Kennedy Was Right On Covid, Ukraine, Crony Capitalism
By John J. Duncan Jr.
duncanj@knoxfocus.com
I have never voted for a Democrat for president, and I am pretty sure I never will. I would not have had the privilege of serving in Congress for 30 years if the Republican Party had not given me its nomination all through those years.
I believe I owe my loyalty to my party, and more importantly, I have a very strong belief that this country would be in much better shape in every way if more conservative Republicans had been (and hopefully will be) elected to office.
Having written all that, I have to tell you that I was very impressed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. when he answered questions and expressed his opinions on the Sean Hannity program on July 25.
He seemed to be very knowledgeable, well-informed, and very sincere in his answers, and he received a great response from the large Fox audience that was present. He has somewhat of a handicap from a problem with his voice that is similar to one that my sister, Beverly, has.
The only slight disagreement I had with all that he said was when he claimed the Democratic Party was the party for the middle class and working people. He was right when he said that was not the way the party is today.
However, the Democrats and their allies in the media have always portrayed a very false image that they were the party of the little guy, the middle class, the working men and women.
Actually, the Democrats have always been the party of Big Government, and all their wonderful-sounding programs have ended up enriching those at the top while giving the shaft, the crumbs to the little guy.
Someday, hopefully, even liberals will end up realizing that they are the best friends extremely big business has ever had while running many small and medium-sized businesses out of business altogether.
One of many examples is the way Big Pharma made a fortune and created many new billionaires with the Covid vaccine while hurting millions by forcing small businesses to close, schools to shut down, and pushing an ineffective – often harmful – vaccine.
Robert Kennedy was right on the Covid vaccine since it had not gone through the years of testing and trials most other vaccines have been put through.
He was also right on the war in Ukraine. He mentioned the promise by former Secretary of State James Baker to not extend NATO.
On February 9, 1990, at a meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister, Baker said the U.S. wanted a united Germany that would remain “firmly tied to NATO”, but he promised at the same time “ironclad guarantees that NATO’s jurisdiction or forces would not move eastward”, (meaning closer to Russia).
President Trump was criticized by the Washington Post and other foreign policy elitists for being skeptical of NATO, but it is pretty clear that there would not have been a war with Russia over Ukraine if Trump had been re-elected.
Mr. Kennedy used the same example Sen. Robert Taft did in a famous speech in 1949. Sen. Taft at that time was the leader of Senate Republicans, but he was in a minority opposing our membership in NATO.
Among other things, Taft said, “How would we feel if Russia undertook to arm a country on our border; Mexico, for instance.”
Sen. Taft said then: “I believe our foreign policy should be aimed primarily at security and peace, and I believe such an alliance (NATO) is more likely to produce war than peace.”
When Sean Hannity said what we needed was free market capitalism, Mr. Kennedy responded by saying we did not have that now, that what we have is crony capitalism, “socialism for the rich.”
Is it any wonder that seven of the wealthiest counties in the U.S. are counties surrounding Washington, D.C.?
I play golf with several doctors, all very fine men. A few days ago I mentioned that during my first term in Congress I was invited to speak to an American Medical Association meeting at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. I told them the head of the AMA at the time said his fellow doctors were the main opponents of Medicare. He said they should not have been because he said, “we will get our share.”
When I told this story, one of the doctors I was with said Medicare “has made us rich.”
Big Government has greatly expanded the gap between the rich and the poor and continue to this day, slowly wiping out the middle class.
