At the recent Munich Security Conference, Vice President J.D. Vance said that the greatest security threat to Europe is not an external one:
“What I worry about is the threat from within - the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States.”
“We must do more than talk about democratic values. We must live them,” said Vice President Vance. He deplored the cancellation of the results of Romania’s recent election, purportedly because of Russian interference:
“You can believe it's wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections. We certainly do. ... But if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn't very strong to begin with.”
Vice President Vance also warned against the loss of free expression. “In Britain and across Europe, free speech I fear is in retreat,” he said. He pointed to European Union commissioners vowing to shut down social media during times of civil unrest if they saw what they judge to be “hateful content;” to the case of a man in Britain arrested for praying silently in front of an abortion clinic; to police raids in Germany against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist views; to the organizers of the Munich Security Conference that banned lawmakers representing populist parties from participating in the conference’s conversations.
“It looks more and more like old, entrenched interests hiding behind ugly Soviet era words like ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation,’ who simply don’t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion, or God forbid, vote a different way, or even worse, win an election.”
Vice President Vance said democratic leaders must not run in fear from their own voters:
“I believe that dismissing people, dismissing their concerns or worse yet, shutting down media, shutting down elections, or shutting people out of the political process protects nothing. In fact, it is the most surefire way to destroy democracy.”
“Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters,” declared Vice President Vance. “There’s no room for firewalls. You either uphold the principle or you don’t.”
