Jerry Brown, former governor of California and unsuccessful presidential candidate, lectures at Statler Auditorium Oct. 29. Frank DiMeo/University Photography
Jerry Brown once asked his father, former California Gov. Pat Brown, if government is inherently about corruption. The response left him with no misunderstanding about his father's position.
"When I asked him that question, it was like slapping him in the face," Brown said on campus last week.
In the Brown family, politics was to be viewed as a "great game" and government as a means of obtaining "upward mobility" for the downtrodden.
Taking these lessons to heart, Brown eventually followed in his father's footsteps as governor of California and ran for president three times, most recently in 1992. Notwithstanding his political experiences, or perhaps because of them, Brown now is severely dissatisfied with the way America's government works. Yet he demonstrates a sustained engagement with public life, having declared Oct. 28 that he will run for mayor of Oakland, Calif., in 1998.
As an advocate for individual rights, Brown hosts a radio program called "We The People" which is carried by 42 stations around the country. This populist emphasis and a broad attack on nearly all forms of authority were most discernible in remarks he gave in Statler Auditorium Oct. 29.
"We can't rely on the leadership to take us in the right direction. Change has to start with ourselves. Don't look to institutions for salvation," Brown urged the sizable audience.
"Jerry Brown offers a perspective on U.S. politics that is not heard often enough," said junior Peter Lallas of the Cornell Democrats, one of several organizations and academic departments that sponsored Brown's visit. "His reminder to citizens to stay involved in government in order to ensure its accountability is valuable and pertinent today."
Brown stands squarely opposed to any partition among economics, politics and morality, as evinced by many of the examples he referred to in his hour-long talk, which seemed to constitute a whirlwind overview of U.S. economic and military activities overseas during the past 50 years. He concluded that these activities are rooted in heavy-handed policies that cloak opportunism in rhetoric, while encouraging destruction of the environment.
"We have to keep the cover story going -- what America does is all about freedom, democracy and human rights. But if anybody copies our economy, then it's all over," he said, indicating that the Earth could not physically support more than one economy that behaves as does that of the U.S.
"Based on his speech here and his candidacy for mayor of Oakland, it appears that he isn't interested in a big-name job or in spewing out today's political buzzwords," said senior Aaron Tax, president of the Cornell Democrats.
Brown's rejection of the two-party system, his reputation for offering frank commentary and the trust he has accrued as a longtime public servant and now radio personality will all be of consequence in his next race in Oakland.
"He has enormous name recognition. Since he's one of Bill Clinton's top critics, the Democrats won't help him, though," said Theodore J. Lowi, the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions, who introduced Brown. Several times in the lecture, Brown lashed out at Clinton, on one occasion branding the president's calls for national standardized testing "laughable" and "pathetic."
"Jerry Brown's whole life has been public. He's very energetic and has an ego that needs recognition. His decision to run for Oakland mayor is a quixotic thing -- the kind of thing that's appealing to him," Lowi said.