Lee Hamilton drew a surprising number of laughs from his full audience Tuesday night at Meharry Hall as he discussed a less-than-comic topic: the United States' role abroad.
Hamilton, a former United States congressman and 1952 DePauw graduate, gave a lecture titled "The U.S. Role in the World After Afghanistan and Iraq" in which he emphasized the values of patience and pragmatism especially as they apply to how the US government deals with the world.
Lecture attendee Phil McKiernan, a Greencastle resident and DePauw graduate, enjoyed Hamilton's frankness in dealing with issues of foreign intervention and greater issues at home.
"I really appreciated how he started and how he ended: patience and pragmatism. Two virtues that are not very well regarded I think in our country today," McKiernan said.
In furthering his views on foreign intervention and how the United States should go about deciding which countries to assist or reprimand as the case may be Hamilton stressed that a number of times action is unnecessary. Hamilton said certain occasions in which democratic values are clearly attempting to emerge deserve attention and assistance while most other occasions require the countries to work out issues without US intervention.
"We do not have a solution to every problem in the world," Hamilton said. "We need to get better at choosing what we tackle.
Hamilton emphasized that, especially in recent times as countries in the Middle East begin to revolt against their governments, the U.S. should take care before inserting itself into a situation. He maintained that each individual revolution needed to be declared democratic and seen as a legitimate cause for U.S. assistance prior to the U.S.'s willingness to step in. He further mentioned that for some countries this may take years to occur, though in a comedic fashion.
"We're not going to bring Jeffersonian democracy to Saudi Arabia in my lifetime, but then again we may not even bring it to Indiana in my lifetime," Hamilton said.
In the question and answer portion of the discussion, Hamilton spoke about conflicts in Libya, government relations in Afghanistan and the issue of national energy consumption along with the potential for more environmentally friendly options.
Alex Young, a senior from Zionsville High School, attended the lecture with his advanced placement government class and found the maturity of the audience along with Hamilton's response on energy consumption especially interesting.
"I was blown away by what he said about the importance of foreign oil and foreign energy sources and how that's going to play a role in our foreign interactions … and how everyone was like silent the whole time," Young said.