John F. Kennedy … Republican?

Dan the Myth (aka ÜberDan) asks the most interesting questions! This is the second post inspired by one of his comments. His question was: In what ways would JFK be considered a Republican by today’s standards?

Certainly, while not every one of Kennedy’s views and actions would be endorsed by modern-day Republicans, he is a reminder of how radically left the entire party has since turned.

Let’s look at three major ways JFK much more resembles a modern Republican than Democrat. I’ll go even further—much more resembles George W. Bush than any Democrat!!!

 

1. National defense and the explicitly calling out the enemy

JFK detested Communism and everything it stood for, voicing his intent to deal with the Soviets and their puppets harshly:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

We dare not tempt [our enemies] with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.

Sounds like Bush the bloodthirsty warmonger stirring up the pot for “his war,” doesn’t it?

Further, although JFK’s strategies regarding Cuba leave a lot to criticize, he nevertheless responded harshly to Cuba and the Castro regime, saying:

It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.

Whoa, what a war-monger! Yet, practically ever since JFK’s assassination, there’s been hardly a single Communist regime the Democrats haven’t excused. Socialist dictators like Castro and Chavez are revered by the left wing dominating the Democrats today. And Che Guevera is a legend.

 

2. Tax cuts for the rich! Tax cuts for the rich!

The president, speaking at the Economic Club of New York, said the following:

The most direct and significant kind of federal action aiding economic growth is ... to cut the fetters which hold back private spending. [...]

The president urged Congress to “reduce the burden on private income and the deterrents to private initiative which are imposed by our present tax system” and promised “an across-the-board, top-to-bottom cut in personal and corporate income taxes. [...]”

…[O]ur present tax system ... exerts too heavy a drag on growth, ... siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power, [and] reduces the financial incentives for personal effort, investment, and risk-taking. [...]

[The president] proposed tax cuts “for those in the middle and upper brackets, who can thereby be encouraged to undertake additional efforts and ... invest more capital.” 

Nope, not George W. Bush. It was JFK, December 1962.

Signed in 1964 by LBJ, who took office following JFK’s death, they were the largest in U.S. history, even larger than Bush’s. As columnist Jeff Jacoby explains:

By any rational yardstick, the Kennedy tax cut was enormous, and it was a boon to the rich. […]

[JFK] cut the top marginal rate a whopping 21 percentage points, from 91 to 70. Bush’s plan lowers rates at the top by only 6.6 percentage points. For those in the lowest bracket, JFK cut the tax rate to 14%; Bush drops them all the way to 10%. […]

The Kennedy cuts ‘refunded’ 12.6% of taxes collected. Bush would give back only 6%.”

What a racist that John F. Kennedy must have been! After all, if you’re for cutting taxes, you don’t care about minorities.” At least that’s the reasoning of Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY), who, after the Republicans took back Congress in 1994, said:

“‘It’s not ‘sp*c’ or ‘ni**er’ any more. They say, ‘Let's cut taxes’.” 

 

3. Belief in and invocation of God

Consider these statements:

With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

… [T]he same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah—to “undo the heavy burdens … and to let the oppressed go free.”

Holy Gaia! There goes Dubya again trying to impose his religion on us! Oops, wait a minute. Those all come from JFK’s 1961 inaugural address.

While we’re on the topic, snack on these goodies:

How could God create the world in six days? No unions.

I hope that you have re-read the Constitution of the United States in these past few weeks. Like the Bible, it ought to be read again and again.

Wooow. Like that woman who was in the audience when erstwhile Harvard president Larry Summers suggested there might be a difference between men and women’s aptitude for math and science, I think I’m gonna faint!

If a Democrat said these today, she would be thrown out of office on her tuchas and hanged. But they came from FDR, the Democrats’ other 20th century hero. The second one came from a 1937 Fireside Chat. If president Bush said that today, liberals would be writhing in the corner screeching: Church and State! Church and State! Call the ACLU quick! Theocracy!

Oh my, how things have changed.