that we've neglected our country. If we're going to continue to be effective abroad we need to invest in our country. Our infrastructure is failing and innovation has stalled. I'd love to hear a plan to address inequality.
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This is so well expressed and so true that there is simply nothing left to add.
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