I’m thinking about doing something I’ve never done before. I’m strongly considering voting for a Democrat for president. I’m 37, and I’ve never voted for any Republican presidential candidate with anything approximating glee in my heart. It’s almost always been a hold-your-nose, lesser-of-two-evils affair. I didn’t vote in 2004, as I was in college and too late to vote absentee, so at least I am spared the shame of having voted for George W. Bush (though I don’t blame those who did, considering the alternatives).
What has brought me to this point? Why contemplate pulling the lever for RFK, Jr., when there is another candidate – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – who aligns with most of my preferred policies, is a man of upstanding character (probably the only serious candidate who has not committed adultery), and is a proven winner with coattails?
There are several reasons. The first is simple: I like Bobby Kennedy. I have been a fan and a follower of his since even before COVID, though it was his stance against the COVID vaccines that brought my admiration to a new level. I have listened to several of his speeches, and perused many articles on his Children’s Health Defense. Before the viral Rogan podcast, I listened to hours of him being interviewed by Megyn Kelly and Jordan Peterson. Thus, not much in the Rogan interview was new for me.
Let’s get the dirty laundry out of the way. Is RFK Jr. perfect? Um… no. Especially in his younger days, he seemed to have inherited the Kennedy libido that plagued his famous uncle. But I’m willing to forgive that. He seems nothing if not a devoted husband now, and a good dad to his children. Hearing him talk about growing up in the Kennedy family – all those siblings, all those cousins – there is something all-American about that. Besides, can Biden or Trump claim to be any better?
Second reservation: he’s a liberal. I’m a conservative. But I care more about the good of the country than I do the furtherance of my own political philosophy, which I realize is not shared by about half of the country who are of a more liberal bent. Let’s get one thing straight: America is in danger of outright collapse. Whether your primary concern is the open border, soaring crime rate, falling birth rate, soaring inflation, sinking dollar, or widespread loss of faith in institutions – the Titanic has struck the iceberg. This is not the time to be too concerned about one’s “team” or color (red vs. blue), but rather the fate of the whole ship. What good does it do conservatism if America falls? What will there be to conserve?
Why do I like RFK? I like him because he fights for the weak – the poor, the children – who are victimized by soulless, polluting corporations and neglected by the government (at least when it comes to their health). His background is as a corporate lawyer who took on corporate America. Jordan Peterson recently asked him, how do you reconcile your belief in climate change with the fact that the climate agenda has been largely driven by fear, as was the COVID agenda? RFK’s response was spot-on: his environmental activism has always been motivated by love, not fear: love of the environment, and the deep desire to conserve the environment so that his children and grandchildren might enjoy it. Kennedy mentions the practice of mountain-top removal mining, something that has devastated the landscape not far from where I write these words. Those mountains will never return. What God created has been permanently defaced by the hand of man. Coal mining and the burning of coal has polluted the waterways to where many fish are not safe to eat. And yet there is hope. RFK cites the efforts to clean up the Hudson River, and the establishment of “riverkeepers” as evidence that some of the damage can be rolled back. As evidence that climate change is happening, he cites Big Oil’s own internal documents, though he acknowledges that the science is not as settled as it is (in his mind at least) on the harms of vaccines. In summary, Kennedy cares about the environment, and so do I. And that is a conservative position. Radical climate cults like Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil deface precious art and block working class people from getting to work. True environmentalism is in the spirit of another great Republican – Theodore Roosevelt – who famously created the national parks. Republicans are suckers if they let some ideological commitment to capitalism and small government allow big business to run roughshod over the environment. But I don’t think they will anymore.
Secondly, Kennedy is speaking about an issue that really should get more attention: the tragic decline in Americans’ health. Chronic disease is out of control. While some of this lies within our ability to change, much of it is not. From pesticides in the water to food dyes in our food to adjuvants in vaccines to the EMF radiation in the air, we are being poisoned every minute of every day. Defending oneself against environmental pollution could be a full-time job. Even then, it’s a losing battle, as you can’t stop a 5G tower from going up next to your kid’s school, or the local water department from adding fluoride to your tap. Big Pharma and Big Agriculture and Big Tech are all corrupt behemoths who (naturally) care more about their own bottom lines than they do the health and safety of the American people. That’s why we need the government to safeguard our interests. The only problem is, the government has been captured by private interests, or at least the regulatory agencies have. RFK understands this problem better than anyone. He has the knowledge and the integrity to take on the special interests, whereas other candidates rely on them for donations.
A couple of notes on the Rogan podcast: First, RFK is not claiming that vaccines are the sole cause of autism. That is a myth. In reality, he blames vaccines for contributing to a host of ailments: allergies, asthma, and autoimmune disorders. And the logic makes sense. Vaccines contain adjuvants designed to instigate an immune response, to the weakened virus. But what is to stop one’s immune system from mounting a crazy response to a peanut or pollen instead? He also acknowledges that autism could be caused by a multitude of environmental factors. For example, I regularly see ads for class action lawsuits against Tylenol for contributing to autism if taken in pregnancy. As RFK stated on Rogan, our children are swimming in a toxic stew.
Many people have made much of the fact that RFK cites atrazine (a pesticide) in the water as a possible cause of depression in young men, as it reduces testosterone. While this may trigger Alex Jones connotations (“They’re turning the frogs gay!”), it is an acknowledged fact that estrogen-mimicking chemicals and plastics are ubiquitous nowadays. You don’t even need a study to see the effects of this. Just visit your local high school. In closing on this issue, I would challenge any skeptic to drink a glass of water with the “acceptable” level of atrazine in it, three times a day.
RFK has also been criticized for accusing Wifi of causing cancer. First, I believe that it is causing cancer in some cases. But again, you don’t have to jump to the worst-case scenario (death or severe autism from vaccines) to acknowledge the more modest harms (allergies, autoimmune). I would encourage anyone interested in learning more about the harmful effects of EMF radiation to read The Invisible Rainbow by Forstenberg. I wonder if we truly know what it feels like to not be bombarded with dirty electricity, cell phone, and other EMF radiation. Again, to anyone claiming there are no effects, I suggest putting a houseplant right next to your WiFi router, or if you are feeling extra brave, sleeping right next to your router for a week. You will soon enough have your own evidence.
In addition to his knowledge of health and environmental issues, RFK also has a solid grasp of foreign policy, as evidenced by his early skepticism of American support for the Ukraine War. Listening to him talk, he understands the disastrous effects of America’s War on Terror, the destabilization of the Middle East, and the resulting migrant crisis that has also destabilized Europe. He also understands the military-industrial complex, going back to Eisenhower’s warning. I have more confidence in RFK’s ability to stop further military aide (which only prolongs the inevitable) and keep America from being bamboozled into future foreign wars than I do Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump (though both are better than Biden, who on foreign policy, has been wrong on everything).
Finally, I believe Bobby Kennedy has what it takes to bring America together, in a way that Biden, Trump, and even DeSantis cannot. While I would prefer Republicans to retain control of the House and retake the Senate, I wonder if they are even capable of winning the White House in their current state. With the disfunction on display at the RNC, and utter lack of ground game, I wonder if they even deserve it. Of greater need than a Republican president right now might be the return of a sane Democratic Party, circa 1990 – before it was co-opted by corporate interests, before it gave way to the far-left progressives who have grown increasingly more absurd in their soft-on-crime, America-bashing, trans-the-kids ways.
Don’t get me wrong; DeSantis is good, and I still might even vote for him. But we have to face facts: he’s not doing great in the polls, and seems likely to loose to Trump… who seems likely to keep getting indicted in a process that will sap his and America’s energies, should he become the candidate. I know, it’s “not fair” that he’s being prosecuted in this manner, especially for a “crime” that Biden and Hillary were both caught doing (and neither of them were president, with the power to declassify!) But Trump’s own ineptitude and ego often plays right into his opponent’s hands. After so much “unfair” treatment, he’s grown bitter and entitled. You know what else is unfair… your dad and your uncle being murdered. And yet RFK Jr. exudes no bitterness, not the slightest hint of entitlement. He acknowledges the danger his activism has placed him in, and accepts it with stoic courage.
In summary, a Desantis or Trump win (however improbable) would mean some version of “owning the libs,” when what we need right now – as much as it may pain us to admit is as conservatives – is to unite with the sane libs, at least long enough to save America. We can keep fighting the culture wars from the governor’s mansions and state houses and school boards. However, the White House should be a symbol that unites all Americans of goodwill. RFK threatens to do now what his uncle and father threatened to do in the 1960’s: to unite the populist left and the populist right against the establishment neocons. An added bonus would be to exile the far-left progressive wing of the Democratic party (the AOC’s and the Ilhan Omar’s), who may even form their own party. Let the Democrats be the divided ones for a change. Congressional Republicans could do under RFK what they did under Bill Clinton: restore fiscal sanity and promote economic growth.
I’ve been reminded lately of the movie the Lion King. America right now feels like the pride lands after Mufasa was killed and Simba went into exile. The hyenas have taken over. Quite possibly, the Deep State killed RFK Jr.’s uncle and his father. Many will object to the analogy, on the grounds that we don’t need a savior. They will say, let us save ourselves. But in all my experience, leadership truly does matter. A fish rots from the head, and all the other cliches. We are as much in need of a leader as we were in 1776, when Washington offered his services, or 1861, when Lincoln resolved to preserve the union.
I’m under no illusions that any of the Kennedy’s were perfect. I’m not under the spell of Camelot. I’ve read the hagiographies and the criticisms. And yet, the parallels are striking. In the 1960’s, America was facing the bogeyman of Cold War Russia, as leftwing violence and street protests threatened cultural disintegration. Today we are facing the same bogeyman in a revanchist Russia, though the world is fast becoming multipolar. We are facing similar levels of social disfunction.
The first two never got a full chance. Maybe we need another Kennedy.
The Front Porch Philosopher 