The Silencing Of The Chimes
America's Waning Role As A Beacon of Democracy
It’s not every day that your job involves smuggling copies of the Declaration of Independence to dissidents in a foreign country during your boss’s trip. But that’s what I did working for a U.S. Congressman in the twilight of the Cold War.
The copies had been requested by the dissidents. They were battling, peacefully, against the oppressive government ruling their land. They turned for inspiration and guidance to America: its founding scriptures, its ideals, its beacon of light in a world often darkened by authoritarianism. Chimes of freedom for those who would listen.
We are entering an age when America’s chimes are silenced. We are not saying America is no longer democratic. America remains a democracy, and democratic governments still rule a slim majority of countries worldwide. But we are entering the first era since America evolved out of the sea and muck of political systems in 1776 when it no longer can be considered a beacon of freedom. A guiding light that for centuries lit a path for those who chose to walk to liberty has gone dark.
It comes uncoincidentally at a time when authoritarianism is on the ascent. China and Russia seek to reshape the liberal rules-based order into one that will make the world safe for authoritarianism. Parties with an authoritarian bent, or at least fetish, have gained footholds in Romania, France and elsewhere. Countries which have not known liberalized politics, and which are in a time of transition, such as Syria, no longer have the American model as an inspiration to build something more than a new dictatorship.
Now, of course, this is where people will stand up and loudly describe America’s myriad and many faults and state it was never a model for democracy. It is such attitudes and declamations that have led us to the current situation—a world without a beacon of democratic light for the world to follow.
America was never perfect. Like any human crafted institution, endeavor or project, it was deeply flawed. Slavery, and then Jim Crow, was embedded in the country for centuries. The country committed crimes against humanity against indigenous populations. It has committed discrimination against a wide range of ethnicities, suffered economic troubles, damaged the environment, and instigated ill-conceived military ventures.
Americans themselves have pointed out these failings and contradictions from the start, usually with an aim to fixing them. And over time, America did evolve, sometimes violently, to address many of the issues that ail it. But, of course, it never became perfect. And so, you may ask, how could America ever have been held up as a model for the rest of the world?
Well, first, as Einstein proved, everything is relative. Sure, America in 1789, even as it launched a new model in freedom, was also doing all sorts of dastardly things. But do critics of the American founders think the Archduchy of Austria, the Asante Empire and the Qing Dynasty were pillars of progressive values? Was America in 1950 problematic? Definitely. Was much of the rest of the world non-democratic back then and far worse? Of course.
It is not just in comparison that people held America up as an ideal and something to emulate—America is also, as many have discussed, an idea. The idea of America, its principles, ideals, and aspirations of freedom and liberty, equality and justice, innovation and progress, pluralism and inclusion, experimentation and renewal, and yes, democracy and governance—the American Dream—is what inspired so many around the world and led to a democratic evolution of much of that world—fitfully—since 1776.
When we worked for that U.S. Representative in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we often interacted with dissidents and activists from other countries. Whether from Latin America, Asia, Africa, Russia or Eastern Europe, they often invoked the idea of America, quoting from its political scriptures. And they did indeed ask for copies of the Declaration of Independence, a difficult text to find in their oppressive countries and in the pre-Internet era. Perhaps no more persuasive and impactful words have ever been written than:
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—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
In recent decades, Americans on the Left and the Right have attacked not just the faults and weaknesses of America, but the whole American project itself. It became common place on the Left to complain of dead White American founders who were slave owners and list all their other faults and foibles. For historical accuracy and understanding of America, this is important to do but for too many hurling these accusations that was not the aim. Rather than add nuance to our understanding of America, or to work to correct its ills, they want to discredit it. America’s founding was in their view not a good thing for the world, it was not one that could lead to long arcs of justice. It was instead nothing special, another bad effort from a bad group of people. We are always struck by the arrogance of such views, of such efforts. Such people have outsized views of themselves. They believe in the milieu of the 18th century that they somehow would have created something better, that they would have been better, even within the circumstances and realities they would have faced.
The Right also, especially in recent years, tears at the fabric of the idea of America and at its being a fit model for the world. On right wing media, America is described as a hellhole, a failing nation. The once and future president of the United States Donald Trump in the most recent campaign said, “We are a nation that is hostile to liberty, freedom, and faith. We are a nation whose economy has collapsed.”
But the right’s largest attack on America’s role as a model for political liberalization around the world was Trump’s attacks against the legitimacy of the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the certification of the election. By illegitimately attacking the legitimacy of the election, Trump, his cronies and the mob took an axe to the idea of America. Trump has declared repeatedly he will pardon the January 6 insurrectionists. As the Trump administration prepares to take power for a second term, the New York Times reports that prospective occupants of posts in the new administration are asked whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen. The article states that there was only one right answer to that question.
Given all of this, no longer can a dissident in Russia, a political aspirant in Yemen, an underground reformer in China be able to point to America as a model. Between the far left and far right, one would get the impression that America is the worst country in the history of the world and a complete disaster as an economy and society.
Saying that America is no longer a light for political liberalization in the world is different than saying America is no longer a leader in the world. Post World War II, American leadership has slowly waned over time (you’re going to miss me when I’m gone). During the first Trump administration the rest of the world started to adjust to a lack of American leadership. This was true for allies such as Europe and Japan who could no longer count on American security guarantees. It was also true for adversaries such as China and Russia who saw an opening to change the world order and be more assertive in their goals. Just this week, Xi Jinping told former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that “the ruling parties of both countries would further strengthen their coordination and cooperation to lead global governance.”
A second Trump administration will likely further cement other countries adjusting to this new world, one very different from the last 70 years. It’s interesting to contrast the statements of Biden and Trump on the overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria. Biden said the U.S. will support Syria’s neighbors—Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Israel—from any threats arising from the change in Syria. And he said the United States will, “ensure stability in eastern Syria…” Trump, on the other hand, in a post on Truth Social, said, “In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, and the UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”
These are two very different approaches. Biden’s approach is tied to America as leader of the free world. Trump’s the exact opposite.
Whether you are in favor of one or the other of these approaches, the question of American leadership is not what we are talking about here. It is not American leadership that we are asserting is now gone (though it certainly is, for good or bad). It is America as a role model, as a beacon of light for democratic movements around the world. That, too, is gone, and means something very different for the future than America’s leadership role going away.
We are in a different world where America no longer chimes the chords of freedom, regardless of whether it is isolationist, activist or something between in its foreign policy. The United States has been isolationist in the past. But even during its isolationist phases, people around the world still looked to it as a model for political liberalization. A world without American leadership is one of a different international structure. A world without the idea of America is one of different moral parameters.
China’s economic success is the great dark counter example to the American dream and story. China has shown you can bring hundreds of millions out of absolute poverty, build world leading technology sectors and provide economically satisfying lives all while clamping down on basic freedoms (though for how long is yet to be determined). Even as America’s beacon of light extinguishes, China’s dark shadow looms larger. It has provided a different path for aspirants around the world to walk down. Where once South Korea and Taiwan followed the American model and liberalized politically as they developed economically, countries such as Vietnam can instead follow the China model: become more authoritarian while developing economically.
Is there a substitute for the beacon, something else that can help light the way in these troubled times? The European Union currently seems ill-fit for the role. Its largest economy, Germany, is in a deep malaise. France is having its own political challenges. The EU structure itself is a model of bureaucracy not a beacon of liberty.
Perhaps India, the world’s largest democracy is the next great hope. But its economy is still relatively undeveloped. We can envision India taking the freedom role in a few decades but for now it seems premature to hope that it can provide a model for the world.
Or maybe the world can turn back towards political liberalization even without America as a model. Perhaps this will be the greatest test of the words “we hold these truths to be self-evident.” Perhaps the idea that democracy is still the worst system except for all the others will prevail without the old American idea. Perhaps the chimes of freedom will still flash for those willing to see them. We’re about to find out.