Citing apathy as the greatest threat to American democracy, former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger addressed the audience at the Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) induction ceremony Saturday. It was his first public address in Massachusetts since 1999, when he left the Commonwealth to join Common Cause, a nonpartisan citizens' lobby. He told the audience, "You are the next generation, you are the cavalry, you are the foot soldiers of justice; we need you desperately, with your intellect, your power, your commitment."

After the speech the Justice was able to talk to Harshbarger. When asked if he planned to return to public service in Massachusetts, he did not rule it out.

"I love public service, whether I return to politics ... you never say never. I very much enjoy being an elected official here in this state. I had wonderful people who worked for me. I've become a better person for it," he said. "I regret I didn't win the governor's race, but I've also enjoyed the life after it with Common Cause and finding that there are a lot of very important public interest opportunities not in politics. I certainly stay interested and concerned in public life so I hope I always stay involved in some way."

"One of the greatest challenges we face is how do we reverse what is clearly a declining interest in participating actively as opposed to being on the sidelines," he told the Justice. "I think the challenge is that this is an opportunity as in any crisis to make a difference; maybe it's locally, maybe its state wide, but in fact by not participating you may abandon the field to people who may or may not agree with you. The other side is you don't have a right to win, but you have an obligation to be heard."

In his address, he pointed out the strengths of American democracy. According to Harshbarger, the United States has overcome crises that would have "brought down most democracies in this world." He cited the 2000 election controversy as an example. Although the election was decided by one vote of a Supreme Court judge, democracy still prevailed.

Harshbarger stated that the lack of political efficacy among citizenry is the greatest problem facing democracy. "There was also a crisis because less than 50 percent of America took the time to vote. Fifty percent of the registered voters did not even vote. One hundred million people in this democracy chose not to participate in the closest election of our lifetime."

Quoting activist John Gardner, Harshbarger said that a "democracy is not a spectator sport."

"In fact if we expect government to be accountable, we (the people) have to be accountable," he said.

Harshbarger also said that, as a result of a tragedy such as 9/11, citizens are now faced with a great threat of balancing national security with fundamental guarantees of civil rights and civil liberties.

As an example of this balance, Harshbarger talked about the recent war with Iraq.

"If in this country people have come to believe that debate, dissension is not the right or heritage of every American (then what would happen in the rest of the world)? In fact, our pluralism, our diversity is our greatest single asset," he said. "We've got to find a way to function ... to balance security while preserving our civil rights and civil liberties; because it is after all what makes us the people that we are."

"At what point did it become un-American to raise questions, to have a debate? Why could the British have major debates in parliament about what the status of the war in Iraq ought to be?" he asked.

Harshbarger also called the financial scandals of Enron, Arthur Anderson and others a "failure of the people," and not merely the fault of a few company managers or of the companies alone. He said the way business is conducted, financial institutions will not change until people collectively stand up and say that such conduct is unacceptable.

According to Harshbarger, people need to say to companies such as Worldcom and Enron: "You in fact owe to your shareholders, to the boards, to the people the level of honesty and integrity that you would expect in your daily lives, and your personal lives, and your professional lives."

Harshbarger called for citizens to care deeply about their communities: "It is my belief that we as a culture have become far too focused on ourselves - our own self interest - and have forgotten (that) the most important aspect of democracy is that we are all part of the same community," he said.

"The strength of our economy is that we are a free society, that we do have rules, we do have laws, we do hold people accountable," he said. "You can take risks, you can be an entrepreneur, but you must do it within the rules of the game and you must treat people fairly."

Harshbarger told the Justice that he agreed to deliver the address at PBK because he has longstanding connections with members of the community and because it is a college deeply committed to "involvement in the community and justice issues, which is important."

At the beginning of the PBK initiation ceremony, special homage was paid to poet Ralph Waldo Emerson as a celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth. Emerson is credited as giving the most famous PBK address, delivered in 1837 and titled "The American Scholar." As part of the ceremony, Provost Marty Wyngaarden Krauss was asked to recite an excerpt from his speech. This was her first official public appearance as Provost since her approval by the trustees on Friday.