This is a commentary on the quote above, with a side of relevance, so you know what you’re getting into, if you are interested in that.
That’s JFK’s most famous quote — in my opinion, undeservedly. It touches a nerve somehow — one that most sentiments seem at odds with — but he said so many better things.
Think about the quote for a moment.
First, Republicans can get teary eyed about its ‘patriotism’, but it’s at odds with everything they stand for today — Reagan said the near opposite, how government is the problem.
But Republicans will quickly note it says ‘country’, not ‘government representing the country’, so it’s ok — it’s vague enough to not make any actual demands on them, so it’s like waving the flag.
Like the second amendment — where one side only sees “right to bear arms” and the other only sees “welll-regulated militia”— it allows seeing what you want.
The “ask not what your country can do for you” fits very nicely in the Republican ideology of “no public programs to help people”, and the other part can mean “you, go join the military.”
It’d also be a great quote for a fascist — something not noticed since its speaker was so clearly not one.
But trump could say that quote easily and mean something quote different. Stop whining about cuts to benefits, and serve the great leader loyally, or else.
It’s really sort of a nothing quote — as big a fan of JFK as I am — that has a nice sound like poetry to it without any real impact on policy, just as I said, the verbal version of flag waving.
There’s an old saying in sales, that the way you get loyalty isn’t by giving the customer things, it’s by getting them to give you things — it makes them invested.
This sort of does that, by asking for sacrifice. And the people were open to hearing the idea anyway. In the abstract, helping the country is a good thing — but don’t ask for more taxes.
That side of relevance is, how far are we from this today?
Our government is about plutocracy — the opposite of ‘what you can do for your country’— and tax cuts and government doing less and a lack of any real sense of national unity or public good.
We’ve gone from representation for the people, to a system replacing representation with advertising — where the voter goes from the ruler to the consumer to be persuaded.
The government goes from listening to voters to manipulating them with billions in ads — billions their power is based on, making the donors their only boss.
I think it’s time to realize just how obsolete that quote — top ten if not top five most famous from all president — now is. How it has no impact on current governing or policy.
Really, it’s replaced by, ‘ask not what your country can do for you, but we’ll tell you what you will do for the billionares and the politicians who serve them.”
I guess Bernie’s version was, “go head, ask what the country can do for all of us, and what those who the country gives the most can do to give back.” I like that version.
I know this lacks some clear ‘how to beat trump’ message, but hope it’s of interest to some — maybe some comments will trigger some more points about it.
Or feel free to add your favorite JFK quote and perhaps how it’s relevant today.