Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Ask What Your Country Can Do For You

I was having a conversation with a friend today about this article about Barack Obama. The article, written by two conservatives, lays out the case against voting for Barack Obama, using his own words. My friend, who was already voting for McCain before reading this article, was even more irked after reading the article. She wondered what has happened to standards in this country if people are actually thinking about voting for Obama, given what he stands for. And if you don't know what he stand for, I urge you to go read the article.

Obama has been compared to JFK for his charisma and ability to give a great speech but upon further examination, really comes up short in my opinion. Clearly, the most famous line in JFK's inaugural address was "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country." That seems to be a great way to sum up the spirit of the country at that time.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case today.

Instead, it seems to be "Demand that your country do for you what you once did for yourself. And then complain when it doesn't do more or happen fast enough."

I'm pretty sure that's not the spirit in which this country was founded on.

2 comments:

George M.F. Washington said...

That would make a great essay question... "how does Barack Obama's philsophy of governance compare to JFK's line that we should not ask what our country can do for us but what we can do for our country."

And no, simply paying more in taxes does not count.

Thomas M.F. Jefferson said...

That is a good essay topic. I think I shall take it up in a post.