JFK's "Revolutionary" Idea, Well, Today at Least

In my last blog post I made reference to this famous quote from Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address:

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."

I think it is almost a perfect quote. It captures the spirit of America really well. It is Americans that make America great. After finding the speech online to make sure I didn't get the quote wrong, I went back and read through the entire speech. I think that it was a really good speech. I can see hints of policy that I might disagree with, but I digress. The "ask not..." bit is by far the most memorable part. I think it is the most quote worthy part, for sure. But as far as ideas, I think that it takes second place to this:

"So let us begin anew—remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us."

This is truly a revolutionary idea, well, today at least. When one side or the other take the driver's seat, they always want to go their own way, and hope they have the votes to take the other side with them wherever they wish. Recently we have seen this with health care reform efforts. There was initially an attempt to get the ball rolling quickly with a sense of urgency. As recent as last night there was a statement that the time for bickering is over. To me that sounds like fear is in part a motivating factor, and there isn't a lot of room to negotiate on this. There is a lot of division on the issue of health care reform. I can't say that I blame the Republicans in the legislature. The biggest question seems to be more about if the Democrats have the votes to pass their whole package rather than get something that both sides can live with.

It would certainly be nice if the powers that be would take a look at what unites them on this, and every issue. To use the cliche, Rome wasn't built in a day. Reform can be done piecemeal. Start with what everyone can agree on. Get that going and in place. No need to let the whole process stall on figuring out how to get everything passed with just one side's votes. If memory serves a whole lot was done in the past with one side controlling the legislature and the other side the president. They weren't incorporating massive sweeping changes with each individual bill. We don't need to try to leap the Grand Canyon from rim to rim. There are hiking trails that will get you to the other side, one step at a time. Start getting things done and then work out the parts where there is disagreement. Who knows, maybe approval ratings for everyone will go up for a change.