“I hope you will not drop out of politics. Instead, help drive out all that is low and mean in it.”
Our Quote of the Week is a simple but powerful prompt to continue to engage with politics and to drive out its negative aspects. As Presidents’ Day approaches in the United States, may we pause to reflect the ways in which we each can engage in politics constructively.
Shriver gave the Commencement Address at Proctor Academy in 1973, just as the Watergate investigation, which led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation, was intensifying. With his usual combination of optimism and pragmatism, he encourages the graduating class to consider a career in politics and he reminds them of the benefits of a life devoted to service.
Shriver is frank about the disillusionment that many feel towards political leaders. He does not mince words:
”... your graduation has come at the crest of a government crime wave without precedent in our history.”
At the same time, Shriver is resolute in his belief that we have the ability as citizens and as human beings to engage in politics in positive, productive ways:
“Politics should not be a war of tricks and sabotage; it should be a place of peaceful co-existence among fellow citizens, a process of reasoned persuasion, a competition of ideas and dreams. […] Whether we are Republicans or Democrats, partisans of the president or his opponents, we must make politics once again a proud object of endeavor for every citizen.”
Sargent Shriver’s words remind us of our own potential to collaborate for the greater good and our ability to effect change. May we never lose sight of these abilities as we combat the “tricks and sabotage” of politics, and may we work to organize ourselves in ways that benefit all of us.
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