The editorial in this Saturday’s edition of The Washington Post, entitled, “The House Doesn’t Need Mr. Johnson to Save Ukraine,” makes the important point that a bipartisan combination of congressmen can use something called a “discharge petition” to bypass intransigent House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to bring a Ukrainian military aid package, namely the $94 billion package already passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, to the floor for a vote that would almost certainly pass and give the nation’s heroic resistance to Putin’s aggression there much needed help.

In fact, the effort is well underway in the House, with 179 signed onto it so far out of a total of 220 needed. It is not clear if it is going to stall out there or not, but in my view this is precisely where an enormous mobilization ought to be centered to get this done.

As I have said repeatedly in this space over the more than two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this conflict has clarified, more than anything else, who is on what side of history, when it comes to either advancing or crushing the movement toward democracy in the world.

There is no question that the United States of America should be at the head of this cause, being the world’s foremost democracy that has spent countless amounts, including of the blood of its courageous and dedicated young sons and daughters, in the effort to defend and expand democracy since its revolution in 1776 to set up the world’s first democratic state since the ancient Greeks.

This nation has itself been the proof that the establishment and ongoing efforts to advance democracies thrive far better than any other system, bringing vastly more human resources into play for our advancement through the power of will and creativity. Democracies, while never perfect (maybe someday), still are by far the most efficient and powerful means for incubating a universal good, and advancing weal (prosperity, welfare) over woe for the entire human species with breakthrough advances in science and its applications that cure the sick, feed, clothe and house the hungry and impoverished, and set a framework for peace and concord among us all.

What it requires to succeed is a simple willingness to overcome fear or hatred of the secondary differences among us. Whatever happened in the past is in the past, whatever may happen going forward must involve shedding the prejudices or injustices of the past and the adoption of a better and higher aspiration for the future. This could occur in a flash, but alas, that is not the nature of the unfolding universe of which we are all a part. It must be undertaken as a striving, a collective effort of persons who seek the same general improvements of our lives that must necessarily include the world around us.

The easy, the lazy, the immoral way out is to accept the rule of an authoritarian who claims to represent his followers’ interests, but who requires unthinking obedience. It is inevitable that such a person becomes sickened in his power and cannot steer those under his control to what would be for them a safe harbor. This, again, is in the very nature, the fabric of the reality in which we find ourselves on this planet, being governed by natural laws that hold for the entire cosmos.

Democracy is the naturally preferred reality for sentient beings like us because it takes a form most coherent with the reality we are given, that is summed up in the short, ingenious line from America’s Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (read: persons) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

So, “Happiness” is the universal objective of democracy and Jefferson’s inclusion of it in the Declaration of Independence was deliberately in place of “property.” The contrasting values tell it all.

In Ukraine, the tyrant Putin wants more property at the expense of many other people’s happiness. We democracies must do our part in the fight for more happiness, period.