Ask not what your country can do for you

Speaking of energy crises and a national sense of purpose, it struck me that the last time a president urged Americans to make voluntary sacrifices was in the late 1970’s, when Jimmy Carter made the case for energy conservation. Although many Americans heeded the call, in the eyes of others it made him (and his vision of America) look weak. He promptly got bounced out of office for his pains, by a man with a much more robust vision.

Our presidents since have learned the lesson well, and none have made the mistake of challenging the American people. Ask not what you can do for your country; let me tell you what your country can do for you. That’s even more surprising considering that three of those four presidents have been Republicans, who nominally believe in small, limited government.

JFK’s inauguration speech was what, 42 years ago. Can you imagine anyone running for president (or any other office for that matter) saying that they were going to challenge Americans to give their best effort for the future? That’s completely inconceivable at this point in time.

If we do have an energy crisis, we as Americans are going to be called on to make sacrifices, willingly or not. That doesn’t scare me; I think we’ll rise to the challenge. What worries me is that our leaders will be afraid to choose any course that might cause short-term pain, and that by doing so we will make poor long-term decisions. In other words, I’m not terribly confident that our leaders have leadership ability. Of course, we elect the leaders, so their shortcomings are our fault.