David Von Pein: Q&A With President John F. Kennedy- April 19, 1963

Source: David Von Pein-

Source:David Von Pein

The first questions in this presidential news conference asked to President Kennedy, was about Cuba. With someone actually asking President Kennedy did his administration have any plans to invade Cuba. As if President Kennedy would ever reveal to his plans or no plans to invade another country in public. Imagine if JFK said, "sure, we're going to invade Cuba. And we're going to do it Thursday afternoon at around 12PM coming from Miami. And we're going to send in a dozen fighter jets and a big Naval ship headed to Havana to take out the Castro Regime and anyone who tries to get in our way. So President Castro and your military, get ready for us because we're coming to get you." No responsible President in his right mind would ever make his military plans public before they were executed.

Tax cuts and economic policy generally, was a major part of the Kennedy Administration's agenda in 1963. Tax reform and lowering taxes across the board in exchange for eliminating tax loopholes to avoid deficits ( unlike a recent tax cut plan passed and signed into law ) since the American economy was till growing slowly in the early 1960s after getting out of the recession from the late 1950s. The top tax rate in 1963 was 90%. The lowest rate being 20-25% and if you're making what would be in today's dollars 40,000 dollars a year and you're paying 20-25% in Federal income taxes, plus 3-4% in Federal payroll taxes, plus state and local taxes, even with the tax loopholes back then you're still paying a lot in taxes on a very modest income. The tax reform plan that President Kennedy wanted, was finally passed out of Congress in 1964 under President Lyndon Johnson.

So-called Conservatives today ( borrow and spend supply siders, to me more accurate ) like to point to Jack Kennedy when they promote their tax cut and tax reform ideas. The difference being that JFK wasn't a supply sider. He didn't think a trillion-dollar tax cut would pay for itself because of the economic growth that it would generate. Especially on top of huge increases in Federal spending. He believed tax cuts if they were targeted right and encouraged spending in the economy could generate economic growth, but that those tax cuts should be paid for. JFK was a Liberal Democrat in the real sense and believed in fiscal responsibility as well as using government to encourage more independence, not discourage it. Which separates him from the Bernie Sanders Democratic Socialists today. And that tax cuts and Federal spending, needed to be paid for to avoid high budget deficits.

In case you don't own a calendar or have one on your cell phone and perhaps even don't have the time on your phone and have been using the same cell phone since 1997 or something, or have been vacationing in Mongolia, it's President's Day. Which is why I'm posting this piece about Jack Kennedy because he is my political hero. And when it comes to his politics and how he governed he's also my favorite President. I don't believe he's the best President of the United States, but he's my favorite in the sense of what he stood for and believed in. Which was liberal democracy and individual freedom for all. Not just for people who were born to wealth or have European ancestry, especially English ancestry who also happen to be male and Protestant. 

C-SPAN: President John F. Kennedy's American University Peace Speech

Source: C-SPAN- President John F. Kennedy-

Source:C-SPAN

I believe the whole point of President Kennedy’s speech here is that as different as the American and Russian form of government’s and system’s during the Cold War were, that the American and Russian people actually have a lot more in common that a lot of people tend to think. That we all live on the same planet, breathe the same air, cherish our children’s future and so-forth. That as bad as the Russian communist system was, there were plenty of things to actually like about the Russian people and Russian society. The only thing a superpower war would’ve brought America and Russia, is mutual destruction.

I think what President Kennedy was calling for was to find ways where America could work with Russia on their common interests and actually learn from each other. That both countries were going to do their things so to speak and promote their interests and system’s, but trying to destroy each other was simply not an option. Because both countries would end up destroyed essentially even if one of them were to come out looking a little better. As long as the Cold War was, the United States and Soviet Union, never went to battle with each other physically. Because they were both smart and sane enough to know the consequences of such a war.

I believe had President Kennedy lived and finished out his presidency, he probably gets reelected in 1964 against Senator Barry Goldwater. And this peace through strength strategy that I believe he was laying out here would have gone into effect. That America, would have continued to be as physically and economically as strong as possible, but not to physically destroy the Soviet Union. But to show them that they can’t destroy us and that are economic and political system’s are so much stronger than their’s and that it would be in their best interest to work with us. Simply because they would never even be strong enough economically to even compete with us with their Marxist system.

TV Days: President John F. Kennedy- Imagine What Fox News Would Say

Source: TV Days- President John F. Kennedy-

Source:TV Days

Here’s one thing that I love about Jack Kennedy. He wasn’t anti-government and neither am I, but he did have a healthy skepticism about what government could do for people. Meaning he didn’t want government trying to do everything for everybody or trying to take care of everyone. But he believed that government including the Federal Government could play a healthy role in seeing that all Americans had the opportunity to live in freedom. John F. Kennedy believed that all Americans including African-Americans and others should  be able to get themselves the skills to do so. Which is why he was a real Liberal Democrat and not a Conservative or Social Democrat. He was the Bill Clinton of the 1950s and 60s, or Clinton was the JFK of the 1990s. But they both believed that government shouldn't try to do everything or nothing for people. But help those who need it get themselves the tools that they need to live well in life. 

TV Days: President John F. Kennedy Explains The Need For Medicare

Source: TV Days- President John F. Kennedy-

Source:TV Days

One of the advantages of Medicare is that when someone's spouse gets hurt Medicare is there to make sure that all senior citizens at least will get the affordable health care that they need. So they do not have to go bankrupt in order to cover their health care bills. I just wish they went further in the mid 1960s and allowed for everyone if they choose to pay into Medicare. And use it as their health insurance as well if they chose to. And even let the states set up their own Medicare system so the program doesn’t become too centralized. Had they done that we wouldn’t have the expensive healthcare system that we do today. Medicare was never called Seniorcare or SenioCitizenCare, it was called Medicare. Which means medical care for people and that doesn’t have to be senior citizens necessarily. Medicare could have been the so-called public option that was debated in 2009-10, but started in 1965. And we would still have a private health insurance as well as health care today. But where more Americans would have more choice in how they paid for their health care. 

TV Days: John F. Kennedy vs. Ronald Reagan on Medicare

Source: TV Days- President John F. Kennedy-

Source:TV Days

I have a lot of respect for Ronald Reagan, but he was simply dead wrong about Medicare. And by the time he was President of the United States at least, he was even a supporter of Medicare and spoke in favor of it. Were there members of Congress looking to nationalize the health insurance system, if not the entire health care system in the 1960s, I’m sure there were. But that is not what President Kennedy and then later President Lyndon Johnson were proposing. And what President Johnson then later got passed out of Congress in 1964, what they got out of Congress was guaranteed health insurance for senior citizens and the poor. Which is Medicare and Medicaid and I wish they went further and allowed for all Americans above poverty to pay into Medicare if they chose to. In other words the public option, but they didn’t even go that far.

David Von Pein: Huntley Brinkley Report: Outtakes From An Interview With President John F. Kennedy

Source:The Daily Press

President Kennedy, getting a rare opportunity at a retake of an interview that he had before. David Brinkley and Chet Huntley, interviewing President Kennedy about Vietnam. Which of course in 1963 was going through a civil war between Communists in the North and Democrats in the South. The Eisenhower Administration decided to back the Democratic North in a limited way through aid and other resources. That the Kennedy Administration decided to continue when they came into office in 1961. Almost three years later in late 1963 President Kennedy was in a position where he needed to decide how much should America help the Democratic South after they sent advisers into Vietnam to assist the South. But I think it was clear that he wasn't in favor of sending American troops in to fight the Vietnam Civil War.

The second question being about the Kennedy tax cuts of 1963 that President Lyndon Johnson finally got through a Democratic Congress in 1963 after the assassination of President Kennedy in November of 63. The American economy of 1963 wasn't that different from the American economy of 2011-12. As far as economic and job growth. The economy in both periods was growing and creating jobs, but not very rapidly and slowly recovering from previous recessions. What President Kennedy wanted to do was put through an across the board tax cut and pay for it by cutting loopholes. To drive consumer spending and economic growth. There were concerns in Congress about how a tax cut that size would affect the deficit. And that is what the President was dealing with then.

Jack Kennedy, was a true Liberal Democrat, because he believed that liberty was worth defending here at home. That America had to be strong at home first economically before we try to show strength abroad. And the we way we should try to show strength abroad was not to try to police the world by ourselves, but work with our allies to preserve peace and expand freedom to people who were looking for it, but didn't have it. Because they were being held down by an authoritarian dictatorial regime. Where they have very little if any say on what goes on in their own country. And these were the reasons that the President wanted to help Democratic Vietnam, get the Senate to pass the Test Ban Treaty and to pass a large tax cut. Because he wanted to defend freedom at home and abroad and strengthen the American economy. So more Americans could live in freedom.

David Von Pein: President John F. Kennedy's Cuban Missile Crisis Speech (10/22/1962)

Source:FRS FreeState

What President Kennedy showed during this crisis was to show that his National Security Council was on top of the situation from the beginning. And the question which was a huge question, was what to do about it to prevent missiles from being launched at the United States. President Kennedy, obviously did not want to go to war with another superpower and risk destroying the world in the process. Which might have happened had the United States gone to war with the Soviet Union. Trying to invade the Communist Republic of Cuba with Russian ships in the area was not going to happen without some war. Which meant that the Kennedy Administration, was going to need a negotiated settlement with Russia.

Russia, was literally able to stick their own nuclear weapons on the island of Cuba. Just ninety miles from Miami, Florida. With enough power to eliminate the East Coast of the United States. So President Kennedy and his National Security Council knew they had to get those weapons out of Cuba. They also knew that going to war with a country the size and that was as powerful militarily as the Soviet Union, probably wasn’t an option at all. So they were going to have to work this out diplomatically. To get the weapons out of Cuba, America was going to have to give Russia something they wanted as well.

What prevented World War III during the Cuba Missile Crisis was Russia agreeing to pull their weapons out of Cuba. In return for America pulling their weapons out of Turkey. America, didn’t pass new economic sanctions on Russia hoping that Russia would eventually take the weapons out of Cuba. As well as hoping they would never use them, or give them to Cuba. And America didn’t go to war with Russia and try to settle it that way. Both countries had something that the other wanted and wanted something that the other had. And both were smart and sane enough to settle the crisis diplomatically.

Helmer Reenberg: President John F. Kennedy's 51st Press Conference (March 6, 1963)

Source:FRS FreeState

John F. Kennedy, when he became President of The United States in 1961 wanted to do a few things as it relates to economic policy. Go further in social insurance so more people could have access to affordable health care, especially senior citizens. In the areas of health insurance, but also more hospitals and health care professionals. But also in tax reform, lowering marginal tax rates where back in the early 1960s income tax rates ranged from 25-90%. Which was a drag on our economic growth, because Americans weren’t seeing much benefit from their success and production.

So President Kennedy, wanted to lower taxes rates, because the Federal Government got a big chunk of what Americans were making. Which is why President Kennedy wanted to cut tax rates across the board. See more money in the economy, more take home pay for Americans to spend that money to see more economic growth. And these tax cuts served as an inspiration for the tax cutters on the Right in the late 1970s and early 1980s. That led to tax cuts at the state levels in the late 1970s and of course President Reagan’s Economic Recovery Act of 1981.

But a Kennedy tax cut and a Barack Obama tax cut, are very different from a Reagan tax cut, or a George W. Bush tax cut. President Kennedy, didn’t have this idea that tax cuts automatically paid for them self. And unlike supply siders he believed that deficits mattered. And that if you cut taxes, you should do that by paying for them. And he did that by cutting wasteful loopholes in the Federal tax code. Jack Kennedy, wasn’t a Conservative as some on the Right like to suggest. And he wasn’t a big welfare state Social Democrat that today’s so-called Progressives like to believe he was. He was a Liberal in the true sense. Not anti-government, but believed a limited government could help people who needed it help them self.

CBS News: President John F. Kennedy's Presidential Inaugural Address

Source:FRS FreeState

Inaugural address’ are interesting at least for this reason and depending on what the President at the time says can be interesting for that reason as well but they are at least interesting because it gives the President the opportunity to layout for the country the situation that the country is in and where he wants to take the country in the next four years. And if the President is reelected an opportunity to layout where the country was four years earlier. The progress that has been made and the challenges that still lay ahead. But inaugural address’ aren’t partisan in the sense that the President will hammer the opposition party, but to layout their own political and governmental philosophy which will be different from the opposition party.

And what they believe the role of government is. And based on that where he wants to take his administration and what direction he wants to lead the country. And that’s the opportunity that President Obama will have tomorrow. “This is where we were, this is the progress we’ve made and this is where I want to lead the country based on my thinking and the facts on the ground.” As a Liberal Democrat I would like to here Barack Obama tomorrow speak in the spirit of Jack Kennedy. Not to quote him exactly, but speak in his spirit of terms like “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Speak in terms of Bill Clinton’s opportunity society. “There’s nothing wrong with America that can’t be cured with what’s right with America. That we’ll expand freedom and opportunity for all as well as demand responsibility for all.” Speak in terms of individual freedom for all. Especially for Americans that don’t have it and are still struggling. Speak in terms of how government can empower those who don’t have the individual freedom to take care of themselves to have the same freedom and opportunity that the rest of the country has and how we as Americans ourselves can build the best America. Rather than what government can do for us. Which is different from a speech by Franklin Roosevelt to use as an example. The difference between a Liberal Democratic speech and a Social Democratic speech.

To be honest, I’ll be surprised if President Obama speaks in these terms tomorrow and probably will give a somewhat safe speech. And go out of his way not to offend anyone and not leave much to be remembered. Or give a speech that’s full of great words and phrases that few other people can do as well. But not have a lot of meaning to them. A speech that sounds good, but with not a lot of meat to it. But here’s the opportunity to not only layout for the country where he wants to take America. But where he wants to lead the Democratic Party and I hope he takes advantage of it.

CBS Evening News: Walter Cronkite's Interview of President Kennedy (September 2nd, 1963)

Source:The Daily Press

In September, 1963, CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite sat down with President Jack Kennedy and interviewed him up in Massachusetts. To talk about the issues he was dealing with. Jack Kennedy, knew the power of TV about as well, or better than anyone in the 1960s and even 1950s. So he probably wanted to do this type of interview and to layout for the country what he was working on and wanted to accomplish. This interview happened fourteen months before the 1964 presidential election. And just a little over two months before he was assassinated and in late 1963.

President Kennedy, had an economy that was weakening and was trying to get a jobs plan through Congress. That included a large tax cut that cut taxes across the board. Including bringing the top rate down from 90 to 70% and the bottom rate from 25 to 20%. And this economic plan contributed to creating the economic boom of the 1960s. President Kennedy was also dealing with civil rights and making sure that Federal Court orders were being carried out. And that African-American students were able to go to once segregated schools and so-forth.

And this is the time that President Kennedy came out strongly in favor of civil rights and introduced a civil rights bill to Congress. And of course President Kennedy was also dealing with the United States early involvement in the Vietnam Civil War as well. President Kennedy, had a lot on his plate to deal with in 1963 and it would’ve been nice to see him at least try accomplish all the things that he wanted to do to deal with these issues. A lot of what President Lyndon Johnson got passed in Congress was finishing off the agenda that President Kennedy put forward and sent to Congress. But was unable to get through the House and Senate.

Public Resource: Video: CBS News: President John F. Kennedy After Two Years

Source:The Daily Press

Jack Kennedy came to the White House in 1961 with a broad agenda that included civil rights for African-Americans, Federal aid to public education, health insurance for seniors and an economic plan to deal with an economy that was slowly coming out of recession from the late 1950s, that included a deep tax cut. And yet most of his domestic agenda stalled in Congress despite having large Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate. And spent most of the first two years dealing with foreign policy. With Cuba twice both involving Russia, the Bay of Pigs fiasco and of course the Cuban Missile Crisis.

President Kennedy, did have a foreign policy agenda as well and was a tough Liberal Cold Warrior that wanted to open discussions with Russia. But wasn’t prepared to be soft with them, but take them on. And spoke out for liberal democracy not only in America, but in Europe as well, but wasn’t looking for a war with the Soviet Union either. And in the middle of 1963, finally took a tough stand when it came to civil rights for African-Americans and liberal democracy for them. Who were being discriminated and beaten in the South with the violent beatings that were happening in Alabama and Mississippi.

We’ll never know how successful of a President that Jack Kennedy would’ve made, one of the tragedies of his assassination. But he had all the tools of becoming not just one of the best Liberal Democratic president’s we’ve ever had, but one of the best president’s we’ve ever had as well. Just by what he believed in, but also how he handled the issues that came his way. The Cuban Missile Crisis and finally taking on Civil Rights as well in 1963. The question is how effective he would’ve been how he been able to complete his first term. And he been reelected, he effective he would’ve been at getting his agenda through Congress. Something he wasn’t very successful at in his first two years.

President Kennedy, was very popular when he died I believed, because of his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis and because he was very likable personally. Which are the advantages that President Obama has today. But wasn’t very good at making Congress go along with his agenda based on his personal appeal. Had President Kennedy completed his first term, he would’ve continued to work on the issues, that he ran on as President. Across the board tax cuts, what later became known as Medicare, Federal Aid to public education and civil rights. And then the question would’ve been how successful he would’ve been at pushing that agenda through Congress.

President John F. Kennedy: Proposes Tax Cut (1962)

Source:FRS FreeState

In 1962, President Kennedy a Liberal Democrat, but an actual Liberal Democrat, not someone who’s called a Liberal Democrat, but who’s politics suggests they are something else instead, realized that economic growth was too low. And tax rates were too high and that the Federal deficit was growing too high and that we needed a strong economy to bring down the Federal deficit and put more people back to work. In order to eventually balanced the Federal budget. Which is something that was accomplished by President Lyndon Johnson. The last President with a balanced budget, until President Clinton in 1998. Thats why President Kennedy came out in favor tax cuts in late 1962, if not before and send his plan to Congress. Unfortunately he didn’t live long enough to see his tax cuts passed.

President Kennedy, understood to have a liberal democracy, people had to have the liberty to live their lives. And incentive to be productive with their lives. And not see government collect most of their production. That you had to incentivize people to be productive. For the most people possible to work hard and be productive. And that government spending and activity as it relates to the economy isn’t the only way to incentivize economic production. That you also had to incentivize the people themselves to be as productive as they can in the economy and produce as much as possible. And be able to keep most of what they produce. So they see the benefit of their production.

President Kennedy, wasn’t making a case for supply side economics. That George H.W. Bush before he became Vice President called “Voodoo Economics”. Where you cut taxes dramatically across the board without paying for them up front. The theory being that the new economic growth generated by the tax cuts will pay for themselves. President Kennedy, was also concerned about the Federal deficit. What he was saying was that the Federal Government had to be smart about how it spent money. Limit government waste and not spend money on things we shouldn’t be doing. Or spending too much on things that we should be doing. As well as incentivizing economic growth, with a tax code that doesn’t take too much of what people earn. Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, represent where Liberal Democrats should be on taxes. That no one should have to pay a lot in taxes. Meaning so much, that it harms economic growth. But we should all pay our fair share, in a progressive tax system.

Another thing that makes the Kennedy tax cuts from 1962 different from the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1981 and the George W. Bush tax cuts of 2001 and what makes the Kennedy tax cuts similar as the Barack Obama tax cuts of 2009, is that the benefit of the tax cuts were aimed at middle-income Americans. And also the Kennedy tax cuts, cut a lot of loopholes in the tax code. He cut rates across the board, but also got rid of a lot of junk in the tax code. For one, to help offset the tax cuts and help to pay for them. But also to get rid of a lot of junk in the code that wasn’t generating economic growth and tended to only benefit the wealthy. President Kennedy, brought down the top rate of the tax code from ninety-percent, to seventy-percent. And the bottom rate from twenty-five percent, to twenty-percent. This tax cut plan that was passed by Congress in 1964 and singed by President Lyndon Johnson and of course the Vietnam War, started an economic boom in America. That lasted the rest of the 1960s.

President John F. Kennedy: Speech On Tax Cuts

Source:Free State MD

First of all, I want to thank my friend and one of my subscribers Brendan Owens from Facebook for giving me the inspiration to write this blog. about tax cuts. Parts of the last two nights we’ve been debating tax cuts on Facebook as good friends can do in a respectful way. He’s a self-described Democratic Socialist. I don’t say that to be insulting, but that’s how he describes his politics. I’m a self-described Liberal Democrat, so we have plenty to debate about outside of social issues, where we tend to agree. At least so far, we haven’t discussed gun rights yet, but maybe in the future.

Jack Kennedy, a political hero of mine and I know I’ve said this many times, but it’s definitely true. Inherited a recession, or a weak economy when he became President in 1961. The economy boomed for the most part in the 1950s under the Eisenhower Administration. But went into recession in I believe in 1958. It cost the Republican Party a bunch of seats in Congress that year. As Congressional Democrats added to their majorities, thanks to the Southern Conservative Caucus and others. And proposed an Economic Recovery Act that had I believe when the largest tax cut in American history.

Back then, we had tax rates ranging from 25-90%. Thank God for all the tax deductions! Or our economy would be like Russia, with basically no property rights. Basically the Federal Government would take most of your money from you in income and payroll taxes and then let you decide how much of it you could get back in order to pay your bills. It was redistribution of your own wealth through high tax rates. President Kennedy, recognized that those high tax rates were slowing down economic growth and economic incentive for people to work hard and make a good living. Because the Federal Government would collect so much of the money. Those high tax rates didn’t make much sense even from a socialist point of view other than to hold down the rich or something. Because America still didn’t have much of a safety net. This was right before the Great Society.

The 1960s, was one of the best decades we’ve ever had economically at least in the 20th Century. With high economic and job growth for most of that decade and low unemployment. One of the reasons why President Johnson was elected in a landslide in 1964 and if it wasn’t for the Vietnam War, he probably would’ve been reelected in a landslide as well. The Kennedy tax cuts by the way, we aint talking about Goldwater-Reagan or Kemp-Roth, but Jack Kennedy a Liberal Democrat, was a big part for the 1960s economic expansion. And it wasn’t a supply side tax cut, but they paid for it by eliminating tax loopholes.

The Kennedy tax cuts, had tax reform in it. Lower tax rates while eliminating tax loopholes. Letting people keep more of their money for them to decide how to spend it. Encouraging people to be more productive, because they would get to keep more of their money as a result. Instead of the Federal Government taking most of it from them. The Kennedy tax cuts plus the Vietnam War with the boom in the military industry as well as people being sent to Vietnam opening up more jobs at home, are reasons for the economic expansion of the 1960s.

In 1978 Representative Jack Kemp and Senator Bill Roth, two Conservative Republican members of Congress, proposed their own tax cuts that later became the 1981 Economic Recovery Act that President Reagan singed into law. It did help jump-start the economy and lead to the economic boom of the 1980s. But the difference being President Reagan didn’t pay for his tax cuts, or even propose to do so. He didn’t propose on balanced budget plan to Congress his entire eight years. He had a Republican Senate for six years. His theory was that supply side tax cuts pay for themselves. He was wrong if you look at the mountain of debt as a result in his government expansion and tax cuts. But President Kennedy was an inspiration for their tax cuts.

C-SPAN: President John F. Kennedy's 1963 Address on Civil Rights

Source:FRS FreeState

When I think of how Democrats should be and this is going to sound real arrogant, but I look at myself when I’m talking politically. A Liberal, because we believe in individual freedom, maximize freedom for the individual, as long as we are not hurting anyone else with our freedom. That means economic, social, political, religious, freedom of choice, as long as we are not hurting anyone else with our freedom. That we get back to what Old School Liberalism is. Not how liberalism is stereotyped today, which looks more like socialism, or progressivism. Liberalism, which is about individual liberty, again as long as we are not hurting anyone else with our choices.

But that’s me. Every Democrat can have their own version of what Democrats should be. But to me we are supposed to be the Liberal Democratic Party in America. Because we believe in liberal democracy. Not a Social Democratic Party, that some so-called Progressives today would like us to become. Or a Centrist Democratic Party, where those people could probably be Republicans as well. Like Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska. But when I think of people who come the closest in representing what democrats and liberalism should be, I think of Jack Kennedy with Bill Clinton being not that far behind. As well as some Liberal Democrats today like Senator John Kerry, another JFK with very similar politics as Jack Kennedy. Senate Deputy Leader Dick Durbin and a few others. People who are Liberals not because they believe in collectivism. That government can solve all problems. But because they believe in individual liberty.

Jack Kennedy, in particular comes closest in representing what democrats are supposed to be. Not just because of his politics, but with his power to communicate his views. Just like Barry Goldwater represents exactly what Republicans are supposed to be because he was definitely a Classical Conservative. And communicated classical conservatism as well as it could be communicated and I would add Ron Reagan to that list as well. Because even though President Kennedy was late to the dance on civil rights and had he got their earlier, maybe he could’ve got the ball rolling on it earlier, but he got there. And it wasn’t that he didn’t believe in civil and equal rights, but that it was politics that was keeping him from it.

Losing the South in the 1964 Election, which is a weakness on President Kennedy’s part and I’m not excusing it. President Kennedy comes closest to representing what democrats should be. Because he was strong and smart on defense not soft that a lot of democrats after him got accused of being. And to a certain extent for good reason, again supported equal rights, individual freedom. Didn’t want the Federal Government growing indefinitely, that there was a limit in what it can do to help the country. Fiscally responsible, these are all things that Liberals actually believe in. That government can help people who are down get themselves up, with what’s called a safety net. Not a welfare state and they are different.

This is what it means to be a Liberal Democrat. Now I’m sure I’m farther to the left on a lot of social issues than President Kennedy. Like decriminalization of marijuana and prostitution and perhaps Gambling as well. But those issues, weren’t considered mainstream back in JFK’s time. But he comes the closest from every Democrat I’ve ever seen, as someone who doesn’t believe in any form of big government. Doesn’t believe in collectivism, but believes in individual freedom instead. Which is one of the reasons why he was such a strong anti-Communist. Not only in Congress, but as President as well and I wish we had more Democrats today like Jack Kennedy.