Young people are the future — or so we hear when discussing education and considering what the country will look like in 40 or 50 years.
The future has not looked bright. The last couple of months witnessed campus protests that displayed both intellectual vacuity and moral turpitude. Too many young adults attending our elite institutions do not understand, much less respect, our Constitution and its ethical underpinnings.
Yet I do see hope — not on those campuses, but among other young persons across the country.
This weekend, I served as a judge in a speech competition. It involved high school students from across the country coming together to speak about our nation’s governing document and what it means to live as citizens under it.
What I heard presented a hard contrast to the campus scenes dominating so much of the recent news reports. These high school students did not all agree on particular principles or interpretation of the Constitution. But they held a common respect for, love of, and commitment to this document. They were patriotic, not in a partisan sense but in the fully American manner.
As I listened to these speeches and to others attending, I realized how much we need a revival of rhetoric in our politics. By rhetoric, I mean the refined art of public communication on matters of justice.
Rhetoric means more than freedom of speech. That right, protected by the First Amendment, is an inherent human right bestowed upon us by our creator.
But we need to talk more about the quality of that speech, not just its freedom. Good oratory matters for reasons stemming from why free speech matters. We cherish free speech as the means to peaceful decision-making on common matters of law and social purpose. It presents a far better, more humane alternative to the other main means of deciding: physical, violent coercion.
But how will we speak to one another to move toward determining our priorities, our laws, our actions? Will we hurl profanities and other insults? Will we caricature opponents while whitewashing our own tribe? Will we play to fears and prejudices to gain allies and votes?
We could, and much of our discussions do, operate by those rules. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart a man speaks.” Our rhetoric reveals in many a soul-sickness of which our words display inner hatreds and disorders.
But a better way exists. Our speech must seek for reason to rule, not passion. It must adhere to truth, not the sophistry of misleading the gullible.
That does not mean our rhetoric must turn into dry and boring lectures. We can and must appeal to people’s hearts as well as their minds. True patriotism is a form of love, and we only will seek justice if we have not just the knowledge of its content but a desire to see it realized. It is not a denial of our full humanity, which is not just mind but heart and body as well. It is an affirmation that republican government by the people begins with individual government of the self.
After watching the competition, I have plenty of hope for the future of our political discourse. In an age of short attention spans, I saw sustained interaction. In a time of cheap emotional appeals, I saw sparks of logical reasoning. In an era of cynical attacks, I heard an opening for advocacy both genuine and charitable.
We need more students having these kinds of experiences. We need to return to the days when schools trained young people in the arts of effective political communication. We must read anew our great orators, including Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln, and Frederick Douglass.
Our discourse, country, and souls will be better for it.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM RESTORING AMERICA
Adam Carrington is an associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College.