Life is a bizarre maze of coincidences.
The very evening I write this document occurred a family dinner in the downtown of a large Midwestern city. The restaurant had sublime food and excellent service, in all candor. But then so do many restaurants in any reasonably sized metropolis.
The raison d'etre for this particular choice of maître d' was the establishment is titled after one of my very own forebears. (Fun Fact: I have more historical artifacts of afore-non-mentioned patriarch in my lavatory than were evident in the eatery.)
All in all a pleasant, if not remarkable, Spring outing.
Only…when arriving home and tuning in to the turbulent nonsense of the day I was startled to learn Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. had filed to run for President.
An actual — honest to Goodness — decent man…running to be the leader of America?
Thank God.
Kennedy has yet to announce a formal platform for his campaign, currently scheduled for April 19, but has made his focus clear saying:
"If I run, my top priority will be to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, and robbed us of our values and freedoms."
Quick takes on some Kennedy issues:
An ideal campaign would be run on the model of, "A Prosperous Man with a Popular Sensitivity”.
Yeah, they've made mistakes — sometimes big ones.
We don't need to go into all of that since if you're an American you already know and if you're a Kennedy you're probably a little embarrassed by some antics.
You know who else makes mistakes? Everyone.
So the best thing RFK, Jr. can reply when the inevitable nonsense questions come from a reporter looking to make a name for herself is, "We've all got skeletons in our Family Closet…Now let's talk about Injections / Taxes / Fairness / The Environment / Serious Topics.”
Because the fact is: Ancestor Worship can be a benefit or a bludgeon — As long as the positives of generations before inspire you it is useful, but if the negatives of focusing on the deceased occupies you it is fatal.
Anyone from an illustrious line who is looking backward isn't doing enough to move things forward.
Confession Time…there have been plenty in this piece, no?…learning of the Kennedy Campaign made me feel hopeful in a way I haven't felt in a very long time.
To be entirely clear, I am most assuredly not one of those "Camelot Acolytes” who swoon at the mention of the vanished "Lost Cause” of yesteryear.
There was nobility mixed with chicanery…thus, it means very little in practical terms to this author about the mystique of genealogy.
What does matter? — And should matter to The Voters?
RFK, Jr. is honest.
You don't have to agree with him. You don't have to even like him. You do have to respect that the man is telling you the Truth as far as he can personally discern it on every issue about which he speaks.
Likewise, and this is vital, Kennedy doesn't have to run for President.
He doesn't need it and to do it he will receive a lot more grief than anything he will gain.
Whenever a figure with funds and access does something from which he only stands to lose you damn well better respect him — the act of his trying to make this horrific existence better demands as much.
Alas, the bad news…
It is immensely improbable, nearly impossible, to dislodge a sitting President in your own party. All the finances, political infrastructure and vested apparatchiks make any primary challenge a daunting task.
So with that — Can Kennedy win?
Does it even matter?
I mean, really…Does it?
Or does it count that someone — somewhere — is acting in a way to elevate this rapidly diminishing nation rather than wend it further down for their own selfish interests?
Surely, the winning is important, but in a sense it is incidental to the optimism.
And that is not the cheap sort of "hope” a bought-and-paid-for Barack Obama shilled and which Michelle Obama banks from Amazon Kindle. Not the ersatz anecdotes from Scranton which Biden peddled as he met Chinese backers to settle "consulting” accounts for his worthless son. Not the crocodile tears of Hillary who has dragged a trail of "perfectly explainable” corpses in her wake.
(Settle down, Demos…I grant Repubs are even worse.)
Even so…
Within a few days of Kennedy filing paperwork, the Controlled Media went into Frenzy Mode.
The BBC ludicrously had an "expert” claim psychic force Marianne Williamson was far more likely to be elected than…a Kennedy…seriously.
Another in the Greatest Hits of Missing Journalism was the New York Times (heavily advertised by Big Pharma) stating Kennedy wants to "make America unvaccinated again”.
Incidentally, many of us are still waiting on that in-depth NYT piece (which will never come) about exactly why the Big Advertisers of Big Pharma are completely inoculated from product liability when peddling their grossly defective injections.
(By the way, did I mention everyone should watch the documentary Died Suddenly….)
Moreover the Associated Press, CBS News and The Guardian all seemed to Copy-and-Paste the same Kennedy Hit-Piece "coverage” on the man. That alone implies coordinated effort to discredit his candidacy.
All this is merely a foreshadowing of the menacing "reportage” to be forthcoming. Yet it does offer a glimmer of hope in that it shows some of the largest Misinformation Outlets in the Western World are at least a little uneasy Kennedy could gain traction with voters come Primary Season.
To be entirely candid…and in total fairness to his campaign…I suspect RFK, Jr. and I politically agree on approximately nothing.
Well, maybe that's an overstatement of things.
There is: Equal (but not Special) Treatment of Americans, Dynamic (if not Fanatic) Protection of the Environment, Suspicion (while not Rejection) of Untested Vaccines, and a host of other (if not All) issues.
Other than these we may not reach accord on much.
Still the prospect of electing a genuine advocate for The People outweighs everything else — as it should for any sensible person.
Not once have I ever listened to RFK, Jr. make an address thinking, "This guy is just out to make a buck.”
On the contrary, most other politicians always seem as if they're trying to sell you something.
Kennedy may be a Plutocrat but he is also a Person — one who authentically wants the best for Voters.
So if you're reading, Robert, you've been warned…I'll give you guff on anything I think you can do better…but I'll also work like Hell night and day to make sure everyone in this country has as much respect for you as myself — Left, Right and Center. (You see, I'm an honest man too.)
I will be reckless, brash, adversarial, determined and selfless; except never will you question my loyalty to seeing you make it into office.
Put me on the campaign and I'll stick a miniature billboard in the yard of every house in every precinct in every county of this entire country.
For, as I mentioned when I began this somewhat lighthearted hagiography…
The signs are everywhere.
Guy Somerset writes from somewhere in America