Nov. 22 marked 60 years since the life of President John F. Kennedy was cut short by an assassin’s bullet.
Since that time his party — the Democratic Party — has devolved into something now wholly unrecognizable in the United States.
Stephen Moore, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks chief economist, observed in a recent column that the party of Jefferson and Jackson had "officially rejected" JFK’s legacy, which led to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent decision to make a White House run as an independent candidate.
A single word describing JFK’s public life would be "service," as illustrated by the most memorable line of his inaugural address: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
John F. Kennedy served honorably in the Pacific theater of World War II. At the war’s end his older brother Joe was supposed to have served in Congress, but when Joe was killed in the same war, that responsibility fell on Jack, although he felt ill-equipped for the job at the time.
Compare that to Biden.
He was of eligible draft age during the Vietnam War, but avoided service with five student deferments: First as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware, then later as a law student at Syracuse University.
He was a lackluster student at both schools, but later lied about his academic record. He claimed he graduated in the top half of his law school class, when he actually graduated near the bottom — 76th out of 85.
When asked about it later, he said that his “recollection of this was inaccurate.”
Biden was also caught cheating once at law school, what he referred to as a “stupid” mistake, making one wonder how many other "stupid" mistakes he’d made that weren’t discovered.
After law school he worked briefly as a part-time public defender before entering politics, first as county councilman, then two years later in the U.S. Senate.
But it wasn’t a case of "ask not what your country can do for you" for the future president. Despite his public servant’s salary, he managed to purchase two multi-million-dollar homes — one an Atlantic Ocean beach home.
But he’s miserly with his money. In 2021 the Bidens’ reported $610,702 in earnings, but gave a mere $17,394 in charitable donations — 2.85%. Of that, the “devout Catholic” gave $2.800 to his church.
Last year they grossed $579,514 and made $20,180 in charitable donations — 3.48%, a little better. However the largest donation ($5,000) went to a family foundation. $3,405 went to various Catholic parishes — 0.58%. Another $1,125 went to a Wilmington, Delaware Presbyterian Church Jill Biden attends.
But it’s not just Biden — it’s the entire Democratic Party.
One of the issues John F. Kennedy pushed was tax reform. His economic advisors reasoned that reducing tax rates would spur production and eventually increase tax revenues.
This principle was later refined by economist Art Laffer in what became known as the Laffer Curve.
When Kennedy took office, federal tax rates ran from 20% to 91%, depending upon income. That dropped to 14% at the low end to 70% at the high end. Corporate rates were also reduced.
But since then the Democratic Party has pushed for higher tax rates, taxing wealth in addition to income, for a larger (and more bloated and inefficient) government.
Perhaps the single-biggest contributor to federal bloat was the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which, as it turns out, offers little care to protect patients and is not affordable.
But this week even socialist-leaning Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., acknowledged its failings.
And while Americans pay more for less medical care under the (un)Affordable Care Act, the cost of taking care of uninvited illegal immigrants has risen to $451 billion per year.
The Democratic Party’s only answer to these and all other issues is more taxes, bigger government.
Stephen Moore recalled a Ronald Reagan statement: That he didn’t leave the Democratic Party, but that the party had eft him, and suggested that also applied to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
But it’s not just Kennedy.
Mark Fisher, the co-founder of the Rhode Island Black Lives Matter movement announced Sunday that the Democratic Party had left him also, and he was throwing his support behind "low tax, small government" Donald Trump.
"We’re not stupid," he said. "The brothers are not stupid. We understand when someone's for us and when someone is not and it's obvious that the Democratic party is not for us."
And if Democrats have lost Black Lives Matter, they’ve lost the election — as long as the elections are run fairly.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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