BEAM CEO Veterans Day Message

Today we give thanks to those who have served this nation in the armed forces. All of them have faced the potential for great risk to their lives and wellbeing. Over 1 million have paid the ultimate price – laying down their lives so that we might live ours in the free and democratic peace for which this great nation is so justly known.

Recently there have been those, at home and internationally, who claim that our democracy is not working. They claim, for whatever gain they pursue, that the essential cornerstone of this great democracy, unfettered and secure voting, has been sabotaged; that fraud, conspiracy and politically motivated malfeasance, on the part of the bureaucracy, has frustrated the will of the people. This is the stuff of Banana Republics, not the greatest democracy that has ever existed. To propose, in 2020 America, that elections are being stolen, voting rigged and legitimate ballots cast aside, suggests that our veteran’s efforts and sacrifices were in vain; that the core principles for which they risked all, no longer exist in the U.S.

I cannot accept that. I am an immigrant. I have lived and worked in many countries where the rule of law does not exist, where democracy is not even pretended, and where the tyrant claims a right to rule, unmolested by the wishes of the common people. In these places there is no hint of similarity with the United States – nothing whatsoever in common. The differences are so stark as to be impossible to miss.

The system works here. Rule of law is supreme. There is a competent and committed bureaucracy.  Even during a global pandemic, the system works (and has adapted). Even during economic turmoil and fear, the system works. Even in the face of disinformation, lies and fearmongering, the system works. During the days and weeks to come, whatever else happens or is said, the system will work.

So, I say to those at home who cast doubt upon the system, and to those nation-states who wish to see a decline in American Democracy and Exceptionalism – you will not succeed. American Democracy is alive and well. The utterances of individuals and the interference of outsiders cannot dent its integrity. Liberty’s light shines – not anew, but as it always has, and always will.

To our veterans, living and passed, the system you defended is healthy. We thank you for it. We owe you everything and we will do anything, just as you risked everything, to preserve it. We will not allow it to be squandered.

I wish you all a peaceful Veterans day at home in this great nation where division is of our making and ours to heal, and the system you have safeguarded continues to provide the endless possibilities that all Americans revere and cherish.

Thank you.
Desmond Wheatley, CEO of Beam Global