July 15, 2003
Outgoing Oregon Symphony conductor gave a graduation speech recently that all Americans need to hear.
Artists are truth-tellers, and, as an artist, James DePreist began his address with the painful truth of today:
Graduates, the world in which we live is a mess. Myth masquerading as truth, our beloved United States in crisis, many of its fundamental principles under assault. And yet, a goodly number of your fellow Americans seem oblivious...sleepwalking through these alarming times, heedless and gullible beyond belief. Our country simply cannot afford this and our hard won freedoms cannot long bear the weight of an unenlightened citizenry. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the unspeakable horror of September 11th or the very real menace of world terrorism. History has clearly shown that the ultimate weapon of mass destruction for any society is ignorance.
His poetic and passionate plea to confront "the tragic bittersweet chasm between dream and reality, between a nation's words and its deeds...beauty in the wings" urges us to accept our Constitutional responsibilities as American citizens:
You must find the ideas that our society needs to hear and make your country heed your words. At the 1964 Republican convention Sen. Barry Goldwater let fly this provocative clarion reaffirmation: "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." Could the senator have been thinking of the Declaration of Independence and our revolutionary war led by that ragtag band of left-wing extremists like Washington, Jefferson, and Patrick Henry? Just imagine the list of those who today could rally 'round the banner emblazoned with Goldwater's words. Over here—the leaders of every coherent left-of-center and radical group. Right next to the team of Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Wolfowitz who in turn, are alongside Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, and Ralph Nader. All of them listening to a concert by Lee Greenwood and the Dixie Chicks. You get the picture. The strangest of bedfellows all believing that Goldwater means them! At the center of the work of democracy is the avoidance of the difficult ascent to anarchy on the one hand and the far easier slippery slope toward fascism on the other. The navigational chart for our ship of state is the constitution. But make no mistake, the nation is kept on course—true to its promise and principles—by the people. All of its people. It is so very easy to veer dangerously off course.
"...a democracy begins to stray off course when the ideas it needs are drowned out by the din of the enthralled," he says. And Bush certainly has an enormous number of Americans vocally enthralled, including members of the press who have forgotten their responsibilities to be truth-tellers. Citing quotes from old oddfellows such as Spiro Agnew and Barry Goldwater, DePreist brings home why we all need to graduate to that next step as active citizens of a floundering democracy and "Just do it."
His entire speech is worth reading. Here.
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Old Comments (1)
Kate S. on 22 Jul 2003
Hey! I'm remembered in the comments now, tres cool...
America's navigational chart is the Constitution, but she is kept on course by the People. I like that. And yes, we are dangerously off-course, heading for the rocks, they are within sight, we are called by the Sirens' song of "freedom from terrorism".