by Frances Tarlton "Sissy" Farenthold

I consider it a singular honor to address the Wells College Class of 2002. You have been an outstanding class in your questioning and action. You have witnessed many changes, and you have effected some of these changes. You have demonstrated civic motivation, an essential component of a citizen in a republic. I am here to urge you to carry this spirit of activism into the next phase of your lives. I believe activism is a truly pressing need and a major challenge for your generation.

Today, however, is a joyous day, a day of celebration for you, your family, and your friends. It is worth all the sacrifices, struggles, questioning, and disappointments that have been a part of the past four years. Your graduation from Wells is a mixture of high anxiety and good fortune.

Good fortune comes in many guises. For example, I was hoping for good fortune as I walked out of the Bellinzoni Building on a cloudy day in the summer of 1976. The financial numbers for the college I had spent the day poring over were just as dreary as the day. In true Texas style, I thought what Wells needed was an oil or gas well. Later a gas well was drilled. It only provided enough gas for the dining hall. It did not provide for the college balance sheet. Low gas production is the underside of the Texas dream that is seldom discussed.

Today, I join the great majority of the citizenry in celebration of good fortune that has come to this lovely village and unique college. For both will be enhanced and restored due to the generosity of an alumna and the leadership of the college and the village. Good fortune is often hard won. It has to be earned by benefactors and recipients alike - and so does democracy.

Democracy is a fragile mechanism. We saw how fragile it is in the breakdown of our electoral system in the presidential elections of 2000. We have witnessed wholesale erosion of our civil liberties during the failed drug war and especially after 9/11. We see our democratic institutions seriously weakened. These elements have come together at this moment in history as a challenge to the activism of your generation. From the outset, I want to tell you, activists experience setbacks.

Author Sam Smith writes in his latest book Why Bother: "Those who think history has left us helpless should recall the abolitionist of 1830, the feminist of 1870, the labor organizer of 1890, and the gay or lesbian writer of 1910. They like us did not get to choose their time in history; but they, like us, did get to choose what they did with it." There are a cluster of policy issues and trends in this fragile democracy that now confront your generation:

1) One is the ever increasing disparity in income and wealth between the rich and poor in our country. (Such an extreme gap between the haves and have-nots is inimical to democracy.)

2) Another is the overriding power of the multi-national corporations, with the consequential private benefits they derive from militarism and a culture of violence

3) Lastly, the related drug war contributes to militarism, a culture of coercion, incarceration, and intrusion on personal autonomy.

Let us start with the drug war. It has been used to incarcerate African-American women and men on a wholesale basis. Incarceration is the number one civil rights issue of our decade. On a percentage basis, more Americans are now incarcerated than at any time in our history; and America incarcerates more Americans than any other county in the world. Debate on alternatives to the present prohibition policy has been stifled. In 1972 the Schaefer Commission appointed by President Nixon proposed the decriminalization of marijuana, a report obviously ignored as the money has poured into various agencies at every level of government making for more and more interest groups eager to preserve the status quo. The most recently released Nixon tapes are a revelation. He said, "I think there is a need to come out with a report that is totally oblivious to the difference between marijuana and other drugs."

Personally, I have never smoked a joint nor do I intend to; however, it strikes me that regulation and taxation rather than prohibition would be far more rational than the unexamined and destructive policy we have today.

I ask you, look into this issue for yourself and all other public issues. Whatever your opinions, express them. Without expression of your opinions, elected officials will continue to implement failed and destructive policies. For example, prior to September 11, only criminal defense lawyers raised alarms at the erosion of civil rights in the administration of justice.

Again I quote Sam Smith: "We have difficulty perceiving our current condition because of our aversion to a single word - fascism. We seem only to understand or mention the climax of fascism, the Holocaust, not its genesis..." Italians who invented the term fascist also called fascism estate corporativo, the corporatist state. A corporatist state is one in which large corporations have the powers that in a democracy reside in the citizens and the institutions of democratic government. "Corporatism is fascism with a human face." It is no exaggeration to call the United States a corporatist state. The handmaiden of the corporatist control of our government is, first, the private corporate control of campaign finance through PACS, coerced giving by employees, orchestrated corporate fund-raising and donations, second, the targeted placement of corporate representatives in strategic governmental policy positions, and, third, an open door and open agenda policy for those lobbyists whose corporations have paid for the election of a public officeholder who is supposed to represent the public good. To compound the abuse of private influence in public life, a revolving door cycles officials among public agencies, public office, and powerful private corporate positions. The campaign finance reform legislation is a mild effort to correct a situation inimical to a representative form of government.

Enron is a poster child of corporate abuse. It is an example of the dangerous merging of public and private interests, where public institutions were used for private gain at public expense. Many levels of government were infiltrated by Enron’s private corporate agents. The public agenda was tainted by Enron’s greed in the Congress, the presidency, vice presidency, federal agencies under the executive branch such as the Export-Import Bank, and OPIC. In its home state of Texas, Enron held the keys to all three branches of government and the media. I personally think it is naive to believe that Enron is an isolated case. It is merely one flagrant case that has come to our attention among many corporations that wield inordinate political influence and power.

The consequences of this corporate concentration of power and a generally supine government are as follows:

1) Our military budget equals that of the budget of the next 14 countries.

2) We rank number one in overseas bases.

3) We are the chief exporter of weapons to the world.

In everything related to war, war making, and violence, we are numero uno. However, we pay a crippling cost in reduced access to health care, in poor education, and a damaged environment. Our welfare and the welfare of our children are undermined by excessive private profit seeking.

As for the culture of violence - I am reeling from a conference I recently attended. Our society teaches and encourages violent behavior by our cartoons, video games, television, and movies. A 1972 report to the Surgeon General of the United States documented that media violence causes violence in society. A 2001 Surgeon General’s report reiterates that virtual media violence causes real violence in society. A study from Stanford University indicates that violence in elementary schools can be reduced by 30-50% by educating parents and children about the toxic impact of media violence and by weaning children from television. The study shows that the most violent children benefit the most by reduced exposure to media violence. Media violence is toxic, but the media does not publish information about the proven impact of media violence because it is addicted to violence to bolster earnings and attract ratings and advertisers.

I urge you to look beneath the endless stream of public relations and advertising both private and governmental to what is actually going on. You will need to utilize the Internet, scholarly journals, and the alternative and foreign press because the American corporate media is part of the problem. You will also need to utilize your fine education to rectify the abuses of our government by private corporate interests and return our government to the people.

We acknowledge that no utopia is to be found in this world. It is an imperfect world, but we can work to improve it as did the abolitionist of 1830, the feminist of 1870, the labor organizer of 1890, and the gay and lesbian writer of 1910. The world can be improved. For example, we are edging toward the acceptance that we are all part of the human family and that our world is precious. I know you will do your part in realizing this life-affirming belief.

- Delivered on Saturday, May 25, 2002, on the Wells College campus.