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52


L. Neil Smith's
THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE
Number 52, July 31, 1999

Untitled

by Robert Ellis
[email protected]

Special to The Libertarian Enterprise

           Lately I've been hearing a great deal about the similarities between the late Princess Diana, and the more recently late JFK, Jr. It makes one wonder. I'm not certain that I get the connection, except perhaps that they both died while reasonably young. Once again, I remind my gentle readers that we do not have royalty in America. Another prominently presented phrase in the news this past week has been "the Kennedy dynasty." What, pray tell, is the "Kennedy dynasty"? A dynasty suggests a line of hereditary rulers or a succession of leaders from the same family. In spite of mr clinton's Chinese connections, and his posture as a Kennedy wannabe, the Kennedy family doesn't even begin to approach the dimensions of a "dynasty". Although they have experienced a profound personal loss in the death of the only male heir of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Sr., this does not even begin to suggest that we, as a nation of citizens, have lost our only hope for salvation, as the media, this past week, would lead us to believe. I'm not even sure that Junior was the nation's favorite son.
           A grandfather who was a thug(but never qualified as a political leader (who, instead, bought his way into power circles and forced his ambition on his sons), a father who was a philandering president (the current one has said repeatedly how much he wanted to be just like JFK, and has demonstrated, to the point of impeachment by the House of Representatives, how much he has followed in his mentor's footsteps), and two uncles as senators of different states doesn't quite make it to the level of a dynasty.
           Where, in the history or the Constitution of this great nation is there a suggestion that we have a clause or legal precedent establishing a "divine right"? What, in the name of reason, would lead us to believe that there is a family in America ordained to rule for generations? You can well bet that before too many years passed, the democrats would have rolled out JFK, Jr. on a platform promoting a return to Camelot, a return to the good times in Washington. And they would have manipulated history to promote and justify his election in order to carry on with the plan to turn this great nation into a socialist state. Watch your local news for the announcement of a betrothal of Chelsea Clinton to another Kennedy nephew.
           I've heard it said that because uncle Joe was shot down in WWII, and because John was assassinated while President and because Uncle Robert was murdered while running for the office of president, the nation owes the Kennedy family the courtesy of spending millions and millions of taxpayer dollars for body recovery. Is that really so? Thousands of service personnel were killed during WWII whose names were not Kennedy. What does the nation owe their survivors? Thousands of service personnel died in Korea and in Viet Nam. What does the nation owe their survivors? What does the nation owe its living veterans, thousands of whom have suffered for decades with injuries psychological and physical? What does the nation owe the homeless veterans whle there is a draft-dodger living in the White House?
           Have we, as a nation, forgotten our priorities? Have we been so easily led by the media and the current administration into a state of suspended disbelief in reality, and turned, instead toward a vision of broken promises and thoughts of a family dynasty that we have forgotten our real goals? It is not the purpose of our government to expend these kinds of resources on one family, to recover bodies, while we have poor, hungry, and homeless people on the streets of Washington, D.C., and other major cities.
           All the Kennedy's who served this country in one capacity or another were paid for their service at the time their service was rendered. It may be time for us to consider the accounts settled before the next Kennedy suicide, accidental or otherwise, puts us further into debt. There have been close to a thousand private aircraft accidents in this country already this year. How much has the federal government spent on body recovery for each of those? Could it be, mr president, that you are repaying personal, political debts with public funds?
           Now, mr president, if you can stop squandering money on unnecessary bombings of other countries, and body recovery for the rich and famous, perhaps we can look seriously at a tax cut for the American citizens who are growing weary of shouldering the burdens for the rest of the world. How could we better spend millions of dollars on the living? I wonder how much polio vaccine would cost for all the children of Sierra Leone? What would it cost to provide fresh water and antibiotics for the people of Angola? Can't do that yet, can we? We have to rebuild all the bombed bridges in the Balkans. Wow! We did a terrific job of stopping one kind of genocide. Aren't the Africans valuable enough to spend a few million bucks building instead of destroying to save them from starvation and disease? It's really all about priorities, mr president.


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