“Ask not what your country can do for you…”

All of the recent Kennedy talk stirred a memory for my friend and co-worker Wanda. Exactly how did Jack Kennedy’s most famous quote fit into any of Ted Kennedy’s legacy. Obviously none. Of course I’m referring to the famous inauguration speech in which John Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” How in the world does this jive with what’s happening in today’s Democratic Party. As a matter of fact, it is true that John Kennedy had more in common with Ronald Reagan than with his brother Teddy.

Ted Kennedy left a legacy in direct opposition to that of his brother. He certainly had a mindset that government can and should do as much for people as possible. The government was the be all and end all in solving all of society’s ills.

John Kennedy had a mindset that the government should get out of the way of the private sector. In 1963 JFK gave a speech to the New York Economic Club. In this speech he outlined a plan to stimulate the American economy. It could easily be a page out of Ronald Reagan’s speech book. If our current leadership, incluing George Bush would have studied Kennedy they would not have stumbled into this misguided, artificial “stimulus” quagmire. In the speech, Kennedy said the following regarding this, “It could also be done by increasing federal expenditures more rapidly than necessary, but such a course would soon demoralize both the government and our economy. If government is to retain the confidence of the people, it must not spend more than can be justified on grounds of national need or spent with maximum efficiency. And I shall say more on this in a moment.” Pretty powerful indictment against our current course.

In the end JFK’s solution is a deep and far reaching tax cut for individuals and corporations! A Democrat? Well, a 1960′s Democrat. I’m convinced today’s Republicans more aligned with 50′s and 60′s Democrats. Today’s Democrats are the Socialists of that bygone era.

The following is an excerpt from the New York speech. You can listen to it in its entirety by following the link at the end of this post.

“Corporate tax rates must also be cut to increase incentives and the availability of investment capital…I’m not talking about a “quickie” or a temporary tax cut, which would be more appropriate if a recession were imminent. Nor am I talking about giving the economy a mere shot in the arm, to ease some temporary complaint. I am talking about the accumulated evidence of the last five years that our present tax system, developed as it was, in good part, during World War II to restrain growth, exerts too heavy a drag on growth in peace time; that it siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power; that it reduces the financial incenitives [sic] for personal effort, investment, and risk-taking. In short, to increase demand and lift the economy, the federal government’s most useful role is not to rush into a program of excessive increases in public expenditures, but to expand the incentives and opportunities for private expenditures.”
Listen to this 28 minute speech by JFK at NY Economic Club Dec 1962