Former President George W. Bush delivered a speech Thursday in which he called on renewed strength in the defense of freedom around the world.
Speaking at the George W. Bush Institute's Spirit of Liberty event in New York, the 43rd president of the United States addressed the ideal of liberty and the value of American leadership. He asked listeners to face threats to the world's great democracies as well as to continue working for freedom in places that have lacked it.
"We are gathered in the cause of liberty," Bush said. "This is a unique moment. The great democracies face new and serious threats, yet seem to be losing confidence in their own calling and competence. Economic, political, and national security challenges proliferate, and they are made worse by the tendency to turn inward. The health of the democratic spirit itself is at issue, and the renewal of that spirit is the urgent task at hand."
Bush praised the advances of freedom and democracy following WWII as well as America's development into a global power helping to spread that freedom. He described that as America's "mission," saying it came naturally because of "the DNA of American idealism."
"We know deep down that repression is not the wave of the future," Bush said. "We know that the desire for freedom is not confined to or owned by any culture; it is the inborn hope of our humanity."
Bush called on listeners not to view setbacks as the failure of democracy, noting that U.S. history itself included such setbacks.
"We know that when we lose sight of our ideals, it is not democracy that has failed; it is the failure of those charged with preserving and protecting democracy," he said.
He also praised the goal of helping others find freedom, which he described as a universal human desire.
"Freedom is not merely a political menu option or a foreign policy fad," Bush said. "It should be the defining commitment of our country and the hope of the world. That appeal is proved not just by the content of people's hopes, but a noteworthy hypocrisy: No democracy pretends to be a tyranny; most tyrannies pretend they are democracies."
"Democracy remains the definition of political legitimacy. That has not changed, and that will not change," Bush added.
He also welcomed guests from repressive countries, not hesitating to criticize countries in which there is an "absence of freedom."
"I'm thrilled that friends of ours from Afghanistan, China, North Korea, and Venezuela are here," Bush said. "These are people who have experienced the absence of freedom. They know what it's like, and they know there's a better alternative than tyranny."