Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

US State Department Highlights Ambassador Evans Speech

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • US State Department Highlights Ambassador Evans Speech

    US STATE DEPARTMENT
    15 June 2005

    Principles in U.S. Declaration of Independence Remain Powerful
    John Evans, U.S. envoy to Armenia, discusses U.S. principles of freedom
    The principles of freedom and democracy contained in the American
    Declaration of Independence have echoed down through the centuries, and the
    power of those principles is bringing change to countries around the world,
    said U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John M. Evans in a June 10 speech in
    Yerevan, Armenia.
    "The idea that 'all men are created equal' and are 'endowed by their Creator
    with certain inalienable rights' was put forward as a universal claim. It
    has been cited by revolutionaries seeking to break the bonds of oppression
    from South America to Africa to Asia," Evans told an audience of more than
    100 students and faculty of the American University of Armenia.
    Having unleashed these revolutionary ideas into the world in 1776, he said,
    the United States "has never wavered in its basic commitment to them. And
    the spirit of democracy that we attempt to live by, that we try to
    demonstrate in our daily lives and in our political life, is contagious."
    "It is primarily the power of those principles and ideals, and not the power
    of today's American Government and its embassies, that is bringing change to
    countries around the world," Evans said.
    He noted that in the wake of the so-called Rose, Orange and Tulip
    revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, some conspiracy theorists
    have suggested that the United States is busy fomenting revolution.
    "These allegations are, of course, entirely unfounded," the ambassador said.
    "The United States Government is not embarked on a campaign to destabilize
    the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, which we count
    among our friends. The United States does not advocate mob violence in the
    streets or unconstitutional or illegal activities of any sort."
    He said the United States gives material support to governments, parliaments
    political parties and nongovernmental organizations "to help them
    establishment of conditions in which democracy, and free and fair elections
    in particular, can flourish."
    Evans quoted President Bush, who said in a speech in May that there are
    always setbacks in the transition from tyranny to a free society, but those
    countries that succeed do so because they are able to establish free
    institutions. "So to help young democracies succeed, we must help them
    build free institutions," the president said.
    "Far from giving up on this part of the world, and making the condescending
    assumption that populations of the newly independent states of the former
    Soviet Union are somehow 'not ready' for democracy, the United States has
    persisted in its encouragement of the development of true democratic
    institutions," Evans said.
    He noted that in Bush's second inaugural address, the president said "it is
    the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic
    movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate
    goal of ending tyranny in our world."
    Evans explained that "this is not a call to revolution in the streets;
    rather it is a challenge to all citizens of the world to engage in the hard,
    daily work of perfecting the democratic institutions of their own
    countries."
    As for Armenia, he said, the task of building democracy "has been well
    started," but that work still needs to be done in building and strengthening
    the institutions that make a democracy function.
    "The United States remains committed to helping Armenia -- its government,
    courts, parliament, political parties and citizens -- build, strengthen and
    refine the free institutions of which President Bush has spoken," the
    ambassador said.
    Following is the text of Ambassador Evans' speech on "The Continuing Effect
    of the American Revolution":
    (begin text)
    U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John M. Evans
    Remarks at American University of Armenia
    Yerevan, Armenia
    June 10, 2005
    THE CONTINUING EFFECT OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
    I am delighted to be with you this evening at the American University of
    Armenia. There is nothing more important to the development of any society
    than education, and this relatively new university is already making a solid
    contribution to this old, but newly independent land, the Republic of
    Armenia. I am proud that the United States Government supported the
    establishment of this institution, and continues to support its quest for
    full accreditation. The State of California, among the fifty states of our
    Union, is a proven leader in public education, and this university's
    connection with the University of California seems to me a most appropriate
    and fortunate one.
    This evening I want to address a subject that has been much in the news
    following the Rose Revolution in Georgia eighteen months ago, the contested
    elections in Ukraine last fall, and the recent events in Kyrgyzstan and
    Uzbekistan. I have borrowed the title of my talk from the eminent British
    historian Arnold Toynbee, who delivered a lecture in Williamsburg, Virginia,
    a cradle of the American Revolution, forty-four years ago today, on June 10,
    1961. Toynbee entitled that lecture "The Continuing Effect of the American
    Revolution." The subject was relevant then, and it is newly relevant again
    today. I will state my conclusion here at the outset: the principles of the
    American Revolution continue to reverberate down through the centuries to
    our own day, but it is primarily the power of those principles and ideals,
    and not the power of today's American Government and its embassies, that is
    bringing change to countries around the world, and to this region in
    particular.
    There has been much loose talk and conspiracy theorizing in the post-Soviet
    media about the so-called Rose, Orange and Tulip revolutions and what
    brought them about. There has been considerable speculation about what
    country in this region might be "next in line" for a revolution in the
    streets. One hears and reads that U.S. embassies have been turned into
    headquarters for fomenting such revolutions, that millions of dollars have
    been channeled to groups plotting to seize power. I have not yet heard it
    alleged that the United States has sent anyone into this part of the world
    in a sealed train, but it would not surprise me to hear such a thing.
    These allegations are, of course, entirely unfounded. The United States
    Government is not embarked on a campaign to destabilize the newly
    independent states of the former Soviet Union, which we count among our
    friends. The United States does not advocate mob violence in the streets or
    unconstitutional or illegal activities of any sort. To the contrary, we
    believe whole-heartedly in the principle that the citizens of a democratic
    state should choose their new leaders via the ballot box, through free and
    fair elections. And we are unabashed about saying so. We also are
    unashamed of the fact that we have extended material support to governments,
    parliaments, political parties and non-governmental organizations in this
    part of the world to help them establish the conditions in which democracy,
    and free and fair elections in particular, can flourish. Far from giving up
    on this part of the world, and making the condescending assumption that
    populations of the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union are
    somehow "not ready" for democracy, the United States has persisted in its
    encouragement of the development of true democratic institutions. The
    people -- the voters - of Armenia and other countries in this region deserve
    no less.
    But let us go back for a minute to the eighteenth century and the American
    Revolution, and to Arnold Toynbee.
    It has been said that the division between the English-speaking peoples of
    the world that took place in the last quarter of the eighteenth century was
    a tragedy for mankind. Be that as it may, one effect of the American
    Revolution was to alienate Americans from their English cousins. It is
    indicative that Toynbee was only the second Englishman to be invited to
    address the annual Prelude to Independence celebration in Williamsburg.
    John Kennedy was our new president at that time, and Toynbee's main purpose
    was to explore the question of whether the United States would prove true to
    the principles of its own revolution, as Kennedy had recently indicated in
    his inaugural address that it might. Toynbee pointed out that every
    revolution since 1776 had owed something to the American Revolution. He
    warned that if America did not choose to lead humanity toward a more free,
    just and democratic future, others would claim that right. He noted, in
    1961, that the majority of mankind was suffering not only from political
    injustice, but from social and economic injustices as well. He called on the
    United States to take the lead in what he called the "American-born world
    revolution of our time."
    Let us look back at the American Revolution itself. The men who made the
    Revolution were educated men, lawyers mostly, steeped in the thinking of
    John Locke and other theoreticians of what was, at that time, the most
    advanced political culture in the world. They were Englishmen still, very
    hesitant, for the most part, to break with the Mother Country until a series
    of ill-advised actions taken by the Government of Lord North drove them to
    the extreme expedient of declaring their independence. England herself had
    gone through a bloody civil war and the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688.
    Many, if not most, of the principles of the American Revolution were already
    established in English precedent. But like most revolutions, the American
    Revolution had its origin not only in the thinking and writing of
    philosophers and intellectuals, but in a spark provided by a real political
    crisis. In the American case, it was the imposition of taxes and customs
    duties, on tea and other goods, that ignited the conflict. The high-handed
    actions of the British Crown and Parliament revealed and made actionable
    their lack of accountability to the citizens they presumed to govern. "No
    taxation without representation" became the fighting slogan of the American
    Revolution.
    The men who made the American Revolution were, with the possible exceptions
    of John and Sam Adams in Boston, Thomas Paine in Philadelphia and Patrick
    Henry in Virginia, not hot-blooded or inclined to violence. It took several
    years for the trans-Atlantic dispute over taxes and import duties to reach
    the point of no return. But when the first shot rang out at Lexington and
    Concord in the spring of 1776, it was indeed, "a shot heard 'round the
    world."
    Although it began as a dispute over taxes and import duties, the American
    Revolution ultimately gave voice to certain principles that were said even
    at the time to have universal applicability, and which have, indeed, proven
    to have universal appeal. It is those principles, and not the machinations
    of the American foreign policy apparatus, that account for the "continuing
    effect of the American Revolution."
    Toynbee noted in his speech in Williamsburg in 1961 that Britain herself was
    actually the first country to profit from the liberalizing impetus of the
    American Revolution. France's Revolution may have been stimulated in part
    by the American example, but its excesses had a chilling effect on most of
    Continental Europe. Once recovered from the trauma of dealing with
    Napoleon, Great Britain went on to adopt the Reform Bill of 1832, and the
    19th century saw Britain become the leading example of a limited
    constitutional monarchy -- albeit without a written constitution, which
    eloquently demonstrates that the spirit of democracy, and the daily
    implementation of democratic principles, may well be more important than
    what is written down on paper.
    The American Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776 in
    Philadelphia contains principles that have echoed down the centuries. The
    idea that "all men are created equal" and are "endowed by their Creator with
    certain inalienable rights" was put forward as a universal claim. It has
    been cited by revolutionaries seeking to break the bonds of oppression from
    South America to Africa to Asia.
    Having unleashed these revolutionary ideas into the world, the United States
    has at various times taken greater or lesser interest in propagating them
    overseas, but it has never wavered in its basic commitment to them. And the
    spirit of democracy that we attempt to live by, that we try to demonstrate
    in our daily lives and in our political life, is contagious.
    The idealist and student of American history Woodrow Wilson was perhaps the
    most outspoken of our Presidents on the desirability of "making the world
    safe for democracy," as he put it. But in our own time, President Reagan
    and President Bush have renewed the call for liberty that first was heard in
    the Declaration of Independence. In his Second Inaugural Address, President
    Bush stated clearly that "it is the policy of the United States to seek and
    support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation
    and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world." This
    is not a call to revolution in the streets; rather it is a challenge to all
    citizens of the world to engage in the hard, daily work of perfecting the
    democratic institutions of their own countries, to make governments fully
    accountable to their citizens, to reinforce the rule of law and to ensure
    respect for the individual. This challenge is in many ways more demanding
    than a simple call for revolution, because it asks of each of us that we
    contribute our time, efforts and skills in the arts of public discourse to a
    never-ending struggle.
    Let me quote Professor Toynbee once again. As he put it, in an echo of
    Winston Churchill's famous phrase, "...democracy has proved itself by
    experience to be the least unsatisfactory of all political regimes that have
    been devised so far." But he went on to say that "Democracy, in the sense
    of representative self-government. . .has been indigenous in only a few
    countries; and, even in these countries, it has taken ages of time, and
    successions of efforts and sacrifices to bring democracy to maturity.
    Democracy is difficult to achieve and to maintain, because it requires for
    its successful operation the active cooperation of a large contingent of
    able, experienced, and public-spirited citizens. . . The supply of citizens
    of the kind that is democracy's lifeblood has never been sufficient even in
    the handful of countries in which democracy is indigenous and more or less
    effective."
    This, of course, is where education comes in, and where a university of this
    kind can play a major role. Not that democracies should be run by
    intellectuals, but an educated citizenry that can engage in civilized debate
    and think about the important issues facing society, and not just about
    where the next meal is coming from, is essential.
    The job of building and perfecting democracy is never completely done. As
    President Bush said recently, "the path to a free society is long and not
    always smooth." Speaking at a dinner of the International Republican
    Institute recently, the President recalled the history of our own country,
    noting that "the American Revolution was followed by years of chaos" and
    that "it took a four-year war, and a century of struggle after that, before
    the promise of our Declaration [of Independence] was extended to all
    Americans." And, the President said, "No nation in history has made the
    transition from tyranny to a free society without setbacks and false starts.
    What separates those nations that succeed from those that falter is their
    progress in establishing free institutions. So to help young democracies
    succeed, we must help them build free institutions to fill the vacuum
    created by change."
    Let me relate what I have been saying -- and what the President has said --
    to the Republic of Armenia.
    The job of building democracy in the Republic of Armenia has been well
    started. The main principles of freedom and democracy have found their
    expression in the Constitution and major legislation that is now on the
    books. But what still needs work is the job of building and strengthening
    the institutions that make a democracy function as it should. The United
    States remains committed to helping Armenia -- its government, courts,
    parliament, political parties and citizens -- build, strengthen and refine
    the free institutions of which President Bush has spoken. Over the next few
    years, and in particular in the time remaining before the elections of 2007
    and 2008, the United States will work actively with our Armenian partners to
    help make those institutions as good as they can be, for the good of the
    people of Armenia, and for the advancement of freedom in the world. As
    President Bush said on May 18, "This is the challenge of a new century. It
    is the calling of our time. And America will do its duty."
    Thank you for your attention.
    (end text)
    (Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
    Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
Working...
X