On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was scheduled to address Texas Democratic leaders and supporters at a fundraising dinner in Austin honoring him and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.

He never made it.

Earlier that day, an assassin’s bullets took his life in Dallas. But they did not silence the words he had prepared for that evening.

More than six decades later, those words are not only a reminder of what America lost that day, but as a measure of how far we have strayed from the principles Kennedy believed should guide our politics.

“For this is a time for courage and a time for challenge. Neither conformity nor complacency will do. Neither the fanatics nor the faint-hearted are needed. And our duty as a party is not to our party alone, but to the Nation, and, indeed, to all mankind.

“Our duty is not merely the preservation of political power but the preservation of peace and freedom.

“So let us not be petty when our cause is so great.

“Let us not quarrel amongst ourselves when our Nation’s future is at stake.

“Let us stand together with renewed confidence in our cause–united in our heritage of the past and our hopes for the future and determined that this land we love shall lead all mankind into new frontiers of peace and abundance.”

Kennedy understood something too many of today’s political leaders have forgotten. Winning an election is not the same as serving a nation. And loyalty to a political party is no substitute for loyalty to the country.