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President John F. Kennedy may have been right when he uttered a phrase to inspire the people of the United States to serve their country, but his words no longer apply.
On that very cold Friday, January 20, 1961, the newly elected president delivered his famous inaugural address in which he proclaimed, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you…ask what you can do for your country.”
At that time, Kennedy symbolized a new era in American history. His rhetoric succeeded in motivating young people to travel around the world as ‘ambassadors’ who gave their lives in service as Peace Corps volunteers. Others remained at home and worked in the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program. Some joined the military serving in defense of their country.
43 years old, John F. Kennedy became the youngest person elected President of the United States. He also was the first Roman Catholic elected to the highest office in the land.
Now, this year, nearly half a century later, Americans may take the political quantum leap and elect their first-known African American Commander-in-Chief.
Although President Kennedy succeeded in moving the nation outward and ‘other-centered’ by his call to ask nothing of our country but to give ourselves wholly to it, the time has come to turn that statement around.
The abuse of public office has resulted in the people of this nation being neglected and our civil liberties trampled. Our elected officials do not always represent our best interests as they frantically chase financial support from lobbyists and corporations that have been given the ‘green light’ to make profits at our expense.
Now, it is appropriate for the President to take a different stand and put a new charge before every person in public office: “Ask not what the people can do for you…ask what you can do for the people.”
Three decades of de-regulation and loosening of protective legislation to keep big business in check have resulted in the American people becoming victims of large scale schemes, practices, and advantages that have eroded the nation’s economy and left individuals and families scrambling to survive.
While prices and the cost of living have soared, paychecks and wages have stalled, pushing workers further behind; leaving them unable to meet their financial obligations. Worse, too often, victims of scams have been blamed while perpetrators have watched their bank accounts inflate.
Meanwhile, too many politicians and commercial media have stood on the sidelines blowing ‘hot air’ and watching the destruction of institutions, including families, communities, schools, and small businesses go bankrupt take place without effective intervention. The ‘fourth estate’ as watchdog of government is silent.
President Kennedy would have another word for the nation if he were here to witness what is happening to so many people across this country.
Another American president, Abraham Lincoln, used a different phrase to describe the role of government that connected citizens. His famous ten-word arrangement at the end of his Gettysburg Address is seared in our collective memory as the standard by which we understand the function of our political system: “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
That is not mere hyperbole or political rhetoric. It is a contract agreed upon by all who preserve the ideal of government as the symbiotic weave with the people it serves.
The preamble to the United States Constitution establishes our relationship and responsibility to the government: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, 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.”
“We the people…” identifies every resident and citizen upon these shores and within the borders of this nation as an active participant in the preservation and security of the welfare and liberty that is ‘ordained and established’ by law.
The law is reinforced whenever a person takes the oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Yet, we have witnessed the violation of that oath and the disastrous results of abuse and neglect.
We have seen flooding caused by weakened infrastructures along the Gulf Coast and across the Midwest; crumbling bridges and highways; inadequate public transportation systems; an over-extended military; bloated banks and oil companies; and families facing foreclosures. That is a short list of failed public policies and their negative impact on ‘domestic tranquility’ because the law has not been obeyed and the people have not been properly served or protected.
“We the people” also include those of us in faith communities who gather every week in reverence to God. We too are responsible for acting in ways that challenge corruption in government and work to restore civility in our society.
We are required to act on behalf of those most affected by an inept government that serves as client to transnational corporations, but fails to serve its most vulnerable people.
President Kennedy inspired a generation to do more than think about themselves. He encouraged us to become involved in government and offer ourselves as servants to improve humanity. Our challenge today is to make government more accountable and to join the current of change that is sweeping the nation and the world like a tsunami whose tide cannot be held back. We must ask more of and from our country so that we the people can strive and produce as citizens of goodwill.
-Pastor Art Cribbs
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