Presidential Libraries Warn US Democracy Is Fragile

The Associated Press reports:

Concern for U.S. democracy amid deep national polarization has prompted the entities supporting 13 presidential libraries dating back to Herbert Hoover to call for a re-commttment to the country’s bedrock principles, including the rule of law and respecting a diversity of beliefs.

The statement released Thursday, the first time the libraries have joined to make such a public declaration, said Americans have a strong interest in supporting democratic movements and human rights around the world because “free societies elsewhere contribute to our own security and prosperity here at home.”

“But that interest,” it said, “is undermined when others see our own house in disarray.” The statement noted that “debate and disagreement” are central to democracy but also alluded to the coarsening of dialogue in the public arena during an era when officials and their families are receiving death threats.

Read the full article.

The Eisenhower Foundation declined to sign.

Presidential centers issue joint statement calling out the fragile state of US democracy https://t.co/11ALGApIB8

— WRBL News 3 (@wrblnews3) September 7, 2023