Tuesday 13 April 2010

"Ask not what you can do for your country..."

iDave trotted out JFK's famous sentence today:

“ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

... and not for the first time either (he did it in October 2006 as well) but he's still missing the point. The sentence should actually read as follows:

“ask not what your country can do for you - and ask not what you can do for your country - ask what you can do for yourself and ask what other people would be able to do for themselves if the vested interest weren't going out of their way to stifle their freedoms."

9 comments:

Witterings from Witney said...

I note that in 2006 he also said 'First you prepare the ground. Then you lay the foundations. And then finally, brick by brick, you build your house.'

Just how the EU is being built. What an odd coincidence!

Sue said...

Blimey, I didn't realise we were at war!

Mark Wadsworth said...

WFW, you know about this stuff, you're always better off choosing an older house that's still standing. Newbuilds can go horribly wrong.

S, to be fair, Vietnam hadn't kicked off properly when he said it. To be harsh, all politicians love invoking the 'wartime spirit' because it gives them more power.

AntiCitizenOne said...

Talking of vested interests stifling your freedoms...

http://pgosselin.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/eu-buried-devastating-biodiesel-report/

Jock Coats said...

He said it last week actually, at the launch of "The Big Society" policy and network. I thought he might have better said "everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state"

Mark Wadsworth said...

AC1, good link, but didn't they admit this a couple of years ago?

JC, indeed.

dearieme said...

Who wrote it for him? This was a chap who didn't even write his own undergraduate thesis, or his prize-winning book.

Letters From A Tory said...

Sorry but Cameron's version is a lot catchier!

James Higham said...

Fine, iDave, I'll ask what I can do for my country. N1 - get rid of you.