耶魯大學(xué)校長(zhǎng)2010年畢業(yè)典禮演講：重塑政治.doc

Baccalaureate Address: Reclaiming PoliticsPresident Richard C. Levin May 23, 2010Yale UniversityWhat a journey you have had! Four years of exploring a place so rich with treasure: courses taught by some of the worlds 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 Yales 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 masters 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 dont think so. If you will concede my point for the sake of argument, lets ask the next question, one so deeply rooted in Yales 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 Americas 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 Madisons 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 nations 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 nations 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 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 Americas history of the past two and a quarter centuries that would incline us to conclude that Hamiltons 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 Hamiltons 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.重塑政治理查德. 查. 萊文校長(zhǎng)2010年5月23日耶魯大學(xué) 你們剛剛完成了一段偉大的旅程。四年來(lái)，你們?cè)谝粋€(gè)充滿了財(cái)富的地方不斷探索。全世界最聰慧、最富創(chuàng)造力的學(xué)者和專(zhuān)家為你們授課；你們擁有其他學(xué)校望塵莫及的圖書(shū)館；你們的博物館包羅人間百態(tài)、宇宙萬(wàn)象；你們可以欣賞到第一流的音樂(lè)和戲劇；你們有充滿活力的校內(nèi)外體育競(jìng)技；你們身邊是一群永遠(yuǎn)卓俊的同學(xué)這一切，都在一座座本身就充滿了靈性與詩(shī)意的建筑中為你們呈現(xiàn)。你們與來(lái)自五十個(gè)州、五十個(gè)國(guó)家的同學(xué)朝夕相處。你們中的許多人都曾利用耶魯充足的國(guó)際資源，拓展了自己在海外學(xué)習(xí)與生活的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。在課堂里，你們完整而嚴(yán)密的獨(dú)立思考能力通過(guò)所學(xué)課程不斷得到發(fā)展。你們的批判精神和思辨習(xí)慣不斷經(jīng)受考驗(yàn)。這對(duì)你們未來(lái)的發(fā)展與成功至關(guān)重要。在課堂以外，你們的團(tuán)隊(duì)精神和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)才能在數(shù)百個(gè)學(xué)生組織的活動(dòng)中得到提升。你們的海外經(jīng)歷加深了你們對(duì)不同價(jià)值觀、不同文化的包容與理解。你們因此成為與世界相聯(lián)通的全球公民。也許你們自己還沒(méi)有意識(shí)到，你們已經(jīng)為人生的下一步做好了準(zhǔn)備。你們心中想必對(duì)未來(lái)還有一些躊躇與顧慮。如果我們依歷史預(yù)測(cè)未來(lái)，那么我們知道，光明坦途就在你們腳下。你們自身的稟賦，以及在這里所經(jīng)歷的成長(zhǎng)，將必定幫助你們?cè)谒x擇的道路上取得成功。我們也希望你們能夠相互扶持?；叵肽銈兯H歷過(guò)的校友們的饋贈(zèng)，比如院長(zhǎng)茶會(huì)、客座演講、學(xué)院研討，你們就會(huì)意識(shí)到，這所學(xué)校的生活正是倚賴(lài)畢業(yè)生們的執(zhí)著與付出而如此豐富多彩。當(dāng)你們感謝父母時(shí)，你們也需要明白，正是一代代耶魯畢業(yè)生的回饋，支撐著屬于你們的這個(gè)集體。也許我對(duì)你們未來(lái)將會(huì)實(shí)現(xiàn)的人生價(jià)值和取得的事業(yè)成就過(guò)于樂(lè)觀了。但是我不這么認(rèn)為。假如你同意我的觀點(diǎn)，那么請(qǐng)?jiān)试S我提出一個(gè)問(wèn)題，一個(gè)深植于耶魯之精神與傳統(tǒng)，以至于你們中的許多人都已經(jīng)把他看作與生俱來(lái)的問(wèn)題，那就是，你將如何奉獻(xiàn)？你將如何把你在學(xué)院中為集體奉獻(xiàn)、在紐黑文為這座城市奉獻(xiàn)的精神，帶到你的生活之中，去改善你身邊每一個(gè)人的生活？這樣重要的一個(gè)問(wèn)題，在現(xiàn)在這樣的時(shí)刻提出，正當(dāng)其時(shí)。請(qǐng)讓我先解釋為什么要提出這樣的問(wèn)題，然后讓我們看看應(yīng)該如何來(lái)回答。亞里士多德說(shuō)，我們每一個(gè)人都是天生的政治動(dòng)物。但是在他眼里，當(dāng)今的我們也許早已經(jīng)成為了一個(gè)完全陌生的種群。十八個(gè)月前，美國(guó)選舉出了一位新總統(tǒng)。他肩負(fù)的使命是全面而深入地解決這個(gè)國(guó)家所遭遇到的最緊迫的問(wèn)題教育，醫(yī)保，氣候變化，以及重塑美國(guó)的國(guó)際形象。在選戰(zhàn)的后半段，金融危機(jī)的影響擴(kuò)散開(kāi)來(lái)，于是經(jīng)濟(jì)復(fù)蘇與金融業(yè)改革也被提上日程，列入了這本已十分宏偉的計(jì)劃。之后發(fā)生的事情并沒(méi)有讓我們相信當(dāng)前的體制可以有能力解決這些問(wèn)題。我們出臺(tái)的復(fù)蘇計(jì)劃遠(yuǎn)沒(méi)有達(dá)到預(yù)期的效果，而中國(guó)采取的相應(yīng)措施比我們有效的多。十五個(gè)月過(guò)去了，美國(guó)的失業(yè)率仍然高達(dá)9.9%。經(jīng)過(guò)幾個(gè)月的拖延，國(guó)會(huì)終于通過(guò)了一項(xiàng)惠及幾百萬(wàn)家庭的醫(yī)療保障計(jì)劃。但是與之相關(guān)的高昂成本會(huì)讓我們未來(lái)幾十年負(fù)債累累，國(guó)會(huì)對(duì)此卻完全無(wú)人問(wèn)津。在哥本哈根我們沒(méi)能就全球氣候變化達(dá)成任何有價(jià)值的協(xié)議。不僅如此，金融業(yè)改革的可能性也在對(duì)關(guān)鍵癥結(jié)的誤解和對(duì)報(bào)復(fù)性舉措的濫用中消耗殆盡。為什么會(huì)這樣？請(qǐng)先讓我提出我的兩點(diǎn)看法，然后讓我們看看這與你們未來(lái)的政治生涯以及公民身份有什么聯(lián)系。第一，當(dāng)今的政治決策過(guò)程中往往充斥著為了迎合普通選民膚淺的訴求而刻意簡(jiǎn)單化的意識(shí)形態(tài)。第二，美國(guó)的政客為了確保再次當(dāng)選，對(duì)手握重金的利益集團(tuán)過(guò)于看重，而對(duì)他們的行為到底會(huì)給普羅大眾帶來(lái)怎樣的利害卻漠不關(guān)心。在聯(lián)邦黨人憲章第十篇中，詹姆斯.麥迪遜針對(duì)美國(guó)憲法剛剛確立的共和政體論述過(guò)我上面的第二點(diǎn)看法。他指出，對(duì)個(gè)人利益的追求永遠(yuǎn)無(wú)法被完全消滅，但是一個(gè)良好的政治制度卻可以最大限度地消除這種追求的負(fù)面影響。麥迪遜認(rèn)為，相比起人人追逐自我利益的直接民主體制，共和體制將會(huì)更有效地推選出代表最廣泛群眾利益的人民代表。不僅如此，他還認(rèn)為，一個(gè)由許多不同利益訴求所構(gòu)成的大共和體，相比起由一小撮競(jìng)爭(zhēng)黨派構(gòu)成的小共和體，更易于推動(dòng)人民代表克服狹隘主義的局限。但是自麥迪遜的時(shí)代以來(lái)，我們的政府形式所能發(fā)揮的對(duì)意識(shí)形態(tài)和黨派爭(zhēng)端的限制作用已經(jīng)被大大削弱。導(dǎo)致這一變化的原因至少有兩點(diǎn)。第一，大眾傳媒手段的普及放大了簡(jiǎn)單政治口號(hào)對(duì)普通選民的影響作用。當(dāng)然，大眾傳媒手段的興起可以通過(guò)對(duì)選民的教育而達(dá)到提高政治決策水平的目的。但是由于結(jié)合了第二點(diǎn)原因，即大眾傳媒時(shí)代的選戰(zhàn)勝利往往對(duì)特殊利益集團(tuán)的政治獻(xiàn)金過(guò)于依賴(lài)，大眾傳媒手段便往往被這些利益集團(tuán)所利用，通過(guò)散布過(guò)于簡(jiǎn)單化的信息，來(lái)達(dá)到扭曲政治決策的目的。這樣的變化對(duì)于推行科學(xué)有效的公共政策所產(chǎn)生的阻礙作用是顯而易見(jiàn)的。比如說(shuō)，反對(duì)醫(yī)療保障改革的利益集團(tuán)給降低醫(yī)保成本的計(jì)劃貼