Why Not, Kennedy...?
Nov. 23rd, 2023
In the saga of the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, a lot of things have happened since I wrote my last article back in the late spring: Trump has been indicted a few more times (I think; it’s hard to keep track…); the House of Representatives elected a new speaker who is a polished, telegenic version of James Dobson; and President Biden has continued to ally us with a genocidal state intent on wiping out the whole of Gaza, if not Palestine and southern Lebanon.
The Twittersphere is awash in green and black and red these days, mostly red of course...because of the utterly indiscriminate Israeli bombing of Gazan schools, hospitals, and apartment blocks. Daily there are gruesome videos of hospital rooms in Gaza (such as they are) with blood everywhere, children searching in desperation for lost (and presumably dead) parents; photos from abroad of beloved relatives whose lives have been snuffed out before their time...all of this is truly overwhelming if blood still pumps through your spindly heart. The invasion of Gaza is...abhorent.
The strange thing is is that America’s Newly-minted, Independently-minded Hero – RFK Jr. – has not said a word about the Gazan genocide...not a word. RFK Jr. dismissed (or was abandoned by) head campaign manager Dennis Kucinich in mid-October, very shortly after Hamas attacked Israeli communities and military bases on October 7th and 8th. And since that time, Mr. Kucinich has come forward with a few (granted, muted) statements condemning genocide and pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Mr. Kennedy has not called for a ceasefire nor has he condemned the hate speech of the Israeli government or the genocidal actions of the IOF (aka the IDF), which (especially at this juncture) is more than a little concerning. While journalists like Max Blumenthal (whom I respect and admire), have taken to puerile responses like calling for American voters to vote for a watermelon(wtf?) in solidarity with the people of Palestine and Gaza and then bolstering the perennial loser Jill Stein, my concern is that Kennedy is the only viable candidate to break the political duopoly of greed and murder, and possibly save us from years if not decades of Christian fascism. [See Paul Street’s latest Counterpunch article: [https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/11/17/the-republi-fascist-specter-looms/] For the record, I do not think that Kennedy is a legitimate Zionist, but I hate being (or being perceived) as someone who is an apologist for a politician who is behaving in such a spineless manner.
Most of Kennedy’s latest Twitter posts and internet interviews have concerned his thoughts on AI and CBDCs, which are certainly topics of great import…but the timing of the posts is strange, given that America’s most pressing problems are quite obviously in the arenas of foreign policy and governmental corruption. Additionally, there are at least two posts of interviews with Kennedy where the candidate explains his religious beliefs – in an attempt to highlight his “spiritual side” (for the hippies and provincially pious types, I guess) and to quell notions that Kennedy is a druggie, because of his heroin-abuse in the late 1970s and early 1980s (as if anyone gave a shit at this point). It’s easy to get the feeling that whoever is currently running his campaign (and God-willing it is not, but likely still is, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy) has little idea of what she’s doing.
On the day that the Gazan massacre in Israel took place, Rolling Stone Magazine ran an article that looked at Kennedy’s poll numbers in key “battleground states” and announced that he was polling at 24% overall among likely voters of all age ranges. Below the age of 45, RFK Jr. did considerably better, meaning that there is a distinct possibility that Kennedy could win the Presidency. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/rfk-jr-beating-biden-trump-young-voters-1234871560/ Since Kennedy has received comparatively little and overtly-biased MSM coverage since his candidacy announcement, these numbers, a year before the election date, aren’t bad.
In the U.S., we have not had a serious challenge to the Duopoly since Ross Perot ran in 1992 and received roughly 19% of the popular vote. Ralph Nader made an attempt as a Green Party candidate in 2000, but was not allowed into the televised debates and otherwise shunned by the mainstream media. Since his candidacy was blamed for Al Gore’s failure in Florida, thus allowing Bush II to ascend to President and hold office for eight years, the Greens were pushed to the margins and have never tallied more than the 3% of the popular vote (as memory serves) again.
Currently, there are no other viable third-party or independent candidates in the race. Jill Stein will be the Green Party candidate again; Cornell West will be the People’s Party candidate; and Joe Manchin will be the goat that people kick in the ass down Donkey Street. And no one really wants to vote for Biden or Trump, do they? I still cannot believe that Americans are such gulls and/or cowards as that. But maybe…...
I guess the points I am pushing in this piece are two: one, that we on the Left need to unite and exhort Kennedy to do what’s right…...not just what he believes is expedient for his ascent to the Presidency; and two, that we need to remind Kennedy of the immediate reality of the existential threats to American Democracy, from both of the major parties and the corporate interests that control them. If we do these things and are persistent in our appeals, Kennedy must respond and take stronger, more moral positions to give voice to our voices – we who are not listened to by the government.