[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.
____________________