November 22, 1963

[Octafish]

November 22, 1963 is the day President John F. Kennedy died. He was proud to be a Liberal Democrat in the tradition of the Democratic Party of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and President Harry S Truman.

These leaders were statesmen, who believed in using the powers of government to make ours a better nation for ALL Americans. Liberal Democrats believe in the Constitution where it says:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

There were 1,036 days from Jan. 20, 1961 to November 22, 1963. That’s 24,864 hours or 1,491,840 minutes or 89,510,400 seconds.

The period’s been called the thousand days of Camelot. Really just a blink of an eye, for America it means more than that. It truly was a legendary time and America truly was a magical place — a place where anything was possible.

Consider what President Kennedy worked to achieve: He raised the minimum wage, cut taxes, kept America from nuclear annihilation twice, maintained world peace, set about to bring equal rights for all Americans, got the country to invest in the arts and education, and set out to do the impossible — land an American on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth. He did all that in a thousand days.

A thousand days. That is not much time considering how much JFK accomplished. And President Kennedy used each day to make ours a better nation for ALL Americans.

My, how things have changed. Here’s a bit of reality programming — what’s happened in the 14,869 days since November 22, 1963:

• Vietnam
• Guatemala
• Chile
• Watergate
• October Surprise
• El Salvador
• Reagan Survives Hinckley and Bush
• Voodoo Economics
• INSLAW/Promis
• Haiti
• Iraq-gate / Banca Nazionale del Lavoro arms
• BCCI International Money Laundering for Terrorists & Intelligence Community
• Savings & Loan scandal in general and Silverado in particular
• Iran-contra Guns/Drugs/Martial Law
• Gulf War I Glaspie Gives Go-Ahead
• Selection 2000 Shreds US Constitution
• Tax Cuts for UltraRich
• Criminal Justice Department
• Suicidal Environmental Policy
• ENRON Energy Policy
• 9-11 Criminal Negligence, at best; Treason, most likely
• Illegal Iraq Invasion

It’s interesting in reviewing the above list, just how much conservative neo-con corrupt Republican leadership has really been a Contract On America. The list demonstrates there have been puhlenty of business opportunities in the finance, energy, and defense industries; But, that brief listing doesn’t sound like it’s been a good deal for the average American for the past four decades.

And while there have been occasional flashes of the old Democratic magic in the administrations of James Earl Carter and William Jefferson Clinton, the fact of the matter is things haven’t really been the same since JFK’s leadership.

While times may change, one name runs through all the history, the four decades since the JFK administration. Since the very hour of President Kennedy’s death, and through the list of sinister events and unrelenting nefarity noted above — a record of infamy stretching back 40 years, 8 months and 16 days — appears the name George Herbert Walker Bush.

— Octafish