With midterms just around the corner, President Biden delivered a prime time speech on Wednesday pleading with voters to not give up on Democracy and the "American experiment."
Speaking from the Columbus Club in Union Station, near Washington's U.S. Capitol, Biden reminded that this isn't the first time Americans have prepared to vote in the midst of chaos, and it won't be the last, but we should all do so anyway in a combined effort to turn back the tides.
"There's been anger before in America," Biden says. "There's been division before in America. But we've never given up on the American experiment. We can't do that now. The remarkable thing about American Democracy is this: Just enough of us, on just enough occasions, have chosen not to dismantle Democracy, but to preserve Democracy. We must choose that path again."
"Even in our darkest moments, there are fundamental values and beliefs that unite us as Americans," Biden furthered. "And they must unite us now."
Listing those values, Biden highlighted the belief that a vote in America is sacred.
"A vote is not a partisan tool, to be counted when it helps your candidate, and tossed aside when it doesn't."
Looking into next week's elections, Biden readied voters for the challenges and obstacles that will present themselves at the polls.
"As I stand here today," Biden says, "there are candidates running for every level of office in America . . . who won't commit to accepting the results of the election that they're running in . . . it's unprecedented. It's unlawful. It's un-American. I've said it before, you can't love your country only when you win."
"This is no ordinary year. I ask you to think long and hard about the moment we're in. In a typical year, we're often not faced with questions whether the vote we cast will preserve Democracy, or put us at risk, but this year we are."
As President Biden went further into his hopes for the midterms, he asked voters to consider if, while casting their votes, the people they're hoping to elect will actually accept the results of the election.
"In the answer to that question, hangs the future of the country we love," Biden says. "Because we've enjoyed our freedoms for so long, it's easy to think they'll always be with us, no matter what. But that isn't true today."
