The Newspeak of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Robert F Kennedy, Jr. has recently declared his candidacy for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. This news astonished me, since in recent years, RFK, Jr. has seemed obsessed with only one single issue: vaccine skepticism. So I searched his newly-created website to see if I could learn a bit more about his other-than-vaccine “platform.” Here is some of (the little) information I found on his campaign website, www.kennedy24.com.

“Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has clear positions on most of today’s divisive trigger issues like abortion, guns, and immigration, but he knows that both sides have legitimate concerns and legitimate moral positions. No one is deplorable. Furthermore, most of the disagreements obscure deeper shared values. Everyone wants their children to be safe. Few relish the thought of dead fetuses, nor do they want to force women to have unwanted babies. Everyone wants safe streets, yet few wish for millions of people to languish in prison. Robert F. Kennedy…will lead the way toward national reconciliation, respectful dialog, and willingness to change, to grow, and to forgive.”

What a load of mind-numbing woo! If indeed RFK Jr. has “clear positions” on triggering moral issues (by the way, where are these stated?) then he obviously does NOT believe in moral equivalencies and moral legitimacy on all sides. He obviously does NOT believe that opposing positions have equal validity with his own. He obviously does NOT believe, say, that wanting safe children makes pro-and anti-abortion arguments equally valid in his own mind (where, since he has “a clear position,” one side is surely “right,” while the other is “wrong.”) In short, this forked-tongue statement was clearly designed, not to promote understanding, but rather, like Orwellian Newspeak, “to diminish the range of thought” in its readers and trick them into mindless acquiescence.

I recognize, of course, that politicians often try to “unite” voters (on and FOR election day, at least) with disingenuous happy talk about how we’re all Americans together. But this jolly bonhomie strikes me as irresponsibly dishonest (at worst) or pathetically simple-minded (at best). And it should be given neither credence nor approbation, especially not at a polling place.

In short, I simply could not vote for someone who cannot (or will not) recognize and vigorously oppose people whose values and policies ARE, by any humane and rational criterion (i.e., intended to promote the general welfare, the common good, human well-being) deplorable. Let’s be frank: some individuals and groups most assuredly ARE deplorable—and potentially harmful to the commonweal. As such, they must be resisted and kept from power (by means that are not themselves deplorable) lest the general welfare be sacrificed for the aggrandizement/pleasure of the selfish and stupid.

I conclude, therefore, that RFK Jr. is either a messianic crackpot or an addlepated simpleton. Either way, he’s a disturbing presence on our political scene. Don’t be taken in by this Nothing Burger with a famous name. Don’t vote for his Newspeak “woo.” 😬