[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 94 (Thursday, June 7, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3274-S3275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Protecting the Values of Freedom

  Now, Mr. President, let me speak for a few minutes on our unique 
standing in the world and the opportunities and responsibilities that 
come as a result of that standing.
  From its very creation, the United States of America has played a 
vital role in world leadership. Our Founding Fathers showed how a band 
of colonies could not only break free from a despotic monarchy but 
could build a functional democracy on the sturdy scaffold of life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They entrenched this hallowed 
trio of principles within our Declaration of Independence, making 
America the first country in the world to be born not of accidents of 
geography or of Tribe but of an idea--a powerful idea--the idea of 
freedom.
  More than 100 years later, at the turn of the 20th century, one that 
would come to be called the American Century, President Theodore 
Roosevelt used his inaugural address to highlight America's role: A 
country that had broken free from tyranny had a moral obligation to 
help others do likewise.
  Roosevelt said:

       Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be 
     expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to 
     ourselves; and we can shirk neither. We have become a great 
     nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations 
     with other nations of the earth, and we must behave as 
     beseems a people with such responsibilities.

  This declaration alerted Americans that the Nation had arrived at a 
new position of global leadership, and it remains as true today as it 
was then.
  The 20th century saw the United States transition from being merely 
one voice for freedom and liberty to become the preeminent leader of 
that sacred cause across the world. In the 40 years that followed 
Roosevelt's speech, American men and women would twice be called on to 
fight for peace in the face of World War. Hundreds of thousands of 
Americans would selflessly lay down their lives for the freedom of 
others.
  Indeed, nowhere in our national history has that been more clearly 
displayed than 74 years ago yesterday, when, on the beaches of 
Normandy, thousands of Americans paid the ultimate sacrifice to free 
our European allies from the most unspeakable tyranny the world has 
ever known.
  Yet this Nation's transformation into an indispensable nation, a 
necessary nation, was not crafted by military might alone. It was our 
efforts to build up international institutions and norms aimed at 
fostering democratic ideals and free market principles that truly 
secured the global leadership some would now squander.
  I believe President Reagan best described the importance of this 
broader American role when, during an address to the British 
Parliament, in the depth of the Cold War, he said this:

       Our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let 
     it be clear we maintain this strength in the hope it will 
     never be used, for the ultimate determinant in the struggle 
     that's now going on in the world will not be bombs and 
     rockets, but a test of wills and ideas, a trial of spiritual 
     resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish, the 
     ideals to which we are dedicated.

  By 1945, the United States had contributed about half of the world's 
entire economic activity, and, in 1991, we emerged from the Cold War as 
the world's sole superpower. The Soviet Union was in a glorious free 
fall, shedding republics by the day. Eastern Europe was squinting out 
into the light of liberation for the first time in 40 years. Free 
markets and free minds were sweeping the world.
  I vividly recall the fall of the Berlin Wall. At the time, I was in 
Africa, assisting in the transition to democracy of the newly 
independent country of Namibia, as it shrugged off the shackles of 
apartheid.
  A continent away, a dissident playwright, Vaclav Havel, emerged from 
a Communist prison to become the President of a liberated 
Czechoslovakia. In appearing before a joint session of our Congress, he 
praised the powerful inspiration of American democracy, and he thanked 
us for liberating Europe, once again, ``from the tyrant's grip.''
  Both 1945 and 1991 were moments of American global success, when this 
Nation could have easily chosen to have turned inward and to have left 
the rest of the community of nations to fend for themselves or we could 
have simply maintained our dominance through sheer economic supremacy 
and military strength. We chose neither.
  Instead, we chose to build the foundations of a global order based on 
the values we venerate, the beliefs we cherish, the ideals we aspire 
to--a world in which leaders must earn the respect of their peers, not 
through the coercive tactics of bluster and threat but through the 
virtues of their actions and the wisdom of their policies.
  Winston Churchill famously opined, ``Democracy is the worst form of 
Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from 
time to time.'' It was a wry acknowledgement that however messy it may 
sometimes seem in practice, democracy's genius lies in its regular 
renewal of the people's mandate, what Thomas Jefferson called the 
``consent of the governed.''
  It is our responsibility to be the premier example of this democratic 
order. This is the golden thread that leads all the way back to our 
Founding Fathers, but today that golden thread of continuity is in 
danger of being snapped.
  Today we appear to be turning our back on this responsibility--a 
responsibility upheld by previous generations--the same generations 
that crafted the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe and Japan after World 
War II, helping to

[[Page S3275]]

shape our two most aggressive enemies into two of our most stalwart 
allies; the generations who crafted pivotal international organizations 
such as NATO, the United Nations, and the World Trade Organization, 
forums for multilateral compromise to take the place of war as the 
primary arbiter of conflict between nations; the generations who 
negotiated nuclear disarmament treaties, pulling us back from the brink 
of atomic Armageddon--but no more.
  Instead we find ourselves today led by those who express admiration 
for authoritarianism in Russia, China, the Philippines, and other 
places that make common cause with bullies and who flirt with tyrants. 
We see a world descending into an atavistic tribalism, a political 
primitivism where dealings between nations are driven by fear and 
antagonism, bullying and threats, taunts and brinkmanship, rather than 
mutual benefit and comity.
  We find ourselves led by those who would fall for isolationist 
instincts and antiquated, preindustrial, protectionist economic 
philosophies--the very same shortsighted nostrums that ushered in the 
Great Depression. Those who would reject the decades-long consensus on 
the virtues of free trade, open markets, international 
interdependence--the policies which have led to the greatest sustained 
growth our world has ever seen.
  What shall our friends make of such erratic behavior? How will they 
respond to such confusing actions? Most importantly, how long will they 
remain our friends if this irrational approach continues?
  Alliances, institutions, and pacts that took generations to patiently 
build, generations more to solidify, that were paid for in both blood 
and treasure, are shattered in an ill-tempered second, an ill-
considered tantrum, a childish taunt here, a bellicose insult there, 
incoherent policy utterances, often as not by tweet, contradicted in 
the space of a single news cycle. Muddled and mercurial, this is not 
grownup leadership. Our allies are left baffled, confused, and often 
appalled.
  Make no mistake, our allies and those who look to American leadership 
will not wait for us to come to our senses. If we abandon our role as a 
leader in the world today, it may very well not be there tomorrow. We 
saw this vividly displayed in the decision to withdraw from the Trans-
Pacific Partnership. After we hastily withdrew from those negotiations, 
the 11 other countries involved did not go home. They did not give up 
on trade or come back to us on bended knee, begging us to rejoin the 
process. They simply shrugged and continued on their own, leaving us 
behind.
  Countries in Southeast Asia that would prefer to be part of the 
American trade orbit will have no other choice than to be sucked into 
China's vortex. This is the same China our President correctly 
acknowledges as America's primary global competitor. Once again, the 
absurdity of protectionist policies is laid bare.
  The question facing us today is this: Do we really want to be the 
generation that finally gave in to the backward, regressive tug of 
American isolationism? Do we want future generations to refer to 
American leadership in the world only in the past tense, with a rueful 
nostalgia? Are we truly ready to abandon this ``shining city on a 
hill'' described by John Winthrop and echoed so eloquently by Ronald 
Reagan? Do we believe the United States of America is still ``the last 
best hope on earth,'' as Abraham Lincoln once proclaimed?
  We are not perfect. We have faltered in our leadership at times; at 
others we have struggled to determine how best to project our national 
values, but it is our leadership as the designated driver of the 
vehicle of world order, the so-called Pax Americana that for more than 
70 years has maintained unprecedented peace and prosperity throughout 
the world. Yes, the world we live in is far from perfect, but I believe 
it is a far better place as a result of American leadership.
  It has been said that the universe abhors a vacuum, and if we do not 
lead, someone else will. Those who are most likely to do so do not 
share our democratic values. We should not wish for future generations 
of Americans to come of age in a world led by someone else.
  ``Freedom,'' as John F. Kennedy once proclaimed, ``is not merely a 
word or an abstract theory, but the most effective instrument for 
advancing the welfare of man.'' We owe it to those generations who have 
come before us, and those who will come after us, to recognize that our 
defense of that freedom, in all its forms--from free speech and free 
thought to free markets and free trade--is not an act of recreation. 
Let us pointedly declare to those who would suggest otherwise that the 
crossroads in which we find ourselves is not the early innings of any 
game but a historic moment in which we will either affirm our 
commitment to the values that have served so well for so long or engage 
in a trade war that will only lead to economic disaster. Let us not 
falter in our mission to promote and protect the values of freedom. Let 
us not turn away from this most noble of responsibilities. Let us 
proudly take the torch passed to us from our parents and our parents' 
parents.
  Let us continue to serve as a beacon of hope, a shining light of 
freedom seen across a volatile world. This light stretches from the 
lanterns in Boston's Old North Church, lit during the ride of Paul 
Revere, to the light that shines above our Capitol today. It is the 
light of freedom, the very spirit of America, and it must never be 
extinguished.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I thank Senator Flake for his comments, 
his willingness to speak out, and for the courage with which he has 
spoken. His beliefs, I think, are admirable, and this Senator wants to 
state that for the record. What he has spoken about does not look down 
the blind alley of partisanship. He is talking about looking at 
America, and this Senator appreciates his remarks.