[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 168 (Friday, December 17, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H8774-H8775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DR. RICHARD LEVIN COMMENCEMENT SPEECH EXCERPTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. YARMUTH. Madam Speaker, last May, President Richard Levin of Yale 
University delivered a commencement speech, and I think the message he 
conveyed in that speech is worth repeating here for the Members of this 
body and also for the American people. I am going to read a portion of 
the speech and then include the entire commencement speech for the 
Record. These are the words of Dr. Richard Levin:
  ``Aristotle tells us that we are by nature political animals. But one 
wonders whether we would recognize the species we have become. Eighteen 
months ago, the United States elected a new President who was prepared 
to address intelligently and collaboratively the most pressing problems 
confronting the Nation--education, health care, climate change, and 
improving America's image in the rest of the world. Late in the 
election campaign, the financial crisis intervened, and economic 
recovery and financial sector reform were added to this ambitious 
agenda.
  ``What has happened since does not inspire great confidence in the 
capacity of our system to deal intelligently with important problems. 
Why is this happening?''
  Dr. Levin says: ``Let me make two observations and then trace their 
implications for how you might conduct yourselves as citizens and 
participants in political life. First, contemporary political 
discussion is too often dominated by oversimplified ideologies with 
superficial appeal to voters. And, second, political actors in the 
United States give too much weight to the interests of groups with the 
resources to influence their reelection and too little attention to the 
costs and benefits of their actions on the wider public.
  ``In the Federalist No. 10, James Madison addresses the second of 
these observations in the context of the fledgling republic established 
by the U.S. Constitution. He notes that the tendency to pursue self-
interest can never be entirely suppressed, but it can be mitigated by 
the proper design of political institutions.
  ``The protections that our form of government offers against ideology 
and faction have attenuated greatly since Madison's time, for at least 
two reasons. First, mass communication increases the opportunity to 
sway voters by appeal to simple formulations. Of course, the rise of 
mass communication could be a tool for raising the level of discourse 
through more effective education of the electorate. But it interacts 
with the second attenuating factor: that the money required to win 
elections through the media has created a dependence on funding from 
special interest groups. And it is these interest groups who distort 
reasoned dialogue by sponsoring oversimplified messages.
  ``To move beyond ideology and faction, we need to raise the level of 
political discourse. You, as the emerging leaders of your generation,'' 
he told the students, ``must rise to the challenge.
  ``In the first paragraph of the Federalist No. 1, writing about the 
infant republic whose constitution he was endeavoring to defend, 
Alexander Hamilton asserts:
  ``It has frequently been remarked that it seems to have been reserved 
to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide 
the important question, whether societies are really capable or not of 
establishing good government from reflection and choice.
  ``There is much in America's history of the past two-and-a-quarter 
centuries that would incline us to conclude that Hamilton's question 
has been answered in the affirmative. Our institutions of 
representative government have proven themselves to be durable, the 
rule of law has prevailed, and the scope of personal liberty has 
expanded far beyond what the Founders envisioned. But today, in the 
face of oversimplified ideology and the dominance of narrow interests, 
we must wonder again whether Hamilton's question is still open.
  ``Women and men of the Yale College class of 2010,'' Dr. Levin said, 
``it falls to you, the superbly educated leaders of your generation, to 
rise above ideology and faction, to bring to bear your intelligence and 
powers of critical thinking to elevate public discourse, to participate 
as citizens, and to answer the call to service. Only with your 
commitment can we be certain that our future will be decided by 
reflection and choice in the broad best interest of humanity. You can 
do it. Yes, you can.''
  Madam Speaker, Dr. Levin made this call to the young women and men 
who will lead our Nation in the years to come. But all of us should 
listen.
  As we end this Congress and begin a new one, our Nation faces 
challenges as complex as they are consequential, and we stand at a 
tipping point. More special interest money is flooding our political 
system than ever before. Congress is the most partisan it has been in 
history. The media is often more a source of polarization than 
information. And the American people don't know whom to believe, if 
anyone; and I don't blame them.
  The result is that our ability to have serious discussions about 
serious challenges is severely damaged. And now arguably the most 
significant challenge facing our country is figuring out how to have 
those conversations. That must be our calling for the 112th Congress. 
If we fail in this effort, we not only fail Congress, we fail our 
country.

               Baccalaureate Address: Reclaiming Politics

              President Richard C. Levin, Yale University

       What a journey you have had! Four years of exploring a 
     place so rich with treasure: courses taught by some of the 
     world's most brilliant and creative scholars and scientists, 
     a library with few peers, museums that expose you to the full 
     variety of nature and human cultures, musical and theatrical 
     performances of the highest quality, vigorous intercollegiate 
     and intramural athletic programs, and classmates whose 
     excellence never ceases to astonish--and all this set within 
     the imposing and inspiring architecture of a campus that is 
     itself a museum. You have had the chance to interact with 
     classmates from 50 states and 50 nations, and the great 
     majority of you have taken advantage of Yale's abundant 
     international programs to spend a semester or a summer 
     abroad.
       In the classroom, you were encouraged to engage thoroughly 
     and rigorously in thinking independently about the subjects 
     you studied. You were challenged to develop the powers of 
     critical reasoning fundamental to success in any life 
     endeavor. Outside the classroom, as you worked productively 
     in the hundreds of organizations you joined or founded, you 
     exercised the skills of teamwork and leadership. In your 
     overseas experiences, you deepened your capacity for 
     understanding those whose values and cultures differ from 
     your own--preparing you for citizenship in a globally 
     interconnected world. You may not recognize this in 
     yourselves, but you are ready for what is next.
       Understandably, you may be uncertain and a bit anxious 
     about what lies ahead. But, if history is to be trusted, you 
     will find many paths open to you. Because of the talent you 
     possessed before you came here, as well as the intellectual 
     and personal growth you have experienced here, you will find, 
     with high likelihood, success in your chosen endeavors. And 
     we expect you to stay connected. The vibrant life of this 
     university is greatly enriched by the deep commitment and 
     active participation of its graduates--think of all the 
     master's teas and guest lectures and college seminars offered 
     by our alumni. And keep in mind that when you thanked your 
     parents a few moments ago, you might also have been thanking 
     the generations of Yale graduates whose gifts past and 
     present supported half the total cost of your education.
       Perhaps I am overconfident about your prospects for 
     personal fulfillment and professional success, but I don't 
     think so. If you will concede my point for the sake of 
     argument, let's ask the next question, one so

[[Page H8775]]

     deeply rooted in Yale's mission and tradition that for most 
     of you, fortunately, it has become ingrained. And that 
     question is: how can I serve? How can I contribute to the 
     wellbeing of those around me, much as we all have done in 
     building communities within the residential colleges and 
     volunteering in so many valuable roles in the city of New 
     Haven? Now is an important time to be asking this question. 
     Let me suggest why, and then let me suggest an answer.
       Aristotle tells us that we are by nature political animals. 
     But one wonders whether he would recognize the species that 
     we have become. Eighteen months ago, the United States 
     elected a new president who was prepared to address, 
     intelligently and collaboratively, the most pressing problems 
     confronting the nation--education, health care, climate 
     change, and improving America's image in the rest of the 
     world. Late in the election campaign, the financial crisis 
     intervened, and economic recovery and financial sector reform 
     were added to this ambitious agenda.
       What has happened since does not inspire great confidence 
     in the capacity of our system to deal intelligently with 
     important problems. We legislated a stimulus package that was 
     less effective than it should have been, and far less 
     effective than the corresponding measures undertaken in 
     China. Fifteen months later, unemployment in the United 
     States is still 9.9%. After months of stalemate, Congress 
     enacted a health care bill that extends care to millions of 
     uncovered individuals and families, but takes only the most 
     tentative steps toward containing the escalating costs that 
     will create an unsustainable burden of public debt within the 
     next decade or two. We failed to address climate change in 
     time to achieve a meaningful global agreement in Copenhagen. 
     And, although financial sector reform now seems to be a 
     possibility, the debate has been replete with 
     misunderstanding of what actually went wrong and a misplaced 
     desire for revenge.
       Why is this happening? Let me make two observations, and 
     then trace their implications for how you might conduct 
     yourselves as citizens and participants in political life. 
     First, contemporary political discussion is too often 
     dominated by oversimplified ideologies with superficial 
     appeal to voters. And, second, political actors in the United 
     States give too much weight to the interests of groups with 
     the resources to influence their re-election, and too little 
     attention to the costs and benefits of their actions on the 
     wider public.
       In The Federalist (No. 10), James Madison addresses the 
     second of these observations, in the context of the fledgling 
     republic established by the U.S. Constitution. He notes that 
     the tendency to pursue self-interest can never be entirely 
     suppressed, but it can be mitigated by the proper design of 
     political institutions. In contrast to a direct democracy 
     where individuals would tend to vote their own interests, a 
     republican form of government, Madison argues, will have a 
     greater tendency to select representatives who attend to the 
     broader interests of the whole. And, he further argues, 
     representatives in a large republic constituted of a wide 
     range of divergent interests will find it easier to rise 
     above parochialism than those in a smaller republic comprised 
     of a small number of competing factions.
       The protections that our form of government offers against 
     ideology and faction have attenuated greatly since Madison's 
     time, for at least two reasons. First, mass communication 
     increases the opportunity to sway voters by appeal to simple 
     formulations. Of course, the rise of mass communication could 
     be a tool for raising the level of discourse through more 
     effective education of the electorate. But it interacts with 
     the second attenuating factor: that the money required to win 
     elections through the media has created a dependence on 
     funding from special interest groups. And it is these 
     interest groups who distort reasoned dialogue by sponsoring 
     oversimplified messages.
       It is easy to see how these developments have thwarted 
     recent efforts to shape responsible public policy. For 
     example, the interest groups opposing health care reform 
     defeated efforts to contain costs by labeling them ``death 
     panels,'' and they defeated the creation of a new public 
     vehicle for providing health insurance by insisting that we 
     must ``keep government out of the health care business,'' 
     when in fact Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans 
     Administration already pay nearly 40 per cent of the nation's 
     health care bill. I am not taking sides here, only pointing 
     to the fact that intelligent debate on these subjects was 
     crowded out by ideological distortion.
       How can we create a national and global dialogue that 
     transcends such oversimplification and parochialism? Let me 
     suggest that we need each of you to raise the level of 
     debate. You came here to develop your powers of critical 
     thinking, to separate what makes sense from what is 
     superficial, misleading, and seductive. Whether you have 
     studied literature, philosophy, history, politics, economics, 
     biology, physics, chemistry, or engineering, you have been 
     challenged to think deeply, to identify the inconsistent and 
     illogical, and to reason your way to intelligent conclusions. 
     You can apply these powers of critical discernment not simply 
     to fulfill personal aspirations, but to make a contribution 
     to public life.
       Every signal you have received in this nurturing community 
     has been unwavering in its message that the growth of your 
     competencies is not to benefit you alone. You have learned in 
     your residential colleges that building a successful 
     community has required you to respect and value one another, 
     and, when appropriate, to moderate your own desires for the 
     benefit of the whole. And so it should be in your lives after 
     Yale. If you are to help to solve this nation's problems--or 
     work across national boundaries to address global problems 
     such as climate, terrorism, and nuclear proliferation--you 
     will need to draw upon both these fruits of a Yale education: 
     the capacity to reason and the ethical imperative to think 
     beyond your own self-interest.
       I know that many of you are taking advantage of these first 
     years after graduation to take up public service, and I hope 
     that even more of you will consider this path. There are 
     plenty of jobs in the public sector for enterprising recent 
     graduates; many are short-term but others may lead to 
     careers. Many of you have signed up to be teachers. Others 
     will enter business or the professions. But whatever choice 
     you make, you can help to strengthen the nation and the 
     world--by treating political choices not as triggers for an 
     ideological reflex and not as opportunities to maximize self-
     interest. To combat reflexive ideologies, you must use the 
     powers of reason that you have developed here to sift through 
     the issues to reach thoughtful, intelligent conclusions. To 
     combat parochialism, you must draw upon the ethical 
     imperative that Yale has imbued in you--an imperative that 
     begins with the golden rule. Whether you serve in government 
     directly or simply exercise your responsibilities as a 
     citizen and voter, recognize that we will all be best served 
     if we take account not merely of our own self-interest, but 
     the broader interests of humanity. To move beyond ideology 
     and faction, we need to raise the level of political 
     discourse. You, as the emerging leaders of your generation, 
     must rise to this challenge.
       In the first paragraph of The Federalist (No. 1), writing 
     about the infant republic whose constitution he was 
     endeavoring to defend, Alexander Hamilton asserts:

     It has frequently been remarked, that it seems to have been 
     reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and 
     example, to decide the important question, whether societies 
     . . . are really capable or not, of establishing good 
     government from reflection and choice . . .

       There is much in America's history of the past two and a 
     quarter centuries that would incline us to conclude that 
     Hamilton's question has been answered in the affirmative. Our 
     institutions of representative government have proven 
     themselves to be durable; the rule of law has prevailed, and 
     the scope of personal liberty has expanded far beyond what 
     the founders envisioned. But today, in the face of 
     oversimplified ideology and the dominance of narrow 
     interests, we must wonder again whether Hamilton's question 
     is still open.
       Women and men of the Yale College class of 2010: It falls 
     to you, the superbly educated leaders of your generation, to 
     rise above ideology and faction, to bring to bear your 
     intelligence and powers of critical thinking to elevate 
     public discourse, to participate as citizens and to answer 
     the call to service. Only with your commitment can we be 
     certain that our future will be decided by ``reflection and 
     choice'' in the broad best interest of humanity. You can do 
     it. Yes you can.

                          ____________________