Ask Not. . . Seriously ?

(Ask Not. . .  Seriously ?)

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy was a tragedy in more ways than one. His death was one of those events where, had he lived, subsequent events could have taken a different course. That will be for others to decide later but one of the things one can remember was Kennedy's Inauguration speech, where the President made the admonition "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country."


How many people today can say they are aspiring to Kennedy's idea ? One look and the answer would be not many. One must recall that President Kennedy had been a different kind of Democrat. One who was not woke or was obsessed with identity. One who was not focused on equity instead of opportunity. One who, today, would probably be called a Republican.


But assume Kennedy were still in office. What would he do to forestall that rail strike ? How would he respond to the mass shootings over recent days. The open border and the fentanyl crisis. Would Kennedy be as climate conscious to the point of ending American energy dominance ? To paraphrase Texas Senator Lloyd Benson, himself a former candidate for Vice President, he knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy had been a friend of his. President Biden is no Jack Kennedy.


So, as one remembers the day of his death, what is the broader context in which to consider the thirty fifth President ? Only this. President John F. Kennedy was an American more than anything. He would probably be closer to Donald Trump than he ever would be with President Biden. There has been an evolution. President Kennedy could hardly comprehend how the left has so consumed the Democrat Party and are now advocates for policies that Kennedy could scarcely imagine.


Something was lost on that November day in Dallas. Not just potential but the real chance that the chaos that would grip that turbulent decade could have been less severe. Kennedy could have been re-elected in 1964 and where would that put the involvement in Southeast Asia. Kennedy's death was the first of dominoes who cascading effect persists even to today.

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