Conservative graduation speakers still give better advice than speakers on the Left.
In 2015, after reviewing two commencement-speech anthologies featuring 18 liberal speeches and 30 conservative speeches, New York Times columnist Carlos Lozada — then a Washington Post blogger — gave five reasons why conservatives do a better job.
First, he wrote, conservatives are more likely to speak to graduates as individuals rather than as members of a movement or generation.
Whereas liberal speakers say things, such as, “you are the first generation that ...,” conservative speakers are more likely to say things, such as, “you’ll rise or fall on your own” or “take opportunities as they present themselves and work hard.”
Second, Lozada wrote, conservative speeches, on average, are shorter. Whereas conservatives tend to give speeches that push tangible, measurable performance improvements, liberals are great at sweeping generalities that are short on specifics.
This trend has only grown more pronounced over the past decade.
In May, Nancy Pelosi spoke at Notre Dame de Namur University, urging graduates to become “patriots of our time” and defend democracy from alleged threats to elections, truth, and the rule of law — which, of course, was a veiled partisan attack on President Trump.
Can’t the argument be made that everything she said Trump is doing is what she and her party actually did: efforts to remove Trump from ballots through legal challenges, weaponizing justice departments to attack political opponents during an election cycle, and pressuring social media companies to restrict the viewpoints of political opponents?
Hey, Nancy, if you want to give an honest speech, why not explain how you used your political position to provide insider information to your stock-trading husband — enabling your investments to outperform Warren Buffett by more than double and make you insanely rich.
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Left-leaning politicians, such as Congressman Jamie Raskin, declared that democracy is under attack — which is partisan code for “meany Republicans are doing things we don’t like” and “Democrats need to regain power to stop them.”
Left-leaning celebrities, including Jane Fonda, Sarah Jessica Parker, and others, preached their go-to “believe in yourself” mantra.
Conservative speakers, however, aware that Zoomers have been taught to prioritize self-esteem over achieving real results, typically emphasize personal responsibility and character.
Victor Davis Hanson, speaking at Hillsdale College in 2025, focused on American virtues, honor, resilience, Western civilization, and restoring decency.
Arthur Brooks, in recent commencement addresses, emphasized earned success, faith, family, community, practical habits for happiness, and rejecting contempt.
Mike Huckabee at Yeshiva University in 2026 stressed moral courage, faith, and individual character as the foundation for a meaningful life.
Liberal speeches flatter with empty praise, whereas conservatives tell graduates the world doesn’t revolve around them.
Conservatives give timeless advice about work, responsibility, character, faith, and building a meaningful life by saying things such as: You are not enough on your own. Self-control is far more important than self-esteem. And think of yourself less, not more.
Despite Lozada’s conclusion that conservatives make better commencement speakers, liberal speakers continue to vastly outnumber them at America’s top universities.
According to a 2026 analysis by “The College Fix,” Democrats or Democrat-leaning speakers made up 86 percent of partisan commencement addresses at the U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 universities.
If you have plans to sit through a college commencement speech this June, prepare for sweeping generalities that are long on bluster and short on useful advice.
Find Tom Purcell’s syndicated column, humor books and funny videos of his dog, Thurber, at TomPurcell.com. Email him at Tom@TomPurcell.com.
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