The Price of Democracy

June 1, 2012


Phi Beta Kappa Address
Derek Bok

Derek Bok is the 300th Anniversary University Research Professor, University President Emeritus.

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"I wonder what it would take in the United States to elicit something closer to the commitment that leads newly liberated people to walk for miles and stand in line for hours on end simply to cast a ballot for the first time…. I wonder whether there is a “moral equivalent” of the despotism and oppression in Syria, Burma, and Egypt that could rouse us from our apathy and remind us how precious our democracy is and why we need to work to keep it strong."