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With all the columns I
write and statements I make from Washington, D.C.,
Mainers could get the impression that they should
look to our nation’s capital for guidance and
answers. That would be a mistake – indeed, it seems
Washington is locked in a downward spiral of coarse
partisanship, raw ideology and podium-thumping
belligerence that causes far more problems than it
solves.
Recently, I had the
distinct honor of addressing two groups who are far
more reasonable than Congress, although equally
spirited: the University of Southern Maine and the
University of New England College for the class of
2005 and their families and friends. Although it
pained me to do so, in my commencement addresses I
urged these graduates not to take their cues from
Washington. It is ironic that the only thing almost
everyone in Washington can agree on is the assertion
that America is divided. I believe, to the
contrary, that it is the two political parties that
are divided and that most Americans desire
compromise and consensus.
The poet
Robert Frost once wrote that a university represents
“a refuge from hasty judgement”. Perhaps all of
Congress should go back to school!
This is not to say
parties will always agree, or that there is no
legitimacy in deeply held beliefs. But we need not
always disagree. Indeed, how sad is it when
solutions take a back seat to 30-second sound bites
when winning at all costs is valued over the search
for common ground? Democratic government works well
only when political leaders work together. Yet, we
now live in a time when it often seems that the
campaigning never stops, and the governing never
begins. Political issues and outcomes are spun by
“spin doctors” who do not have the best interests of
the public at heart.
But I still refuse to
go with the drift of things, and I hope that Maine
graduates will maintain a healthy independence as
well. Because while the dynamics of politics and
government have changed dramatically, believe it or
not
I go back far
enough in politics to remember a world without
spin. If there is one thing I have
discovered and rediscovered time and again over my
three decades in public office, it is that it does
not have to be this way and it should not be this
way. The world the graduates of today will one day
lead is not an all-or-nothing world. Indeed, only
when we refuse to accept the notion that our options
are limited to those that collide head on – leaving
only winners and losers – can truly meaningful
solutions to our problems be found.
Mainers know that
solutions begin the old-fashioned way – with
cooperation and collaboration. This way embraces
reasoned thinking, respects diverging view, and
relies on real leadership. Our political system and
our people have triumphed in the face of enormous
challenges because we are a country that draws its
character and strength from its people, from a map
of America that isn't red and blue, but red white
and blue.
These are
lessons of my experiences in public service that I
hope graduates will apply to their own lives,
whether grappling with a local public issue, a
private family matter or a matter of national or
global consequence. Rather than drawing lines in
the sand, we must build bridges to solutions.
Rather than entrenching in the false haven of
ideological absolutes, we must engage in a healthy
competition among ideas.
The enduring fact is
that we are a great nation with resilient citizens
who have overcome the most powerful trials of the
last century. America’s success in this new century
will require our graduates of today a re-commitment
to the principles of cooperation, not confrontation;
civility, not hostility; vision, not division. It
will demand that, while we express our own unique
and powerful voices, we also respect the deeply held
beliefs of others. I am convinced that this ideal
has been, and will continue to be, the surest
instrument for achieving the greatest of
accomplishments. |
