JFK’s Dream Did Not Die With Him
One of the most amazing political shifts in modern times has occurred during my lifetime and I wonder how things will play out in the future. Here in the United States we have a President, George W. Bush, who is practically the raj’ah or the return of John F. Kennedy. Following Kennedy’s example, Bush cuts taxes to stimulate economic growth and prosperity, projects the power of the US military and State Department to spread democracy and he showers billions of dollars in aid over the world to combat AIDS, poverty and illiteracy. Like JFK, he preaches volunteerism and compassion, takes a strong stand against fascism and looks out for the interests of American citizens and business abroad, while protecting Europe, Japan and others. This frees up capital from many nations’ military budgets, so they can share in our prosperity and count on us to protect their interests abroad. JFK inaugurated the Pax Americana, and Presidents like Carter, Reagan, Clinton and now, Bush, have expanded upon it.
Yet, the once altruistic and optimistic generation, which practically idolized JFK – the young people he inspired to join the Peace Corps, serve in the military, go to college and carry the torch of American style democracy to the rest of the world, have become a cynical, hate-filled bunch of petulant 60-something adolescents. They stomp around, pestering the responsible adults who go about the daily work of ensuring the freedoms, opportunities and prosperity these older Americans seem to take for granted.
Bush is practically a clone of JFK and is considered a “conservative” by today’s definition, but he would have been slotted in with the liberals during the early 60’s. If JFK were alive today, his views would be labeled “right wing” and he would be the target of progressive intolerance and hate. So, what’s the deal? Has there been a huge a shift in American politics and thought over the past 50 years? Possibly. But, I think there may be a better explanation.
Those young idealists… that generation that had so much more lavished upon them than any other generation never lived up to their potential… they failed to grow up into the kind of adults JFK urged them to be. Instead, all the doting, all the educational opportunities, all the hard-earned advantages they were handed by their parents plunged them instead into what scientists label psychological neoteny or the Peter Pan syndrome.
The dreams of JFK are still alive, but not in his former followers, numbered among the progressives and liberals today. Ironically, his ideals are to be found in the hearts and minds of young people in the conservative movement.
September 28th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
Peter Pan syndrome. *nodding head* That makes a lot of sense. This is a really well thought out post, Bo. I enjoyed reading it. I have to say that Bush lacks the personality that JFK had. For some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on–Bush bothers me when he gives a speech. I don’t know why.
September 30th, 2006 at 10:22 am
Thanks, Sadie. You are right about Bush, I think. Their personalities are similar in some ways and it’s good to remember that, even though Bush grew up in Texas, he’s from New England stock. But, the Kennedy’s had a different, more exciting family dynamic. Kennedy brought together the Washington scene, the pop culture and Irish Catholic values, with a little bit of Boston thrown in. What a mix and sure to appeal to a broad audience.
Bush has some odd speech patterns (can’t put my finger on it) and I think his father did, too. He’s not comfortable to listen to. With that said, I can’t think of many people in politics I do enjoy listening to and I’ve thought about that a lot. I think Bill Clinton was good, in that he came across as very relaxed and conversational. I think I’ll blog about this later.
September 30th, 2006 at 6:41 pm
P.S. I had a lot of fun with Photoshop, creating the morph of JFK to Bush.
October 1st, 2006 at 6:01 pm
Yeah, I thought you might have just gotten that JFK-Bush morph thing right off the internet but now that I know you made it–that rocks!
BY the way, I like your new color in the title–I didn’t like the blue. I love your profile pic too.
October 11th, 2006 at 4:19 am
[...] Sadie commented: [...]
January 27th, 2007 at 11:55 am
[...] I read this substantive, relevant article in, of all places, that creaky ol’ Rolling Stone Magazine. The writer puts the spotlight on China’s new, innovative and virtually unstoppable Chinafication strategy in Tibet, expected to wipe out the last traces of traditional culture there in fairly short order. So, you can peel the Free Tibet! bumper sticker off of your Subaru or bio-diesel Mercedes, because the war has been lost — it’s time to shift your “compassion-of-the-month-club” energy to some other lost cause. But, don’t even think about Darfur or the Congo or any other hellhole on earth, where people are committing genocide, fratricide or even polka-cide, for that matter. The people of the US are fed up with such high falootin’, JFK fantasies about “making the world a better place” and, as everyone knows, “if the US won’t go, nobody will go (read UN, NATO, SATO, etc).” I suppose the world community could whip out some sanctions or something… that’s been real effective with Iran, North Korea, China… oops. No, the fact of the matter is that socialists and progressives in those countries will do whatever it takes to subjugate and rule the masses, just like they will in the US. [...]