Kennedy had the book ghost-written to raise his profile and boost his subsequent electoral chances. It was lovely PR, but empty rhetoric. Now, let's look at why the GoP is so pro-madness: that's where the votes are. Ordinary people are clueless, ignorant, and foolish. As such they are easily manipulated. And therefore representative democracy is the system whereby cynical unscrupulous charlatans dupe ignorant simple-minded voters, with predictably wonderful results. Plato's critique of democracy is even more true today than 2,500 years ago thanks to our ubiquitous information technologies that make mass mind-control as easy as ordering a latte at your local coffee chain. Tomorrow belongs to the tyrants - we should start getting used to the fact.