What Would JFK Have to Say...?

...I've ranted on here before about my views on how the American public does itself a disservice when they don't demand better from their media outlets but lately it's become plainer to see that that is not a one way street that the American braintrust travels on...I posted a link to this for one of my readers elsewhere...I'll admit that the images can get a little ham-handed but I was shooting for the President's vox for this post...too, I thought I'd slap it on here because, to be honest, I think these words from JFK bear repeating...especially in lieu of what's been taking place on the world stage for the last couple days...press play and read along...

JFK speech 1961


"Ladies and gentlemen,

the very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society. And we are, as a people, inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago, that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts, far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.

Even today there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating it's arbitrary restrictions. Even today there is little value in ensuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.
And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand it's meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment.

That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it's in my control and no official of my administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle descent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.

For we are opposed, around the world, by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding it's sphere of influence on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly-nit, highly-efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. It's preparations are concealed, not published. It's mistakes are buried, not headlined. It's descent is silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.

No president should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding, and from that understanding comes support or opposition, and both are necessary. I am not asking your newspapers to support an administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people, for I have complete confidence - - in the response and dedication of our citizens, whenever they are fully informed.

I could not only stifle controversy among your readers, I welcome it. This administration intends to be candor about it's errors, for as a wise man once said: 'An error doesn't become a mistake, until you refuse to correct it'. We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors and we would expect you to point them out when we miss them. Without debate, without criticism no administration and no country can succeed and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the first amendment. The only business in America specifically protected by the constitution. Not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply give the public what it wants, but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crisis and our choices, to lead, mold, educate, and sometimes even anger public opinion.

This means great coverage and analysis of international news, for it is no longer far away and foreign, but close-at-hand and local. It means greater attention to improve understanding of the news as well as improved transmission and it means finally that government, at all levels, must meet it's obligation to provide you with the fullest possible information outside to narrowest limits of national security.

And so it is to the printing press, to the recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscious, the carrier of his news that we look for strength and assistance.

Confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent."

...amen, Mr. President...CP, out...