For some time, I have felt I am becoming more of an independent than a Republican, as I see my old GOP abandoning its principles as the party of limited government, balanced budgets, low taxes and low government spending.  It has gotten worse lately, as I see the sorry crop of GOP presidential hopefuls, none of whom inspire confidence like the man who first turned me into a Republican, Ronald Reagan.  However, the more I have thought about it, the more I realize I am not an independent-- like Reagan, I am a JFK Democrat.  I wonder where that party has gone.  I wish I could have it back.  Like Reagan, (once a card-carrying union local president and proud Democrat), once said, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party-- it left me."

In JFK's day, this is what it meant to be a Democrat: Muscular foreign policy, commitment to Civil Rights when it really mattered, conservative fiscal policy, balanced budgets, a libertarian approach to business and free enterprise, tax cuts, and most important, an unabashed, patriotic defense of liberty both here and abroad. With the passing of the last of the Kennedy Lions today, I find myself longing for Teddy's older brother.  Here's an excerpt from his Inaugural Address in 1961 that says it all:

"The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe -- the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge -- and more."

Here's a link to the video:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkinaugural.htm

"The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God."  Sounds like Reagan, who said in his farewell address:

Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the People." "We the People" tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us. "We the People" are the driver; the government is the car, and we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the People" tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We the People" are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past 8 years. (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganfarewelladdress.html)

Where are these two Giants, now that we need them?  Where are their rightful heirs, in either party?  Who, in either party, has the grit to stand, rise above the pygmies currently running Washington, and proudly proclaim that they will take up the colors once held aloft by John Kennedy or Ronald Reagan, and hoist them once more? I see no one.

I wonder what JFK and Reagan would think of our government's shameless nationalization of the banking industry, GM, Chrysler, and now the health care industry?  What would they say to a 9 trillion dollar debt, chronic unemployment threatening to break through to double digits, ever-increasing throngs of interest groups and corporate insiders petitioning Washington for their share of the public dole, and a hamstrung private sector timidly waiting in the corner for the Government's next move?  What would they say to our current President's recent "apology tour," in which his speeches were filled with nothing but criticism of what it means to be American?  Have you once heard any of our current crop of "leaders" these days even use the word "liberty?"

It seems now that today's Democratic Party thinks of the word as nothing more than some quaint old notion that has outlived its usefulness. They talk instead of "economic justice," an Orwellian phrase taken straight from the Soviet glossary, as if money could be given to the many who want it, without taking it from the few who have it.

I think if JFK and Ronald Reagan were alive today to see what has happened to their parties, they'd be ashamed.  If the GOP has forgotten what it means to be Republican, maybe someone can bring JFK's Democrats back.  If they do, I will switch my affiliation tomorrow!