I don’t pretend that I would have voted for JFK, I wouldn’t have–he was no libertarian! But I have come to respect him in many ways and I find his assassination to have been one of the greatest turning points in American history. The Civil War, World War I (that was the greatest turning point for the entire West, in my opinion), and JFK’s death rank as paradigm shifts in the ideology or power structure of this country. JFK’s assassination, in my opinion, was a coup, and the cover-up signified complete control over checks and balances both within the government and without (specifically, the media). For this reason, I like to continue to mourn JFK and remember how monumental his assassination on November 22, 1963, really was.
Just this morning, by coincidence, feeling beaten down by the drums of war (“We must defeat ISIS! We must start by unseating its greatest enemy, Bashar Assad!” Huh?), I had the following thought: Imagine a world where we could spend our free time learning a foreign language or pondering the true nature of God, mastering the art of French cooking or studying Socrates? What if, instead of creating massive, violent crises by violating our founding principles, our government simply did what we charge it to do: defend us without violating our rights or anyone else’s?
If that were the state of the world today, I believe we would be awash in prosperity and peace. I believe that is actually where we have arrived technologically and that we should have the leisure to take the next step in civilization, or at least spend more time with our kids! Instead, we have to spend our efforts working twice as hard as we otherwise would to pay the taxes that fund the wars that create instability, unrest, poverty and violence all over the world, and what little free time we do have, we have to spend trying to sort through all the propaganda and rein in our government.
Then I recalled JFK’s last speech, the one he gave at American University. I think he was saying that it’s true, that we had “arrived” and that what stands between us and a more civilized existence is no longer nature, but man, specifically, those Winston Churchill called the “high cabal” of power.
For links to JFK’s speech and more of my thoughts on the subject, click here.
Great thoughts, Monica.