Oooookay.
I'm sitting here, at work, waiting for a phone call, and listening to a JFK speech. One that I would like someone to very slowly explain, in little words, to The Great Shrub in the White House.
The Part that he really needs to listen to, but never will...
"We cannot, as a free nation, compete with our adversaries in tactics of terror, assassination, false promises, counterfeit mobs and crises.
We cannot, under the scrutiny of a free press arid public, tell different stories to different audiences, foreign and domestic, friendly and hostile.
We cannot abandon the slow processes of consulting with our allies to match the swift expediencies of those who merely dictate to their satellites.
We can neither abandon nor control the international organization in which we now cast less than one percent of the vote in the General Assembly.
We possess weapons of tremendous powerbut they are least effective in combating the weapons most often used by freedom's foes: subversion, infiltration, guerrilla warfare, civil disorder...
We send arms to other peoplesjust as we send them the ideals of democracy in which we believebut we cannot send them the will to use those arms or to abide by those ideals.
And while we believe not only in the force of arms but in the force of right and reason, we have learned that reason does not always appeal to unreasonable men, that it is not always true that "a soft answer turneth away wrath," and that right does not always make might.
In short, we must face problems which do not lend themselves to easy or quick or permanent solutions. And we must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscientthat we are only six percent of the world's populationthat we cannot impose our will upon the other ninety-four percent of mankindthat we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversityand that therefore there cannot he an American solution to every world problem."
Ahh... if only we had a president that could rock the polysyllabic words...
Hey, a guy can dream.
Tougher than Emo,
FLC
I'm sitting here, at work, waiting for a phone call, and listening to a JFK speech. One that I would like someone to very slowly explain, in little words, to The Great Shrub in the White House.
The Part that he really needs to listen to, but never will...
"We cannot, as a free nation, compete with our adversaries in tactics of terror, assassination, false promises, counterfeit mobs and crises.
We cannot, under the scrutiny of a free press arid public, tell different stories to different audiences, foreign and domestic, friendly and hostile.
We cannot abandon the slow processes of consulting with our allies to match the swift expediencies of those who merely dictate to their satellites.
We can neither abandon nor control the international organization in which we now cast less than one percent of the vote in the General Assembly.
We possess weapons of tremendous powerbut they are least effective in combating the weapons most often used by freedom's foes: subversion, infiltration, guerrilla warfare, civil disorder...
We send arms to other peoplesjust as we send them the ideals of democracy in which we believebut we cannot send them the will to use those arms or to abide by those ideals.
And while we believe not only in the force of arms but in the force of right and reason, we have learned that reason does not always appeal to unreasonable men, that it is not always true that "a soft answer turneth away wrath," and that right does not always make might.
In short, we must face problems which do not lend themselves to easy or quick or permanent solutions. And we must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscientthat we are only six percent of the world's populationthat we cannot impose our will upon the other ninety-four percent of mankindthat we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversityand that therefore there cannot he an American solution to every world problem."
Ahh... if only we had a president that could rock the polysyllabic words...
Hey, a guy can dream.
Tougher than Emo,
FLC