On this day in 2007 I devoted the entire episode of Politics After Dark to Kennedy’s memory on what would have been his 90th birthday. I wasn’t exactly complimentary. In fact I spent most of the episode deriding his most famous phrase, the one that begins Ask not what your country… I said then and maintain (as I have borrowed from others) that neither half of that much-adored statement conveys a relationship between a citizen and his government that is worthy of free people living in a free society. Of course we don’t want our government to do for us, but why should our government expect anything from us either? In both conditions the government’s needs are placed above those of its individual citizens. (Milton Friedman explains the whole thing much more eloquently.)

Ninetieth birthdays are for criticism; one hundredth birthdays are for praise only.

I’ve heard it said that if John Kennedy were alive today he’d be a Republican. He’s rich, right? He served his country. He favored tax breaks for gosh sakes. Most of all he liked his country, and honestly I think he’s the most-recent Democratic President about whom I would say that.

Does liking your country make you a Republican? If that’s the criterion I plead guilty. And I think if John F. Kennedy were around today I’d vote for him. A lot of people would. And they’d admit to it.

If Kennedy were alive he’d probably mention something about how it was actually his older brother Joe who should have been President. Joe was a pilot during World War II and was killed in action in August of 1944. On this Memorial Day we should remember those who never got to be President, but made sure that we had a say in choosing one.

No matter how honest we wanted to be about it after the fact.