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Gary M. Galles - Contributor

Mr. Galles is a professor of econmics at Pepperdine University. [go to Galles index]

JFK Should Listen To JFK
Kerry's no John Kennedy...
[Gary M. Galles] 3/23/04

John Kerry has gotten a great deal of mileage out of the initials he shares with John F. Kennedy. Given Kennedy's status as a Democratic Party icon, co-opting some of that imagery of youth and dynamism certainly improves his appeal. But unfortunately, the distance between Kennedy's positions and those Kerry has taken short-circuits any ride on Kennedy's coattails.

Rather than trying to benefit from the aura of an earlier era, today's JFK could benefit from actually considering some of the valuable things JFK had to say.

On Rights

This Nation was founded...on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.

Every American ought to have the right to be treated...as one would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated.

...the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe...the belief that the rights of men are not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.

On Liberty

I believe in...human liberty as the source of national action.

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others.

Every time that we try to lift a problem from our own shoulders, and shift that problem to the hands of government, to the same extent we are sacrificing the liberties of our people.

The best road to progress is freedom's road.

We in this country...[are] the watchmen on the walls of world freedom.

...we will not negotiate freedom.

The cost of freedom is always high, but American's have always paid it.

If men and women are in chains, anywhere in the world, then freedom is endangered everywhere.

The wave of the future is...liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men.

Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily lives and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom.

Let every nation know...that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.

On Taxes

It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now...only full employment can balance the budget and tax reductions can pave the way to full employment. The purpose of cutting taxes is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve a more prosperous, expanding economy...

...the current tax system exacts too heavy a drag on growth, reduces the financial incentives for personal effort, investment and risk-taking.

An economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance the budget, just as it will never produce enough jobs...

...tax reduction and tax reform overshadows all other domestic issues in this Congress.

Though John Kerry would like it otherwise, Dan Quayle is not the only politician who is no John Kennedy. In his campaign, he has come closer to Kennedy's description of “dissident voices...expressing opposition without alternatives, finding fault but never favor, perceiving gloom on every side, and seeking influence without responsibility.” And he has been a world apart from JFK's admonishment to "not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.” CRO

copyright 2004 Gary M. Galles

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