Michael Blomberg: 'To be honourabe, you must be honest', Rice University - 2018

12 May 2018, Rice University,. Houston, Texas, USA

David thank you for those kind words.

Good morning, everyone and Members of the Board, faculty, staff, parents and family – it really is an honor to be with you to celebrate the great Class of 2018. How about a nice round of applause for them again?

Today, you’re ready to go ‘beyond the hedges’ -- and who knows what the future holds for you.

Rice alumni have been Nobel Prize winners, cabinet members, astronauts, titans of industry, award-winning artists, and everything in between -- including the two scientists who discovered Bucky balls.

And I’m glad to say that one member of the Class of 2018 has already begun working for my company, bringing the total number of Owls at Bloomberg LP to 13, so I’m doing my part, and many of you have similar exciting plans lined up I’m sure, and that's great.

But if you don't yet know what you're going to do for the rest of your life, don't spend a lot of time worrying about it. Leave that to your parents! As excited as they are today, they'll be even more excited if you don't move back home into their basement.

So let's give a big round of applause to all the parents and families who supported you and made this day possible!

Now for the serious stuff. When I was deciding what I really wanted to say today, I kept thinking about a Rice tradition that's an incredibly important part of student life here. No, I'm not talking about Willy Week. I'm talking about the honor code.

When you first arrived on campus for O-week, you attended a presentation on the Honor Code. Your very first quiz tested your knowledge of the code, you had to say what it was about, and so today, I thought it would be fitting for you as graduates to end your time here the same way you began it: by hearing a few words about the meaning of honor.

Don't worry: There’s no quiz involved. But there will be a test when you leave this campus -- one that will last for the rest of your life. And that's what I want to explain today -- and it actually starts with the opposite of honor.

As a New Yorker, I was surprised to learn that an act of dishonor in my hometown almost blocked Rice from coming into existence. William Marsh Rice was murdered at his home in Manhattan, just a few blocks from my company's headquarters, by two schemers who tried to re-write his will.

They were caught, his money went where he wanted it to go, the university was built, and fittingly, an honor code was created that has been central to student life here from the beginning.

And ever since you arrived here on campus, on nearly every test and paper you submitted, you signed a statement that began, ‘On my honor.’ But have you ever stopped to think about what that phrase really means?

The concept of honor has taken on different meanings through the ages: chivalry, chastity, courage, strength. And when divorced from morality, or attached to prejudice, honor has been used to justify murder, and repression, and deceit. But the essence of honor has always been found in the word itself.

As those of you who majored in Linguistics probably know, the words ‘honor’ and ‘honest’ are two sides of the same coin. In fact, the Latin word ‘honestus’ can mean both ‘honest’ and ‘honorable.’

To be honorable, you must be honest. And that means speaking honestly, and acting honestly, even when it requires you to admit wrongdoing -- and suffer the consequences. The commitment to honesty is a responsibility that you accepted as an Owl. It is also, I believe, a patriotic responsibility.

As young children, one of the first things we learn about American history is the story of George Washington and the fallen cherry tree. ‘I cannot tell a lie,’ young George tells his father. ‘I cut it down.’ That story is a legend, of course. But legends are passed down from generation to generation because they carry some larger truth.

The cherry tree legend has endured because it's not really about George Washington. It's about us, as a nation. It's about what we want for our children -- and what we value in our leaders: honesty.

We’ve always lionized our two greatest presidents -- Washington and Lincoln -- not only for their accomplishments, but also for their honesty. We see their integrity and morals as a reflection of our honor as a nation.

However, today when we look at the city that bears Washington's name, it's hard not to wonder: What the hell happened?

In 2016, the Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year was ‘post-truth.’ And last year brought us the phrase, ‘alternative facts.’ In essence, they both mean: Up can be down. Black can be white. True can be false. Feelings can be facts.

A New York Senator known for working across the aisle, my old friend Pat Moynihan, once said: ‘People are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.’ That didn’t used to be a controversial statement.

Today, those in politics routinely dismiss any inconvenient information, no matter how factual, as fake -- and they routinely say things that are demonstrably false. When authoritarian regimes around the world did this, we scoffed at them. We thought the American people would never stand for that!

For my generation, the plain truth about America -- the freedom, opportunity, and prosperity we enjoyed -- was our most powerful advantage in the Cold War. The more communists had access to real news, the more they would demand freedom. We believed that -- and we were right.

Today, though, many of those at the highest levels of power see the plain truth as a threat. They fear it. They deny it. And they attack it -- just as the communists once did. And so here we are, in the midst of an epidemic of dishonesty, and an endless barrage of lies.

The trend toward elected officials propagating alternate realities -- or winking at those who do -- is one of the most serious dangers facing democracies. Free societies depend on citizens who recognize that deceit in government isn’t something to shrug your shoulders at.

When elected officials speak as though they are above the truth, they will act as though they are above the law. And when we tolerate dishonesty, we get criminality.

Sometimes, it's in the form of corruption. Sometimes, it's abuse of power. And sometimes, it's both. If left unchecked, these abuses can erode the institutions that preserve and protect our rights and freedoms -- and open the door to tyranny and fascism.

Now, you might say: There’s always been deceitful politicians and dishonest politicians -- in both parties. And that's true. But there is now more tolerance for dishonesty in politics than I have seen in my lifetime. And I've been alive for one-third of the time the United States has existed! I know, you find that hard to believe. So do I, but if you do the math, that’s what it is.

My generation can tell you: The only thing more dangerous than dishonest politicians who have no respect for the law, is a chorus of enablers who defend their every lie.

Remember: The Honor Code here at Rice just doesn’t require you to be honest. It requires you to say something if you saw others acting dishonestly. Now that might be the most difficult part of an honor code, but it may also be the most important, because violations affect the whole community.

And the same is true in our country. If we want elected officials to be honest, we have to hold them accountable when they are not -- or else suffer the consequences.

Now, don't get me wrong: honest people can disagree. That's what democracy is all about! But productive debate requires an acceptance of basic reality.

Take science for example: If 99 percent of scientists whose research has been peer-reviewed reach the same general conclusion about a theory, then we ought to accept it as the best available information -- even if it's not a 100 percent certainty.

Yes, climate change is only a theory -- just like gravity is only a theory. And the fact that Newton's theory of motion didn’t take into account Maxwell’s observations on the speed of electromagnetic waves as a constant and that Einstein’s special theory of relativity better described motion when things move very fast -- doesn’t mean that if I let go of this pen it won’t fall to the ground.

That, graduates, is not a Chinese hoax. It's called science -- and we should demand that politicians have the honesty to respect it.

Hard though it is to believe, some federal agencies have actually banned their employees from using the phrase ‘climate change.’ If censorship solved problems, today we’d all be part of the old USSR, and the Soviets would have us speaking Russian.

Of course, it's always good to be skeptical and ask questions. But we must be willing to place a certain amount of trust in the integrity of scientists. If you aren’t willing to do that, don't get on an airplane, don't use a cell phone or microwave, don't get treated in a hospital, and don’t even think about binge-watching Netflix.

Scientific discovery permeates practically every aspect of our lives -- except, too often, our political debates.

The dishonesty in Washington isn't just about science, of course. We weren’t tackling so many of the biggest problems that affect your future – from the lack of good jobs in many communities, to the prevalence of gun violence, to the threats to the economy and threats to the environment -- because too many political leaders are being dishonest about facts and data, and too many people are letting them get away with it.

So how did we get here? How did we go from a president who could not tell a lie to politicians who can not tell the truth? From a George Washington who embodied honesty, to a Washington, D.C. defined by deceit?

It’s popular to blame social media for spreading false information. I for one am totally convinced that Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber are still dating, but the problem isn't just unreliable stories. It's also the public's willingness -- even eagerness -- to believe anything that paints the other side in a bad light. That's extreme partisanship -- and that is what's fueling and excusing all this dishonesty.

Extreme partisanship is like an infectious disease. But instead of crippling the body, it cripples the mind. It blocks us from understanding the other side. It blinds us from seeing the strengths in their ideas -- and the weaknesses of our own. And it leads us to defend or excuse lies and unethical actions when our own side commits them.

For example: In the 1990s, leading Democrats spent the decade defending the occupant of the Oval Office against charges of lying and personal immorality, and attempting to silence and discredit the women who spoke out. At the same time, leading Republicans spent that decade attacking the lack of ethics and honesty in the White House.

Today, the roles are exactly reversed -- not because the parties have changed their beliefs -- but because the party occupying the Oval Office has changed.

When someone's judgment about an action depends on the party affiliation of the person who committed it, they're being dishonest with themselves and with the public. And yet, those kinds of judgments have become so second nature that many people -- in both parties -- don't even realize that they are making them.

Now, I know it's natural to root for your own side -- especially when the other side is the Houston Cougars. But governing is not a game.

When people see the world as a battle between left and right, they become more loyal to their tribe than to our country. When power -- not progress -- becomes the object of the battle, truth and honesty become the first casualties.

You learned here at Rice that honesty leads to trust and trust leads to freedom -- like the freedom to take tests outside the classroom. In democracy, it's no different. If we aren't honest with one another, we don't trust one another, then we place limits on what we ourselves can do, and what we can do together as a country.

It's a formula for gridlock and national decline -- but graduates, here's the thing: It doesn't have to be that way.

When I was in city government, I didn't care which party proposed an idea -- and I never once asked someone his or her party affiliation during a job interview, or who they voted for. As a result, we had a dream team of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. That diversity made our debates sharper, our policies smarter, and our government better.

Arguments were won and lost on facts and data -- not parties and polls. That was why we had success. And it's been great to see other mayors around the country taking that same kind of approach. But at the national level, in Washington today, partisanship is everything. And I think the dishonesty that it produces is one of the greatest challenges that your generation will have to confront.

Of course, partisanship is not a new problem. George Washington warned against it in his Farewell Address. He referred to the ‘dangers of parties,’ and called the passion that people have for our parties, quote, ‘worst enemy’ of democracy -- a precursor to tyranny. Washington urged Americans to, quote, ‘discourage and restrain’ partisanship. Sadly, in recent years, the opposite has happened.

There is now unrestrained, rabid partisanship everywhere we look. It’s not just on social media and cable news. It's in the communities where we live, which are becoming more deeply red or more deeply blue. It’s in the groups and associations and churches we join, which increasingly attract like-minded people. It’s even in the people we marry.

Fifty years ago, most parents didn't care whether their children married a member of another political party, but they didn't want them marrying outside their race or religion, or inside their gender.

Today, thankfully, polls show a strong majority support for inter-racial, inter-religious, and same-sex marriage and that is progress. But unfortunately, the percentage of parents who don't want their children marrying outside of their political party has doubled and the more people segregate themselves by party, the harder it becomes to understand the other side, and the more extreme each party grows.

Studies show that people become more extreme in their views when they are grouped together with like-minded people. And that’s now happening in both parties. And as a result, I think it's fair to say the country is more divided by party than it has ever been since the Civil War.

Last month, legislators in South Carolina -- which was the first state in the Union to secede back in 1860 -- introduced a resolution that contemplated a debate on secession. Now it's easy to dismiss that as a fringe idea -- and let’s hope it never happens. But in like-minded groups, fringe ideas can gather momentum with dangerous speed – just remember Germany in the late 1930s.

If that continues to happen here, America will become even more divided, and our national anthem may as well become the Taylor Swift song: ‘We are never, ever, ever, getting back together.’

So why do I bring this up as you finish your time at this great university?

Well, I'm hoping you graduates will draw more inspiration from a song by a different artist: Zedd, Maren Morris, and Grey: ‘Why don't you just meet me in the middle? I'm losing my mind just a little.’

Bringing the country back together I know won't be easy. But I believe it can be done -- and if we are to continue as a true democracy, it must be done, and it will be up to your generation to help lead it.

Graduates, you're ready for this challenge. Because bringing the country back together starts with the first lesson you learned here at Rice: Honesty matters. And everyone must be held accountable for being honest. So as you go out into the world, I urge you to do what honesty requires.

Recognize that no one, nor either party, has a monopoly on good ideas. Judge events based on what happened, not who did it. Hold yourself and our leaders to the highest standards of ethics and morality. Respect the knowledge of scientists. Follow the data, wherever it leads. Listen to people you disagree with -- without trying to censor them or shout over them. And have the courage to say things that your own side does not want to hear.

I just came yesterday from visiting an old friend in Arizona, who has displayed that kind of courage throughout his life: Senator John McCain, who is currently fighting brain cancer.

Now, John and I often don’t see eye to eye on issues. But I have always admired his willingness to reach across the aisle, when others wouldn't dare.

He bucked party leaders when his conscience demanded it. He defended the honor of his opponents, even if it cost him votes. And he owned up to his mistakes -- just like that young kid with the cherry tree.

Imagine what our country would be like if more of our elected officials had the courage to serve with the honor that John has always shown on the battlefield, in Washington and in his personal life.

Graduates, after today, you will no longer be bound by the Rice honor code. It will be up to you to decide how to live your life -- and to follow your own honor code.

This university has given you a special opportunity to learn the true meaning of honor to base that code on. And now, I believe, you have a special obligation to carry it forward -- into your work places, your communities, your political discussions, and yes, into the voting booth because the greatest threat to American democracy isn't communism or jihadism, or any other external force or foreign power. It's our own willingness to tolerate dishonesty in service of party, and in pursuit of power.

So let me leave you with one final thought: We can all recite the inspiring words that begin the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident --

But remember that the Founding Fathers were able to bring those truths to life only because of the Declaration's final words: ‘We mutually pledge to each other, our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.’

That pledge of honor and that commitment to truth is why we are here today. And in order to preserve those truths, and the rights they guarantee us, every generation must take that same pledge, and it's now your turn.

Earlier today, I told President Leebron that I'd like to make a donation to Rice. His eyes lit up! But I said, ‘No, not a financial donation.’ I told him I'd like to donate a cherry tree to be planted here on campus with a plaque that reads: ‘In Honor of the Class of 2018.’

And when you come back to campus as alumni, if you pass by the tree, I hope you'll remember why it's there -- and what it represents to our great country. And throughout your life, when you chop down a cherry tree, as we all do from time to time, admit it -- and demand nothing less from those who represent us.

Graduates, you have earned this great celebration. So tonight, have one last Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit. And tomorrow, carry the values of this great university with you, wherever you go.

You will never regret it. I make that pledge to you on my honor.

Congratulations -- and go Owls!”

Michael Bloomberg: 'Those who promise you a free lunch will invariably eat you for breakfast' University of Michigan - 2016

30 April 2016, University of Michigan, Michigan, USA

Thank you, President Schlissel, and to the Board of Regents. Good morning, everyone!

It’s a real honor to be on this great campus where so much history has been made. And it’s a thrill to walk in the footsteps of Gerald Ford, James Earl Jones, Lucy Loo, and Tom Brady! I’m told that no quarterback has played in more Super Bowls than Tom Brady and in case there are any New Yorkers here, I would just note that he played against the Giants in two of them.

I’m honored to have been asked to speak to all of the faculty, administrators, alumni, and most of all, to the great class of 2016! So, graduates: This is a great day, but there’s another group here that also deserves a big round of applause: your parents and families.

Of course, there were many other people who helped you on your journey, so after you receive your diploma, and as you make your way in the world, remember that your greatest achievements – like today’s – will owe an awful lot to the people around you.

If there’s a secret to success beyond hard work and good luck, it’s that the more you say ‘we’, and the less you say ‘I’, the farther you’ll go. It’s something that the most effective leaders understand and take to heart. Remember: There is almost nothing we do in life that we do alone.

The most useful knowledge that you leave here with today, like the importance of teamwork, has nothing to do with your major. It’s about how to study, how to cooperate, how to listen carefully, how to think critically, and how to resolve conflicts through reason. Those are the most important skills in the working world and it’s why colleges have always exposed students to challenging and uncomfortable ideas.

The fact that some university boards and administrations now bow to pressure and shield students from these ideas through ‘safe spaces,’ ‘code words,’ and ‘trigger warnings’ is, in my view, a terrible mistake. The whole purpose of college is to learn how to deal with difficult situations – not run away from them.

A micro-aggression is exactly that: micro! But in a macro-sense, one of the most dangerous places on a college campus is a safe space because it creates the false impression that we can insulate ourselves from those who hold different views. We can’t – and we shouldn’t try, not in politics, or in the workplace. In the global economy, and in a democratic society, an open mind is the most valuable asset you can possess.

Today, I’d like to talk a little bit about why that’s true based on the lessons I’ve learned over the course of my career. Let’s start with the global economy, and let me put in perspective the job market many of you are entering. For the first time in human history, the majority of people in the developed world are being asked to make a living with their minds, rather than their muscles. For 3,000 years, humankind had an economy based on farming: till the soil, plant the seed, harvest the crop. Hard to do, but fairly easy to learn.

Then, for 300 years, we had an economy based on industry: mold the parts, turn the crank, assemble the product. Hard to do, but also fairly easy to learn.

Now, we have an economy based on information: acquire the knowledge, apply the analytics, use your creativity. Hard to do, hard to learn, and even once you’ve mastered it, you’ll have to start learning all over again, pretty much every day.

If you have the luxury of more than one job offer – now or in the future – don’t pick the one that pays the most; pick the one that teaches you the most and don’t worry if the people around you seem quicker or smarter. You can’t control that, but you can decide that you’re going to outwork them.

In my company, I always give the most complex and important projects to our busiest employees. Why? Because they are the hardest-working and most dedicated. They’re the first ones in the office and the last to leave. They’re the ones who take the shortest lunch breaks and the least vacation. It may not sound like great fun, but in the end, you have to set your priorities.

The secret to success is not rocket science. It just requires true dedication and a willingness to go the extra mile. Whatever your field, volunteer to take on new assignments even if they’re outside your comfort zone. Take the initiative on your own to learn and develop new skills and build contacts who can help you down the road. When will you have learned enough? Let’s put it this way: I know of no Nobel Prize winner who has stopped studying. And in the information economy, everyone – in both white collar and blue collar jobs – will have to keep deepening their knowledge and adapting to technological change.

My life is a perfect example of how important it is to keep an open mind about careers and technology. After college, I went to business school in hopes of landing a middle management job in a factory. I had no idea that factories would soon be closing all across the country, and neither did anyone else.

I ended up finding a job at a Wall Street firm. I loved the job, and soon, my interest in managing a plant disappeared. I thought I’d stay at the firm forever. And I might have – except for one small thing: I got fired.

I was 38 years old, and it was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was also the best thing that ever happened to my career. It led me to start a tech company to computerize real-time financial data. It sounds simple now, but this was 1981 – the dawn of the computer age. We were trying to invent a computer that no one wanted with technology that didn’t exist – a classic example of innovation. Everyone said I was crazy, and maybe they were right. I had only a limited background in computers, and I had never started or run a company, but with a lot of help from some very talented and driven people, we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.

So the lesson is: Whatever you think your dream job is today, don’t get too attached to it. Chances are, if the job still exists in 15 years, it will be very different – and you may have found other passions. Keeping an open mind to new ideas will be essential to your professional success, and it will be just as crucial to our collective future as a democratic society.

That’s the other lesson I’ve learned that I’d like to share with you today. During the 12 years I had the honor of serving as Mayor of New York City, I witnessed a disturbing change in the nature of American politics: a rise in extreme partisanship and intolerance for other views.

I’m a political independent, but over the course of my life, for non-ideological reasons, I’ve been a Republican and a Democrat. So I can tell you: Neither party has a monopoly on good ideas; each demonizes the other unfairly and dishonestly. This is not a new phenomenon – but it has reached a dangerous new level.

In 1796, George Washington spent much of his farewell address warning Americans against political parties, which he called ‘the worst enemy’ of democratic governments. He wrote of the natural tendency parties have to elevate a single leader who seeks power, in his words, ‘on the ruins of public liberty.’

In this political season, it’s worth remembering what Washington had to say. And so, allow me to read a brief passage from his farewell address.

Partisanship, Washington wrote, ‘serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, and foments occasionally riot and insurrection… A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame… lest, instead of warming, it should consume.’

Well said, George. We have survived more than 200 years of political parties largely because the Founding Fathers created checks and balances to temper the fires of partisanship. Of course, they also excluded most Americans from their vision of democracy because they feared what democracy might produce. But over the past two centuries, through the sacrifices of so many civil rights leaders and soldiers, the promise of equal rights has spread across income, religion, race, gender, and sexual orientation.

We still have a long way to go, and it would be a mistake to think that our progress is irreversible or that Washington’s warning is a relic of history. Neither is true and never will be. Democracy and citizenship will always require constant vigilance against those who fan the flames of partisanship in ways that consume us and lead to the ruins of public liberty.

We have certainly seen such figures before, in both parties. In the 1930s, there was the despotic Huey Long in Louisiana, and just a few miles up the road in Dearborn Father Coughlin blamed ‘Jewish conspirators’ for America’s troubles. Then came Charles Lindbergh in the 40s, Joe McCarthy in the 50s, George Wallace in the 60s, and Pat Buchanan in the 90s.

Every generation has had to confront its own demagogues and every generation has stood up and kept them away from the White House, at least so far. Now, it’s your turn.

In this year’s presidential election, we’ve seen more demagoguery from both parties than I can remember in my lifetime. Our country is facing serious and difficult challenges, but rather than offering realistic solutions, candidates in both parties are blaming our problems on easy targets who breed resentment. For Republicans, it’s Mexicans here illegally and Muslims, and for Democrats, it’s the wealthy and Wall Street.

The truth is: We cannot solve the problems we face by blaming anyone. We are all in this together, and we all must be part of the solution. America’s power in the world comes not from the walls we build, but the doors we open, and it comes not from tearing down success, but building up opportunity.

American citizenship does not require much of us. We have no military draft; no mandatory national service; no compulsory voting. Our taxes, compared to Europe, are relatively low. And yet, our voting rates are terrible, and they’re especially low among young people. This year, you can help change that.

Voting is the only way to stop demagogues. But the best way to stop demagogues from rising in the first place is to elect leaders with the courage to face reality, make tough decisions, and lead from the front, rather than following from behind. That has become harder over time. Let me share a story from my time in City Hall that illustrates why.

In 2002, we banned smoking in New York City’s bars and restaurants, and it caused a huge backlash. We got a lot of angry letters and phone calls, and I got a lot of one-fingered waves when I walked down the street. But as time went by, the ban proved to be a huge boon to the bar and restaurant business – surprise, surprise – and smoking rates in our city went down by nearly 30 percent, helping to increase life expectancy for New Yorkers two years above the national average. In fact, I’m glad to say, the policy became so popular that cities and states all over the world copied it.

Today, elected officials who decide to support a controversial policy will also get angry letters, phone calls, and faxes, if they still have fax machines. And for sure, they will now get millions of angry Tweets and Facebook posts denouncing them in the harshest possible terms. That’s democracy in action. But that kind of instant condemnation also makes some elected officials afraid to do things that, in their heart of hearts, they know are right.

So democracy in action can actually produce a lot of inaction, which we see every day in Washington, D.C., and other levels of government, too. When governments fail to address the needs of the people, voters in both parties get angry and some politicians exploit that anger by offering scapegoats instead of solutions.

If we want to stop demagogues, we have to start governing again, and that requires us to be more civil; to support politicians who have the courage to take risks; and to reward those who reach across the aisle in search of compromise.

Now I know doing this won’t be easy, and that’s partly because it’s not just social media that has changed the civic dialogue. The constant bombardment of news that we see on our phones, computers, and TVs gives us the impression we are acquiring knowledge. Yet many of the sources, facts, and interpretations are either dubious, or colored by partisanship, or outright lies. I say that as the owner of a media company who has seen how the marketplace has shifted. Today, people choose cable TV channels and websites that affirm their own political beliefs rather than ones that inform and challenge their beliefs. As a result, we have grown more politically cloistered and more intolerant of those who hold different opinions.

Think about this: In 1960, only four to five percent of Democrats and Republicans said they would be upset if a member of their family married someone from the opposing party. In 2010, one in three Democrats, and one in two Republicans, said they would disapprove of such a marriage. In 1960, most people would never have believed that inter-party marriage would attract such resistance, while inter-racial marriage and same-sex marriage would gain such acceptance. For all the progress we have made on cultural tolerance, when it comes to political tolerance, we are moving in the wrong direction.

We see this trend of political intolerance across the country: At campaign rallies that turn violent; on social media threads that turn vitriolic; and even on college campuses, where students and faculty have attempted to censor political opponents.

I know that one of today’s graduates, Omar Mahmood, has faced threats and intimidation because he dared to write political satire about being left-handed in the Michigan Daily and he refused to apologize for it. Omar, wherever you are out there, I’m glad you stood your ground.

Never be afraid to stand up for what you believe is right, no matter how unpopular it may be or how many people try to shout you down. And just as importantly: Never hesitate to stand up for the rights of others to express their views and exercise their rights, no matter how unpopular that may be. The only way to ensure your right to express yourself is to protect others’ rights to express themselves.

In 2010, I found myself in the middle of a huge debate over free expression. There was a national uproar over a proposal to build a mosque several blocks from the World Trade Center. Members of both parties attacked the plan as an affront to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Even the Anti-Defamation League, whose mission is to protect against religious discrimination, opposed the idea. But they had all forgotten: the terrorists didn’t just attack buildings, they attacked our freedom to live and pray as we choose according to our own beliefs and values, equally.

The torch that Lady Liberty holds aloft in the New York Harbor lights the way for people of every faith and philosophy, and it shines down on every corner of the city and every community across this great land. No religion should ever face special restrictions on their rights, whether it concerns building a house of worship or getting a visa.

As durable as the American system of government has been, democracy is fragile – and demagogues are always lurking. When Ben Franklin was leaving the Constitutional Convention, a woman approached him and asked him: ‘Well, doctor – what have we got: a republic or a monarchy?’ Franklin replied, ‘A republic – if you can keep it.’

Well, graduates: It is now your responsibility to keep it. That starts with keeping an open mind, voting, and demanding that politicians offer practical solutions, not scapegoats or pie-in-the-sky promises. In 1928, Republicans promised ‘a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard.’ They won control of Congress and the White House – and a year later, instead of a chicken and a car, we got the Great Depression.

Today, when a populist candidate promises free college, free health care, and a pony, or another candidate promises to make other countries pay for our needs – remember: those who promise you a free lunch will invariably eat you for breakfast. If there were simple solutions to complex problems, we wouldn’t have those problems.

I’m optimistic that you graduates will rise to the occasion and help protect our Republic against the dangers of demagogues and the fires of partisanship that Washington warned us about 220 years ago. I believe in you. I support you. And I will stand with you in this battle to the end of my days so that my children and grandchildren can be as proud of America’s devotion to freedom and equality as I am.

As for today: this is a day of celebration, so relish it; enjoy every minute.

Congratulations and Go Blue!