Those of you who have read this blog regularly know that I have a passion for politics and love the political insight and commentary from Rich Karlgaard. His daily blog can be read at http://blogs.forbes.com/digitalrules or you can read his work in each issue of Forbes Magazine under “Digital Rules.” In my hectic schedule I always find time to read his pieces. Rich does an excellent job in his last article in the March 26, 2007 issue of Forbes titled “Where are the JFK Democrats?” of highlighting the changing landscape of the Democratic Party. Most democrats will all agree the high water mark for them in the past century was the presidency of John F. Kennedy. Bill Clinton started to climb to those lofty heights early in his presidency but is viewed as a failure by most due to his lack of character and his scandal ridden tenure. If the JFK presidency is regarded as the high water mark for the democratic party why are so many of the candidates today so left of center and vastly off track from the principles their hero once stood for? Rich does an excellent job showcasing where they need to look to recapture some of the old JFK spirit. Let me share with you this one passage from “Where are the JFK Democrats?”
“Our 35th President, John F. Kennedy, was pro-freedom, pro-defense, pro-trade, and tax cutter. On taxes, JFK has this to say at the Economic Club of New York on Dec 14, 1962: “Our present system exerts too heavy a drag on growth. It siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power. It reduces the financial incentives for personal effort, investment, and risk taking.” Juxtapose this with recent comments from Hillary Clinton, the democratic party front runner for the 2008 nomination, when she says that higher taxes are needed and that we should take profits from the big oil companies and one can see how far the democrats have drifted.
