"He wanted to break into a country where prejudice against the Irish in general, Irish Catholics in particular, ran very deep," said Glendon.

In order to get his boss to consider his criticisms, he wrote in that report that the exclusion of Catholics from public office was "just and necessary,'" Glendon said.

Amplify’d from www.nj.com

Her worry? Students shunning politics

Abigail Greene

PRINCETON BOROUGH -- In a world where the political sphere has gained a reputation as being corrupt, many capable individuals are turning away from it, afraid they will be powerless to effect change, Harvard law professor Mary Ann Glendon told students and community members gathered in Princeton University's Whig Hall earlier this month. Glendon, formerly the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, said she chose to speak about politics as a vocation through the lens of Ancient Roman philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero and 18th century Anglo-Irish philosopher, politician and political theorist Edmund Burke because they excelled in both politics and philosophy. "What I'm concerned about is the kind of thing the students say," said Glendon of law students who decide to abandon their plan to enter politics. "Many wonder whether they would have to compromise their principles to get to a place where they had a position of influence." Glendon, an ambassador from 2008 to 2009, discussed the political training of Cicero and Burke, focusing on the challenges they faced as politicians and philosophers. "Both Cicero and Burke had to struggle with this problem of when, whether, how much to compromise. And when does political compromise, which might be acceptable, shade off into moral compromise?" Glendon recounted that Cicero underwent significant struggles to try to ensure that his principles remained in line with his political career. "By his own account in his letters, there were occasions when he didn't live up to his own standards, and he often berated himself for that," said Glendon. "Sometimes what looked right turns out to be wrong. "Edmund Burke never rose so high in politics as Cicero nor fell so calamitously, but his causes, too, forced him to swim against the current," Glendon added. For Burke, this struggle centered around his Irish heritage and political career in England. "He wanted to break into a country where prejudice against the Irish in general, Irish Catholics in particular, ran very deep," said Glendon. Burke's first political assignment, according to Glendon, was to write a position paper on Ireland for the member of Parliament he was assisting. "What he did in that report was go as far as he thought he could in criticizing the penal laws, but in order to get his boss to consider his criticisms, he wrote in that report that the exclusion of Catholics from public office was "just and necessary,'" Glendon said. "Many people have criticized him for it but it enabled him to make a little headway to keep his job." Read more at www.nj.com

 

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