Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas urged college graduates who seek to
"preserve liberty" to do so by fulfilling the duties of their daily
vocations rather than attempting to achieve sweeping political goals.
Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas urged college graduates who seek to "preserve
liberty" to do so by fulfilling the duties of their daily vocations rather
than attempting to achieve sweeping political goals.
"At the risk of
understating what is necessary to preserve liberty in our form of government, I
think more and more than it depends on good citizens, discharging their daily
duties in their daily obligations," Thomas said Saturday during a
commencement address at Hillsdale College, a small liberal arts college in
Michigan.
Thomas lamented
various aspects of contemporary society, especially with regard to colleges and
universities. He diagnosed what he regards as a contemporary tendency to take
pride in having "grievances rather than personal conduct" and to
focus on individual rights as citizens, rather than responsibilities.
"Hallmarks of my youth such as patriotism and religion seem more like outliers,
if not afterthoughts," Thomas said.
He added, "Do
not hide your faith and your beliefs under a bushel basket, especially in this
world that seems to have gone mad with political correctness."
But the speech had a
personal emphasis, in content and delivery; he remembered of the late Justice
Antonin Scalia's kindness to him "when it mattered most" — a
reference to his confirmation to the high court following the Anita Hill
controversy — and spoke briefly to each graduate as they received their
diploma.
Hillsdale has a
reputation as a "citadel of American conservatism,"with an
outpost in Washington, D.C., that Thomas's wife Ginni helped to establish when
she was an associate vice president at the college.
Thomas discouraged
the audience from prioritizing government service and trying to "change
the world" over other work.
"I resist what
seems to be some formulaic or standard fare at commencement exercises, some
broad complaint about societal injustice and at least one exhortation to the
young graduates to go out and solve the stated problem or otherwise to change
the world," he said. "Having been where you are, I think it is hard
enough for you to solve your own problems, not to mention those problems that
often seem to defy solution. In addressing your own obligations and responsibilities
in the right way, you actually help to ensure our liberty and our form of
government."
Thomas said he
learned this from his grandfather, who taught him to revere "duty, honor
[and] country" even though he was raised in a racially-segregated society.
"He knew that though not nearly perfect, our constitutional ideals were
perfectible if we worked to protect them rather than to undermine them,"
the justice said. "Don't discard that which is precious along with that
which is tainted."
Thomas concluded by
telling the graduates to thank their families and teachers — "these are
the people who have shown you how to sacrifice for those they love, even when
that sacrifice is not always appreciated," he said — and to be kind to those
in need. "As you go through life, try to be that person whose actions
teach others how to be better people and better citizens," he said.
Thomas
concluded by telling the graduates to thank their families and teachers —
"these are the people who have shown you how to sacrifice for those they
love, even when that sacrifice is not always appreciated," he said — and
to be kind to those in need. "As you go through life, try to be that
person whose actions teach others how to be better people and better
citizens," he said.
Hillsdale College has the live stream
of the commencement address on its website here. They also ran this brief
biography of Thomas:
Born in Pin Point, Georgia, Justice
Thomas is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Yale Law School.
Prior to his nomination to the Supreme Court in 1991, he served as an assistant
attorney general of Missouri, an attorney with the Monsanto Company, a
legislative assistant to U.S. Senator John Danforth, assistant secretary for
civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education, chairman of the U.S. Equal
Opportunity Commission, and a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit. In 2007, he published My
Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir.
Some years ago, I read My Grandfather’s Son. Inspiring.
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