Posted on 01/16/2017 8:57:40 AM PST by Oldpuppymax
“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” -John F. Kennedy, 1958
This quote is bantered around a lot on the internet by some who, I’m guessing, are middle-of-the-road or don’t like all the animosity between the parties. What most of us who yearn for less conflict blissfully overlook is an omitted sentence before the quote and Kennedy’s challenge at the end of his speech.
First, his quote in the speech is prefaced by… “Let us not despair, but act.” Immediately following the above quote is another plea for involvement: “In the words of the poet, ‘Now has come the time for action…’”
His emphasis on the words act, action, acceptance, and responsibility define the duty each of us have to protect the future. The future he was referring to then has become the here and now. Over the years, lack of action on our part has resulted in the mess we have today in Washington D.C. and the rest of the country.
Many have of us have served our country and taken an oath to defend the Constitution. That oath was binding even after our service ended. For those who did not serve, but stayed at home and supported those who did, their duty was no less admirable. Unfortunately, once that service was over and due to the prevailing message “you don’t talk about politics and religion” that permeated the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, we sat back in our pews and let someone else get involved in politics. We abdicated our civic responsibility.
JFK’s call to action in 1961...
(Excerpt) Read more at thecoachsteam.com ...
Wow.
Patriotic Democrats.
I forgot about them.
Completely forgot..........It was so long ago.
Ask not what your country can do for you.
Ask what you can do . . . . . for yourself.
Ask what you can do for your baby mama.
Ask what you can do for your own kids.
JFK and many other Democrats of his day would not fit into the present day Democrat Party.
Great words but I saw the debate between him and Nixon. Not live, I was born in ‘68.
He sounded Just Like any Liberal today. Except not as loud and nasty. His proposals, at least.
But what a civil debate. I couldn’t believe it really happened that way :)
The JFK of the late 50's/early 60's would definitely not fit in with today's 'rats. However, I wonder what kind of 'rat JFK would have become had he lived long enough. Would he have stayed the course, or would he have become a disgrace like his li'l brother Ted?
Good question.
Though he may have been to the right of today’s Obama partisans, JFK was still a Democrat—pro-Third World, pro-union, pro-welfare state socialism, and not someone conservatives should embrace as a hero.
Whenever I get into a conversation with a liberal I first establish that I am John F Kennedy liberal.
Kennedy:
Ran on a platform to increase defense spending (to cut the missile gap).
Was a genuine war hero (not a particularly good officer but despite being badly injured himself risked own his life to save a shipmate).
Was a life member of the NRA (honorary)
Lowered taxes to stimulate the economy
Pro-capitalist/anti-communist
It can be argued that JFK was pro-life and pro-free speech
By this time said liberal’s head should be ready to explode then you hit them with: liberals have moves so very far to the left that a classical liberal like Kennedy, maybe the last great democrat of the 20th century, now seems like a Reagan Conservative...
Exactly. JFK put his money where his mouth was.
After I wrote that I thought about Jackie O’s and Marilyn’s panties.
Search JFK’s speech to the Economic Club of New York in 1962. He almost sounds like one of us.
“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer...” and not the left answer.
I was born in '53. I'm too young to remember patriotic Democrats.
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